Purdue angry, dealing with off-field questions

MADISON – Is Paul Chryst’s football team headed for an ambush at Purdue?

Wisconsin’s players and coaches were not satisfied with their execution in a 22-10 loss at Penn State on Saturday.

They’ve got nothing on the Purdue coaches and players when it comes to motivation.

Purdue coach Jeff Brohm was peeved that, in his view, his players took the field against host Minnesota overconfident and suffered an embarrassing 41-10 loss.

The losses by UW (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) and Purdue (5-5, 4-3) allowed Northwestern to clinch at least a share of the Big Ten West Division title and a berth in the league title game with a 14-10 victory at Iowa.

“Well we understood what was at stake, and it was mentioned and talked about,” Brohm explained after his team suffered its worst defeat of the season. “I think basically what happened is, unfortunately, we took the field thinking we were a little better than we were.

“And we’re not. And when you do that, good things aren’t going to happen. Look at the first three games of the year. We didn’t play well, and we got it handed to us. I think we learned from that.”

The Boilermakers started 0-3 with losses to Northwestern, Eastern Michigan and Missouri.

A four-game winning streak followed, which Brohm said was the result of an improving defense and more aggressive play-calling on offense.

The highlight of that streak was a 4920 victory over then-No. 2 Ohio State. Freshman wide receiver Rondale Moore dismantled Ohio State’s defense with 12 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns, two rushes for 24 yards.

A 23-13 loss followed the next week at Michigan State as the Spartans controlled Moore and intercepted three of David Blough’s 49 attempts.

Purdue regrouped with a thrilling 3836 victory over Iowa two weeks ago as Blough threw four touchdown passes. That victory kept the Boilermakers’ division title hopes alive.

Those collapsed at Minnesota, which was playing its first game under interim defensive coordinator Joe Rossi.

Purdue came in averaging 35.8 points and 485.2 yards per game in Big Ten play.

Minnesota limited the Boilermakers to 233 total yards and didn’t allow a third-down conversion in 12 chances.

“This week, we obviously didn’t pay attention to all of the small details in practice because it carried over to the game,” Brohm said. “We’re not good enough to not practice hard and pay attention to the small details, and that’s what happens when you don’t.

“Like I said, I’ll give Minnesota credit, but a bad job by me. We’ve got a lot of coaching to do, we’re going to have a hard week, and we’ve got to get back to work.”

Blough entered the day completing 65.9 percent of his passes for an average of 298.1 yards per game, with 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

He completed 20 of 31 passes for just 142 yards, with one touchdown. He was sacked three times, however, and lost a

Purdue quarterback David Blough was sacked three times in a loss Saturday at Minnesota.

fumble that was returned 40 yards for a touchdown with the outcome still in doubt.

“It’s disappointing the performance that we put out there,” Blough said. “We didn’t make the plays we were capable of making. We’ll go back to work and try to get ready for Wisconsin.

“We had a lot on the line, we had a lot at stake and we didn’t play very well.”

Brohm and his players might have to deal with a few distractions this week, however.

With Louisville struggling at 2-8, school officials fired head coach Bobby Petrino on Sunday. That started the Brohm watch in Louisville and West Lafayette, Ind.

Brohm no doubt will be Louisville’s first choice. Brohm is a Louisville native. He still owns a house there. Brom was the star quarterback at Trinity High School and later at Louisville. The city of Louisville has embraced the Brohm family.

Will Purdue’s players be wondering this week whether their coach will soon be leaving?

Is Brohm ready to return home? Only he knows that answer. He addressed the topic Monday during his weekly news conference.

“I’ve heard the noise just like everything else,” he said. “It’s important for me to not comment on any speculation.

“Right now I’ve got a job to do. This is the job I want to work hard at doing.”