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Hammer & Rails has now posted its wrap of today’s Purdue action. Check it out here.
While Purdue struggled to get past Western Illinois on Saturday, the victory ended up being quite costly for the Boilermakers. Keith Smith, the all-Big Ten Wide receiver for Purdue, suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury in the fourth quarter.
ESPN 1450 out of Indianapolis is reporting that Smith tore both his ACL and MCL, thus ending a season in which he was projected as a potential All-American.
Hammer & Rails will have more on this injury later.
Hammer and Rails offers a bit of insight into Purdue Boilermakers' next opponent, the Western Illinois Leathernecks:
The Leathernecks present an almost totally opposite type of opponent in Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish impressed me with their athleticism. Their talent on defense was especially impressive. It wasn't so much the poor play of our offensive line but the solid play of Notre Dame's entire defense that made such an impression. Their defensive backs tackled well after the catch and their line disrupted much of our rhythm. The talent differential was on display, and it shows why we must improve our own level.
Expect the opposite to be on display this week. We're clearly the better team at nearly every position on the field. Though Western Illinois is now 1-0 after a season opening win at Valparaiso, we still should be highly favored.
Of course, the Purdue faithful see this match-up as one that heavily favors them. However, SB Nation Indiana's own Travis Miller (who bleed gold and eats railroad spikes for breakfast) offers up some solid reasons why:
Honestly, we should have every advantage possible here. Their offensive line is probably the smallest we will see all season. Left tackle Enock Presendieau is the lone starter that is 300 pounds or better. Kawann Short, Gerald Gooden, and Ryan Kerrigan should be able to live in the backfield all day long. Crump and Senatus concern me as big, experienced targets, but I don't know if Barr will have time to throw to them.
Western's best bet is to keep living by its running game. We proved last week that we still struggle to stop teams on the ground. Ray is a Big Ten caliber running back that could have a big day if his line can open some holes for him. If we continue to overpursue Ray and Flowers could each cause trouble.
On defense there will be a few reunions to watch among some of our own players, but there are not many standouts. David McDaniel was a high school teammate of De'Ron Flood. Ryan Demming was a teammate of Bruce Gaston. Still, we shouldn't see many of the same issues that were there against Notre Dame just because the talent level is drastically different.
The two clubs meet today at noon at Ross-Ade Stadium.
Western Illinois was unable to hold off the Boilermakers, losing 31-21 to a Purdue team that needed this win after losing last week in South Bend.
Purdue Looking For Improvement
There is still a lot of room for improvement after Purdue had some troubles with Western Illinois yesterday. Confidence is not at a high after the offense struggled against a 1-AA team that was 1-10 last season. Hammer & Rails is not throwing in the towel, however, as there is still time for Purdue to get better before entering conference play:
Sep 12 12:50p by Travis Miller - 0 comments