UW Opponent Defensive Preview: Purdue Boilermakers

The Huskies hit the road this week and head to West Lafayette, IN to take on the Purdue Boilermakers in search of their first conference win. Washington (3-3, 0-3) are in the midst of a three game skid that began during conference play Purdue (3-3, 2-1) on the other hand are a program that found its footing and positive momentum over the last two weeks with its first two conference wins since 2023, beating Illinois and blowing out a Minnesota squad that manhandled UW on Montlake. Purdue's new found success has largely been driven by it's strides on offense, but with the Huskies struggling on offense and starting Elijah Brown at QB for the first time, it's anybody's best guess as to how this match up will go down.

At a glance, Purdue's defense is still a liability. Averaging 31 points allowed (119th), 243 passing yards allowed (113th), and 157 rushing yards allowed (93rd) per game, the Boilermakers rank near the bottom of the FBS in standard statistical defensive performance. However, those stats are skewed dramatically by 52-pt, 49-pt, and 38-pt performances against UCLA, Notre Dame, and Wake Forest earlier in the season. In their last two games, they've only allowed 17 and 13 points to Illinois and Minnesota where they held Minnesota to just 2.1 yards per carry and Illinois to 6.1 yards per pass.

With just 7 sacks and 5 turnovers on the season, Purdue's defense hasn't relied on splash plays as much as steady down-to-down play. Plays are funneled to active LBs and DBs such as Charles Correa, Jojo Hayden, and John Slaughter, who are among the team's leading tacklers. Keeping them clean and forcing opponents into one-dimensional play calling help these second and third level defenders in play making mode.

If UW's offense is going to turn it's season around, it needs to build on the momentum that Elijah Brown found in the second half of the Iowa game. Brown's on-time passing and reduction of negative plays seemed to provide a spark to the offense that Demond Williams couldn't provide prior to his injury. At this point, we shouldn't expect any sort of run game resurgence, but if we aren't able to muster at least a serviceable run game that can complement a pass-centric game plan, we're not going to find much success against any opponent. Brown did show himself to be a much better distributor of the ball, and was able to consistently target the middle of the field. If he can continue to do so against Purdue, the horizontal stress from the passing game may assist in softening up the box for the run game to find some traction.