Old National Presents: 3-2-1

Three things learned. Two questions. One bold statement. It’s The 3-2-1, a look at Purdue football as it head to Minnesota.

Three things learned

1 – Communication breakdown

In the words of the immortal Vince Lombardi: “What the he**’s going on out there?”

Illinois receivers were running untamed last Saturday. At times, it seemed as if the Purdue DBs didn’t know how to communicate. Turns out, that was at the heart of the defensive breakdowns that resulted in Illinois completing five passes of 35 yards or more. It didn’t help that No. 1 CB Tony Grimes was out with injury.

“They have to communicate amongst themselves and not have, let’s say, a coach out there communicating to them,” said DC Mike Scherer. “And now there’s a fine line between coaching at practice and letting them play, and we’re finding that. But there’s also ways, I think, that we have found just trying to make it more exactly like game day, because we’re doing some things in practice.”

Illinois QB Luke Altmyer sliced and diced the Boilers on 19-of-22 passing for 390 yards. And Illini WR Hank Beatty caught five passes for 186 yards, averaging a cool 37.2 yards per catch.

“We’re continuing, you know, every week we try and try to find some new add-on to try and fix those issues,” said Scherer. “There are some things that we’re doing within the positions, the defensive back positions in particular. That’s where it’s coming from. We’re doing some things in practice in particular to try and fix those.”

2 – Good vibrations

Purdue has lost three is a row. And the defeats haven’t been close, losing by an average of 19.3 points to USC, Notre Dame and Illinois. Despite the decided setbacks, Barry Odom says the mood of the team remains upbeat as Purdue wades deeper into October.

“Monday morning is really our first time to have the team together,” said Odom. “You can judge emotions a number of different ways, body language, feelings, communication are the indicators for me once we got in meetings, out of meetings, onto the practice field, we looked like a team that was hungry to go play better ball.”

Plenty of opportunity still looms this month, beginning at a beatable Minnesota team on Saturday.

3 – Next man up

Tough to see No. 1 left guard Jalen St. John leave the Illinois game with injury. When will he be back?

“He was limited (Monday) for any work that we did,” said Odom. “We’ll know a lot more (Tuesday). I do think Jalen is a fast healer on what I’ve seen before. So, hopefully get some work in tomorrow, extended work, and kind of see where it’s at.”

The good new: Hank Purvis filled in admirably for St. John.

“I thought Hank did really well,” said OC Josh Henson. “I made the comment at the end of the game, I didn’t even notice that Hank was in the game, which is a great thing in the offensive line, right? If you don’t get noticed, that means you’re doing your job most of the time, and because usually the offensive linemen only get noticed for the bad things, not so much the good.”

Two questions

1 – Deepest position?

A case can be made that it’s the receiver room. The unit was torn asunder in the offseason by portal defections. But the unit has been rebuilt with capable talent led by Michael Jackson and Nitro Tuggle. Jackson leads the team with 32 receptions for a team-high 305 yards, while Tuggle is No. 2 with 13 grabs and a team-high three TD catches. Still, more consistency is needed beyond that tandem.

“The good news is we have talent,” said Henson. “We can all see that we’re getting multiple players in a position to make plays or making them. I think the not so good news is that we need consistency. We need the same guys being the same guys every week. Mike Jack and Nitro have been the same guys they’ve been every week, and we need the other guys to be that every single week.”

Maybe Corey Smith is ready for more after he flashed vs. Illinois with a 60-yard TD catch. Earlier, Arhmad Branch looked poised for big things and EJ Horton has flashed for wideout unit that still is without De’Nylon Morrissette, who has been out all year with injury.

“We just need those guys to get more consistent on a day-to-day basis and a week-to-week basis for each game,” said Henson.

2 – Defensive bright spot?

The front did much better vs. the run against Illinois, allowing just 2.9 yards per carry with eight TFLs. But the D has had its issues. And they were on display last week in the back-end.

“We gave up eight plays for 300 yards,” said Scherer. “That’s disappointing.”

Just look at the stats. Purdue is last in the Big Ten in total defense (397.6 ypg) and 16th in scoring defense (29.8 ppg). Still, the staff can build off a strong effort by the front seven.

“We played good defense at some points, in some positions, just not nearly consistent enough,” said Scherer. “And then when you give up eight plays for 300 yards, just not winning football defense, it’s not gonna happen. There are things to build upon. But also those eight plays, for the most part, are inexcusable, and things that we have to get fixed.”

One bold statement: More Antonio Harris, please

There. I said it. Look, I like Devin Mockobee a lot. But Antonio Harris continues to flash and deserves more touches. He led Purdue with 69 yards rushing on four carries with the bulk of that coming on a nice 41-yard jaunt.

“Antonio the first game got a little banged up,” said Henson. “I thought kind of last week was the first week it looked like he was truly back to full speed. I think his health has been an improved factor in him looking like he looked Saturday. He looked like the old Antonio that we saw in the spring.”

MORE: Barry Odom: Purdue ‘not good enough’ as Boilers seek answers before Minnesota | First look: Minnesota | First and 10: Purdue-Minnesota