Well everyone, people seem to be losing faith in the coaching staff and I would like to:

1. Treat such concerns as valid and
2. Tell yourself to cool your jets. This isn’t even an intentional aerospace engineering joke.

Purdue hosts a resurgent Nebraska team at noon. Nebraska was recently ranked for the first time in what feels like forever, they have solid young talent and a good quarterback and are looking to bounce back from an overtime loss.

Purdue suffers one of the most annoying losses I’ve seen in a long time after the running game showed some life way too late in the game after Graham Harrell finally decided which offensive direction to go. We’ll talk about him in more detail later, because I’ll be honest: what he’s doing as a man trying to carry out a semi-air raid makes very little sense.

Let’s start with defense first.

You have to put pressure on Dylan Raiola, but considering he’s played secondary the last two games, you can’t pass up on putting pressure on the freshman quarterback. Especially given the overall lackluster tackling technique (that’s putting it very nicely, I say “lackluster” when I really want to use a bunch of swear words) I just don’t know how this is supposed to happen.

The child can also walk. I mean, look at him, he went to four different high schools and was committed to four different colleges. He’s great at escaping and making spontaneous decisions. Obviously I’m not in a good mood at the moment, I’m sorry.

That brings me to my next point: I still believe the defensive line has the ability to move people. You have to attack that line of attack with passion. I haven’t seen that in the two games against strong opponents.

On the offensive:

I love having a talented tight end on the roster, but the fact that Max Klare is by far the biggest threat is strange. He’s great, but this isn’t a Rob Gronkowski “he’s just bigger and faster than everyone else” situation. We got some bigger sideline receivers after a number of talented slot receivers were forced to play out of position last year.

And again, like the D-line, it’s frustrating because I think these new receivers can be utilized better and perform better. But we’re approaching game four and the first conference game of the year. The adjustment phase should be over.

Since football is the ultimate team sport with moving parts, my next point of focus in the passing game is the offensive line. The Boilers OL actually looked poor in the running game, especially in the second half, but the passing pro left a lot to be desired.

Hudson Card has shown that he can be precise when given enough time. But he didn’t have that in any of the losses to Notre Dame and Oregon State.

Nebraska’s defense is gnarly up front. They allow less than 100 yards rushing per game and rank 30th nationally in total defense with 286.8 total yards per game. So if the O-line can’t help exploit the Huskers’ more vulnerable secondary, it could be another long afternoon.

I know we’re all in a dark place right now, but I’m looking forward to watching fall football here in about five minutes. A Boilermakers win seems unlikely, but I think it’s still possible. Let’s gather around the TVs in some black and some gold and have a hearty BOILER UP.

UPDATE: 12:18 ET

Okay, kettle. I see it. I enjoy this defense that’s about bending but not breaking. Keep it up.

So far I’ve settled in well, especially at the secondary level.