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Purdue football’s season hinges on how QB Hudson Card figures it out

Vaseline September 22, 2024

Purdue lost 38-21 to Oregon State and lost 1-2.
Saturday game: Nebraska (3-1) at Purdue (1-2), afternoon

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Over the course of three games, Purdue football’s passing attack has gone from near-perfect to nearly invisible.

A one-dimensional offense undermined all other positives Saturday night in a 38-21 loss at Oregon State. After the game, coach Ryan Walters told his team it had to be the most improved team in the country this week, with Nebraska coming to Ross-Ade Stadium for the Boilermakers’ Big Ten opener.

The game also featured a stark contrast at the most important position on the field. Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola’s early play has the Cornhuskers looking brighter after their recent slump.

Purdue vs. Oregon State Numbers: Boilermakers hurt themselves early in the loss

By comparison, Purdue’s passing game has come to resemble the anchor that can undermine any chance of advancement. Quarterback Hudson Card completed 7 of 17 passes for just 56 yards Saturday night. That included 32 yards on his lone touchdown of the night, to tight end Max Klare.

Factors beyond Card’s control have contributed to back-to-back clunkers. He’s not calling plays. He’s not catching the passes he throws. He played without two of his three projected starting receivers Saturday night, with Jahmal Edrine joining C.J. Smith as what sounds like a long-term inactive.

None of that changes a hard truth for the Boilermakers. Without positive production from Card, this offense — and this team — faces a much lower ceiling than they thought they had four weeks ago.

“There’s a lot of reasons right now,” Walters said of the passing game’s ineffectiveness. “I really have to do some evaluation after today’s performance. This is two weeks in a row where we haven’t clicked.”

Purdue might have beaten Oregon State if its offense had been poor in the first half. It couldn’t overcome a self-destructive offense — taking points off the board on its first drive, then giving up seven more on its second.

Map played a role in both.

On 4th-and-1 from their own 28 on the game’s opening series, the Beavers got cute. Instead of plowing through Purdue’s suspect run defense, they took a shot downfield. Kydran Jenkins applied pressure, defensive end Will Heldt held steady in coverage and the offense got onto the field for the first time in prime scoring position.

Devin Mockobee racked up 10 yards on his first carry, then 7 on his second. On 3rd-and-1, the ball appeared to get loose when Card backed away on a zone read midway through the game. Oregon State recovered the fumble.

“We had a lecture that we shouldn’t have given — we should have given it,” Mockobee said. “It was just a simple mistake.”

So the defense went on. Jenkins tackled Gevani McCoy on third down to force a punt. On the first snap of the ensuing series, Card threw a simple pass to Reggie Love III coming out of the backfield. Except when Love missed the catch, the ball hit his ankle and bounced straight to Oregon State linebacker Zakah Saez.

He took it 20 yards for the game’s first touchdown. Murphy’s Law, Purdue learned, applies from coast to coast.

“As a program, we are not yet able to overcome these kinds of self-inflicted wounds,” Walters said.

Card was asked to do postgame interviews, but they weren’t given. A week earlier against Notre Dame, he accepted a larger-than-deserved share of the blame for the offense’s shortcomings. The lack of run support and the inability to win physical battles up front kept him under constant pressure.

His veteran perspective on the downfall of this passing game would have been illuminating. He opened with a record-breaking 24-of-25 performance against an outmatched Indiana State. Thriving on connections with Edrine and Klare, Card cut down a lower-tier opponent with poise and precision.

After lighting up the Sycamores, however, the passing game weakened and then nearly fizzled out. Card averaged just 4.39 yards per attempt in the losses to Notre Dame and Oregon State.

The ineffectiveness isn’t solely his fault. That bizarre pick-six wasn’t the only disappointment on the receiving end. On the next series, Card rolled left on 3rd-and-7 and threw back across his body to an open Jaron Tibbs. The receiver had both momentum and open space, and would have gotten more than a conversion had he caught the ball.

Instead, it slipped from his hands. Perhaps not the easiest catch, but probably one that determines whether teams like Purdue win or lose games against teams of the same caliber.

A lack of complementary execution on offense continues to put the defense against the wall. By the end of the third quarter, Oregon State had run 59 offensive plays to Purdue’s 30. The time of possession favored the Beavers, 31:22 to 12:48.

Jenkins spoke diplomatically about that disparity after the game. The defense has to do a better job. Even when it’s worn down, it has to make plays to get off the field.

It didn’t help that the defense, already without cornerback Nyland Green (a projected starter who has not played this season), also lost safety Antonio Stevens, defensive tackle Joe Anderson and defensive end CJ Morton for Saturday’s game.

And yet, despite all those drawbacks, Oregon State averaged just 5.6 yards per play through three quarters. Before the game?

When needed, however, the Beavers could do one thing Purdue couldn’t: rely on the passing game.

The best example came in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. With 2nd-and-8 inside his own 20, McCoy threw a 15-yard pass over the middle to Darrius Clemens. He then threw a pass over the middle to Trent Walker for another 34 yards.

After a few more passes, the field goal position was secured for Everett Hayes, giving Oregon State a 17-7 lead.

McCoy completed seven passes on that drive. Purdue completed seven for the game.

Mockobee finished with 168 yards on just 10 carries. He ripped off runs of 28, 26 and 63 yards. Love added 66 more on the ground.

Purdue’s run game needed a bounce-back performance after Notre Dame stifled it. It did what it had to do against Oregon State’s porous run defense. It came back to win the game in 119^and in the country in yards allowed per carry.

What will the Boilermakers’ offense accomplish the next time they’re faced with a defense that’s merely adequate?

Before the season, Card acknowledged the responsibility he carried. He knew that some optimism about offensive improvement came from building on the previous season, when he showed both his potential and his limitations. He said any quarterback would welcome that challenge.

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Graham Harrell also needs to find a solution quickly. Card’s second year in this system would accomplish more than just cutting Indiana State to pieces. The current schematic approach simply isn’t working.

No one is asking Hudson Card to transform into Drew Brees. He does, however, need to transform into something more dynamic and consistent.

That leaves nine Big Ten opponents, most of whom showed last season that they know how to beat a one-dimensional Purdue offense.

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