Purdue (0-3, 2-4) at Northwestern (2-1, 4-2) Game Thread

[betarhoalphadelta]

A 2-4 team, winless in conference play, who hasn't beaten a P4 team heading on the road to face a 4-2 team who has two conference wins, including one over Penn State. Should be a laugher!

And yet... Vegas has Northwestern -3.5 right now at home, which when accounting for HFA (for whatever it's worth in Evanston) has them placing this in the "toss-up" category should it be played at a neutral field. 

Purdue is averaging 410 yds/g offensively and 26.5 ppg, to Northwestern's 365 and 23.3, respectively. On the defensive side, Northwestern is only giving up 306 and 17.7, and Purdue giving up 375 and 29.3.

Ultimately I think this is a Purdue team that isn't as bad as their record, and a Northwestern team that isn't as good as theirs. 

Neither team is very good, of course. But I think that's why Vegas has this as a close one. 

[SFBadger96]

Yeah, what I've seen of Purdue makes me think that they are baseline competent. Not great, but not a train wreck, either. None of their losses are unforgivable or even uncompetitive. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they beat Northwestern. Northwestern, too, looks like a decent team. The loss to Tulane is a little hard to forgive, but since then, they've done some good things, if nothing especially impressive. We all thought UCLA was a pushover, but now that's not so clear. So even that win for the Wildcats was decent.

[grillrat]

Purdue has two major issues that has prevented them from being 3-3 or even 4-2:  big play pass defense and turnover margin.

They have been burned on deep pass plays.  ALOT.
The Minnesota game was better, but the refs let both sides get away with a lot of handsi-ness in that one.
The interceptions are the real killer though.  They've had something like 4 red zone interceptions already this year.  Purdue is 133rd of 136 teams in turnover margin.

You just can't win games by giving your opponents that many more possessions.

[Brutus Buckeye]

[ELA]

Big weekend for beer goggles

[betarhoalphadelta]

You know, studies have shown a positive correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness. 

And by "studies", I don't just mean the movies where the bookish nerdy girl takes off her glasses, lets her hair down, and suddenly the entire student body realizes she's been a smokin' hot babe the whole time. 

I mean real, actual, scientific studies. 

Granted, studies which are done by nerds, so they may have bias in reaching their finding. 

[FearlessF]

granted

[ELA]

Northwestern 30, Purdue 17