Nebraska (3-5) will be travelling to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers (1-6) in a must win contest between the Big 10 West’s two worst teams. Nebraska enters the game coming off a mistake-filled 30-28 loss to Northwestern, and may be forced to play without starting quarterback Tommy Armstrong, who has yet to practice this week due to a foot injury. Purdue enters this game on a five game losing streak and is in desperate need of a victory to take some heat off embattled third year coach Darrell Hazell. Here are the position matchups as well as some key storylines to watch heading into Saturday’s 11:00 AM contest.
Huskers Face Purdue in a Must Win Contest
POSITION MATCH-UPS
Quarterback
Purdue seems to have found their quarterback of the future in freshman David Blough, who took over for Austin Appleby against Bowling Green and has remained the starter through Big 10 play, leading Purdue with 830 passing yards and four touchdowns while throwing five interceptions. Nebraska faces its first true moment of quarterback uncertainty, as Tommy Armstrong may not be able to play Saturday due to an undisclosed foot injury. Senior Ryker Fyfe has gotten the first string reps in Armstrong’s place. The former walk on has thrown only 18 passes during his college career.
Edge: Purdue
Running Back
One of the few bright spots in Purdue’s 1-6 season is the emergence of true freshman Markell Jones, as the Columbus, Indiana native leads the Boilermakers with 458 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Jones may be missing his sidekick against Nebraska though, as sophomore DJ Knox is questionable for Saturday’s game due to an ankle injury. Junior Terrell Newby leads the Husker running backs with 641 rushing yards and five touchdowns, but he is coming off a miserable game against Northwestern in which he ran for just 52 yards on 16 carries. Newby will be joined by Devine Ozigbo, Imani Cross, and Andy Janovich, who have all received significant reps since Big 10 play began.
Slight Edge: Nebraska
Tight Ends/Receivers
Nebraska’s receivers are coming off one of their worst performances in recent memory, as the Husker receivers dropped eight passes against Northwestern and were one of the chief reasons for the Huskers loss last Saturday. Jordan Westerkamp (40 rec. 535 yds. 4 TD’s), was the only Husker receiver to avoid dropping a pass last Saturday, and he will look to lead the Husker receivers to a bounce back game against Purdue. Purdue’s receiving corps is led by the duo of Danny Anthrop and Deangelo Yancey. Anthrop leads Purdue with 28 catches, while Yancey leads Purdue with 321 receiving yards. Nebraska tight end Cethan Carter has emerged as a solid receiving option during Big 10 play, while Purdue is still looking for any kind of production form their tight end position.
Edge: Nebraska
Offensive Line
Nebraska’s offensive line is coming off a Northwestern game in which they were absolutely whipped up front by Northwestern’s massive defensive line. Nebraska will be getting a boost with the return of redshirt freshman Nick Gates, who was sorely missed against the Wildcats. Purdue’s offensive line is led by senior David Hedelin; and it has been effective at opening holes in the run game in spurts, but has struggled as Purdue’s pass game has disappeared. Neither offensive line is very impressive right now, so I’ll call this one even.
Even
Defensive Line
Purdue’s defensive line has struggled mightily against the run this season, allowing 238 rushing yards to Virginia Tech and 326 yards to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Purdue is hoping that the return of Antoine Williams will give them a boost. The sophomore had four sacks through Purdue’s first three games but missed the first two big 10 games with injury. Nebraska’s defensive line, led by Maliek Collins and Vincent Valentine, is the unquestioned strength of their team, but is coming off a disappointing performance against Northwestern. Nebraska welcomes back Kevin Maurice from a foot injury suffered against Southern Miss, as their line is finally getting back to full strength for the first time since the season opener.
Big Edge: Nebraska
Linebackers
Nebraska is finally back to full strength at linebacker this season, as Chris Weber and Michael Rose-Ivey are both cleared to play this Saturday. They will join a suddenly deep linebacker group led by Josh Banderas and Dedrick Young. Purdue’s linebacker play has fallen apart since losing sophomore Ja’Whuan Bentley to a torn ACL, allowing over 300 rushing yards to Minnesota and struggling mightily in pass defense against Wisconsin’s running backs and tight ends.
Edge: Nebraska
Secondary
Nebraska is no longer dead last in the nation in pass defense, they are now 126th out of 128 FBS teams, but the Huskers will be playing Saturday’s game without Johnathan Rose, who is suspended for the second time this season. Purdue, led by Anthony Brown and Frankie Williams, has been good but not great against the pass this season, ranking 73rd in the nation in pass defense. Nebraska has the worst secondary in the Big 10 outside of Indiana, so Purdue gets the edge in this area.
Edge: Purdue
Special Teams
Purdue has struggled mightily in the kicking game this season, as senior Paul Griggs has made just three of eight field goals this season with a long of 34 yards. Nebraska’ Drew Brown appears to have shaken off his early season struggles, as the sophomore has converted 70% of his field goals this season. Sam Foltz has been arguably the best punter in the Big 10 this season, and he gives the Huskers a major advantage over Purdue’s punt game. Neither of these teams have been overly impressive in the return game, but Nebraska has a potential dynamo in Demornay Pierson-El, who has struggled since coming back from a foot injury but was fantastic last season.
Final Take
This game matches up two teams that are in desperate need of some positive momentum after ugly losses. Both teams have struggled mightily in the passing game, and that is unlikely to change on what is expected to be a cold and rainy day in Indiana this Saturday. I don’t expect it to be pretty, but I’ll take Nebraska due to their significant advantage in their defensive front seven and the fact that this is a must win contest for the Huskers if they want to reach a bowl game this season.
Nebraska: 17
Purdue: 7
KEY STORYLINES
A needed break for Tommy?
The best way to describe Tommy Armstrong during Big 10 play is a man in quicksand. You can see him desperately fighting it, but he can’t seem to avoid sinking to worse and worse performances. The foot injury that Armstrong suffered against Northwestern may be a blessing in disguise, as it can give Armstrong time to watch the game from a different perspective and it gets him out of Husker Nation’s crosshairs for at least one Saturday.
Mosley time at cornerback?
It seems that Nebraska just can’t catch a break with its secondary. Fresh off its best performance of the season, Nebraska learned that two of their top cornerbacks, Johnathan Rose and Chris Jones, would be out of Purdue’s game due to injury and suspension. This means that redshirt freshman Trai Mosley, an undersized but talented freshman out of Pflugerville, Texas, will be thrust into a starting role for the first time in his career. Mosley was the most heralded of Nebraska’s 2014 defensive backs recruits, so now its time to see if he can live up to the hype against an underwhelming Purdue receiving corps.
Time to start the youth movement?
Its not easy to find a silver lining in Nebraska’s 3-5 start, but one perk of this disappointing season is that it gives Nebraska’s coaching staff an excuse to give their freshmen extended playing time. I know that Saturday is considered a must win contest, but DJ Foster, Stanley Morgan, Tyrin Ferguson, Trai Mosley, Aaron Williams, and Devine Ozigbo are all true/redshirt freshmen that I expect to receive significant reps against the Boilermakers.
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