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Purdue football’s empty first halves remain a troubling trend

Purdue football’s empty first halves remain a troubling trend

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  • Friday’s game: No. 2 Oregon (6-0) at Purdue (1-5), 8 p.m., Fox

INDIANAPOLIS – Purdue football took a major step forward by making big plays, creativity and consistency to ultimately bounce back in an overtime loss to Illinois.

The next step comes when Purdue takes control in the first half instead of trying to catch up in the second. No team in the country is more used to playing from the back.

Purdue and Rice are the only teams that have yet scored a point in the first quarter against an FBS opponent. The Boilermakers ranked 121st in scoring last season with 3.1 first quarter points per game, but took a step back.

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Purdue also ranks last with 3.2 points per game in the first half. Again, the offense needed to improve after averaging 104th-ranked 9.8 points in the first half of 2023. Instead, regression.

It’s not just about the offense. The defense ranks in the bottom 16 nationally in both points allowed per first quarter (9.0) and first half (20.8).

Because the Boilermakers scored 17 first-half points in each of their first two games last season, they were outscored by 263-95 against FBS opponents before halftime. Purdue led at halftime in just three of its last 17 games. That’s half as often as the next lowest Big Ten team.

Purdue coach Ryan Walters acknowledged that taking more early leads would benefit the team “morale-wise.” But he also responded like a coach who still pushes his team to keep up and perform for 60 minutes.

“We try to preach about not looking at the scoreboard and not letting swing swings affect the way you play,” Walters said. “So I would hope it doesn’t mean anything, right? If we can only play with the lead, that wouldn’t be good.”

An identity problem

Why bring this up a week after recovering from a 24-point deficit in the third quarter and taking the lead in the final minute of regulation? Teams regularly recover from halftime deficits.

Washington, for example, took a 3-0 lead at halftime when trailing or tied in the 2023 regular season and then rallied from a tie at halftime to beat Texas in a playoff semifinal.

However, this two-year stretch for Purdue is well outside the norms of its competitors. In the second half, fewer leads are taken and they are less successful at getting them out of them.

The Big Ten team leading at halftime has won 86.8% of the time against FBS opponents since the start of the 2023 season. (Competitive unbalanced wins over smaller Group of Five programs increase that number slightly. Walters has not benefited from such schedule support.)

Still, Big Ten teams that trailed at halftime during that period won just 29 times and lost 97 times. Purdue won after trailing at halftime just once in 12 tries – last season against Indiana. The Big Ten team that loses at halftime wins 23% of the time over the last two seasons. If you subtract the three worst offenders – Purdue (1-11), Michigan State (0-9) and Indiana (0-7) – the win rate jumps to 28%.

At the threshold

For at least one night, Illinois’ performance contradicted some narratives from the previous four games. One was that Purdue’s playing styles – attacking on defense, especially when it has leverage, and one-dimensional floor orientation on offense – were not conducive to playing from behind.

That second piece — and the ability to make big plays in the passing game — is crucial on nights when the defense’s volatility helps create shooting conditions. Before the game against Illinois, Purdue’s four passing plays of over 30 yards were tied for 124 pointsTh national. He managed to score three goals out of a total of 15 explosive plays against the Illini.

So how could an offense that averaged just 3.3 points per game in the first half still fall short? The problem wasn’t necessarily the talent or performance of the opposing defense. The Boilermakers just couldn’t get out of the way.

A strong argument can be made that if Purdue, contrary to its two-year identity, had asserted itself offensively in the first half, this game would not have required overtime.

“Shooting, we felt like we were in a good position Saturday,” interim offensive coordinator Jason Simmons said, expressing frustration throughout the team.

A close call on a hold went against DJ Wingfield, preventing a 27-yard run to the 10-yard line by Reggie Love III. Many noted that Ryan Browne only had nine passing yards at halftime. That didn’t include the approximately 40 yards Leland Smith would have gained had he not dropped a deep ball. A lack of communication on a second quarter kickoff resulted in an entire possession being interrupted.

Now go back a week early. A botched punt gave away a Wisconsin possession. Two first-and-goal situations ended in field goals. Go back two more weeks and lose a fumble in the red zone at Oregon State just before one of the most bizarre Pix-Six of the season returns.

There were plenty of opportunities to score more points early on. The execution needs to be refined.

“They were self-inflicted wounds that hit us, so we have to continue to emphasize and stress the details and discipline that we will need to be successful offensively,” Simmons said.

“If you look at how we got rolling in the second half, we were a lot less behind the chains. … I think that’s a testament to the fact that we won the first play on every drive in the second half, but also our discipline and concentration was better in the second half, and that led to us having a high level of Execution achieved.”

After showing what it can do when trailing by 24 points on the road against a ranked team, Purdue’s next breakthrough will come when it gets the upper hand early again.

Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.