WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – As the 2019 college football season gets into full swing, Purdue heads west to Reno, Nevada for a Friday night showdown with the Wolfpack.
“We’re excited to get this season underway. I think our guys have worked hard in the off-season. They’ve worked hard this fall camp.” said Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm. “They’re ready to get to game one, just like everyone across the country. Football season is upon us. We’re ready to get this thing started.”
This will be just the second time the Boilers and Wolfpack have squared off on the gridiron. The first time came back in 2016 when Purdue took the 24-14 win in West Lafayette, IN.
A lot has changed since then, including a complete overhaul of the Purdue and Nevada coaching staff. The Boilers and Wolfpack are both entering year three of their coaches at the helm.
The story of the season for Purdue last season was the immediate impact Rondale Moore had on the program. Some have him as a Heisman favorite as we enter 2019. As a true freshman last season he opened the year breaking the school record for single-game all-purpose yards with 313 yds. He’s looking to do more in 2019.
Multiple freshmen will have immediate playing time this season as well, being a key mystery to how well they will mesh in the system. Though there are a lot of questions, optimism for the Boilermakers is high as 11-point favorites.
Something going against the Boilers favors though, is the distance and difference in elevation. To get adjusted to the new geographical location, the team headed out a day early to help the players acclimate ahead of kickoff.
“That’s the reason we are going out a day early, the night before, to get adjusted to the timing change and also get adjusted to the air, the altitude.” explained Brohm, “We’ll be able to hopefully get that done on Thursday when we’re out there. We’ll go and have a light practice, jog around, move around a little bit, see how we adjust. Come Friday night, whether there’s heat adjustments or altitude adjustments or sleep adjustments, we want to make sure we’re fully prepared for the game on Friday.”
There is still a lot of questions to be answered as Purdue enters game one with 15 true freshmen on the depth chart. For those players returning, the bowl game disappointment against Auburn still has its bitter taste on the tips of their tounges.
Can an unproven secondary step up and keep the big play factor of Nevada’s Carson Strong. He’s a redshirt freshman. However, he fits well into the air-raid offense of coordinator Matt Mumme with back to back 3,000 yard passing seasons. One of the Boilers biggest areas of exploitation in 2019 was their secondary. In 2019, Nevada ranked 23rd in FBS with 278.8.
On the flip side of that, Purdue had the 11th best passing offense in the country averaging 307.5 yards per game. With senior Elijah Sindelar under center, you can expect a guy that knows the system and had the skillset to’ fill the role and possibly improve the deep passing attack for Purdue. The key for Sindelar though, will be protecting the ball. Last season after getting the start in the opener, he tossed three interceptions before getting yanked.
Later he would suffer an injury that kept him on the sideline for the rest of the season. However, the last time Sindelar was the starter out west, he lit up the scoreboard with a 146.2 QB rating, tallying nearly 400 yards passing and 4 TD’s through the air in 2017 against Arizona in the Fosters Farm Bowl.
You can assure yourself that Sindelar has a lot that he wants to prove this season. He and the rest of the Boilers get that first opportunity Friday at 9:30 pm on CBS Sports Network.
Written by Adrian Beecher
