WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –Purdue brought bold hopes and brassy offensive numbers into its Saturday night showdown with TCU.
But by the end of the third quarter, the Boilermakers had no touchdowns, zero rushing yards and only three first downs.
TCU kept it simple, dominating the possession time and bullying its way to 346 yards on the ground in a 34-13 victory. Woody Hayes would have been proud, to use the Big Ten vernacular.
It was the Horned Frogs defense, however, that truly dictated the night. With no Purdue running game to speak of, coach Gary Patterson’s defenders were able to zero in on star wideout Rondale Moore and tight end Brycen Hopkins.
The result was stifling for the home team – and another building block for a TCU defense that should again be one of the Big 12’s best.
A key turning point might have come even before the coin toss, said senior cornerback Jeff Gladney. Purdue announced before the game that senior quarterback Elijah Sindelar would miss the contest because of a concussion he suffered the week before.
In Sindelar’s place, freshman Jack Plummer was making his first college start.
“Yeah, it’s fresh meat. Fresh meat,” Gladney said, before reconsidering his giggle. “I mean, we wanted their starter to play, and we’re sorry he couldn’t play. But a win’s a win.”
Around Indiana on Sunday, the local papers and websites mentioned how the TCU defense “seemed to know every play the Boilermakers were calling.”
Ha! They can credit Patterson, who studies every opponent’s twitch and blink, for that.
“We just came out, executed our game plan,” Gladney said. “We had two weeks to scheme them up, and we just executed.”
The linebackers, particularly Garret Wallow and freshman Dee Winters, appeared to have exceptional nights.
The extra attention seemed to bother Moore, who had caught 24 passes in Purdue’s first two games. Moore dropped a would-be touchdown throw on the Boilermakers’ second series, and on Plummer’s next pass to him, Moore had the ball wrestled away for an interception by TCU’s Trevon Moehrig.
“We can be great,” safety Moehrig said. “We can be real great.
“We’ve got a word for it: suffocate. That’s what we do. That’s what the defense prides itself on.”
How good is Purdue, though? Coach Jeff Brohm’s team began with a loss at Nevada, before defeating Vanderbilt 42-24.
The Boilermakers have “Sixth Place, Big Ten West” written all over them.
While Brohm called it a “dismal performance” by his team, the Frogs acted as if it were another Saturday at the office. Dating back to 2002, his second full season as TCU head coach, Patterson has a 10-3 record in road games against non-conference opponents.
The ledger includes road wins at Clemson, Oklahoma, Stanford, Baylor, Arizona, Northwestern, Arkansas, Minnesota, Virginia and Army.
“We focus in,” Patterson explained. “I think our kids, because TCU is kind of a small community, there’s too much going on at home. When we go on the road, I’ve got ’em in their rooms. I’ve got ’em focused in.”
Of course he does. The Frogs’ Friday night hotel in Indiana was in the no-nonsense north edge of town, buttressed by a Walmart and about 40 miles of corn fields.
A business trip, sophomore Moehrig called it.
And for the TCU defense, business has been good.
