Frankly, I was a little surprised to learn earlier this week that Barry Odom, a defensive head coach, had chosen to bring back Kevin Kane as Purdue’s defensive coordinator this season. After all, Kane was the DC for Ryan Walters, Odom’s predecessor, and Walters’ tenure was terrible. So, why dial back the clock?
It’s not like Kane’s defense was very good before either. In 2024, Purdue held opposing offenses under 30 points just four times, and they gave up 45 or more points five times. Ouch.
But Odom did, and now Purdue fans need to live with that decision, at least for this year.
So, what is Purdue’s defensive identity under Kane? Under Walters, the defensive scheme was called the “Air Strike,” and it was meant to compliment the team’s Air Raid offense. Essentially, the Air Strike was 3-4 scheme with three down linemen, two outside linebackers, two inside linebackers and four defensive backs.
But, that isn’t what the Boilermakers are running defensively this year.
According to the team’s list of defensive starters in the Purdue Game Notes, they are running a 4-2-5 base defense. Though HammerAndRails.com points out in their Defensive Depth Chart Review, that “Kane changed Purdue’s base defense from a 4-2-5 to a 3-3-5 for this game.” I’ll look at this more as I look at Purdue’s defensive personnel, but this could simply be a to-may-to vs. to-mah-to approach.
Defensive Line
Redshirt senior Curt Neal is playing at his third Big Ten school this year after playing three seasons at Wisconsin and last year at Illinois. Neal will start at nose for the Boilermakers. He’s made four tackles including 1.5 TFLs and half a sack,
The other defensive tackle will be Ian Jeffries. The junior has made six tackles including two TFLs and a sack.
Virginia Tech transfer Keyshawn Burgos will start at defensive end. The senior has made four tackles this season along with a quarterback hurry.
Now, this is where things get…flexible? Purdue’s Game Notes list the other starting defensive end as Trey Smith. Last week, Smith played 26 snaps while fellow DEs Tre Moore and Elo Mozodie played 13 and 7 snaps, respectively, according to HammerAndRails, but they think Kane switched to a 3-3-5 to take advantage of the pass rush skills of linebacker Jeremy Lewis. While Lewis played 36 snaps, which was 10 more than Smith, this could be a situation where they are tweaking their alignment just a little dependent on the personnel package or it could be they want Lewis as a stand-up end/edge rusher/OLB, rather than playing as a down defensive lineman. The reality is that it may not necessarily be a switch of their base defense. It could be just a case of re-positioning Lewis to maximize his talents.
The move looks like it paid off. Smith had no tackles last week while Lewis made five stops including 2.5 TFLs and 1.5 sacks. Lewis also added a quarterback hurry.
Whatever Purdue wants to call it, they are still playing a six man front. It might be four linemen with two linebackers. It may be three of each.
To-may-to. To-mah-to.
As long as Nico Iamaleava and Wayne Knight move the ball forward, UCLA will be alright.TT
Linebackers
Having already looked at the possible outside linebacker/defensive end/edge rusher hybrid, let’s look at the other two linebackers. Junior transfer Jojo Hayden comes to Purdue from Illinois, and he leads the team in tackles with 15 including 1.5 TFLs and two QB hurries. Meanwhile, junior Charles Correa is second in tackles with 14 to go along with two pass breakups. The Bishop Gorman product followed Odom from UNLV, where he played as a freshman.
Secondary
Purdue’s starting corners will be junior Hudauri Hines and redshirt senior Don Saunders. Hines has four tackles this season and he made two of them last week. He was targeted three times last week and only gave up one reception. Hines has made four tackles this season. On the right side, the results weren’t as good. Saunders was targets five times, four of which went for completions. So, he may be the guy to throw towards if UCLA passes more. Saunders is tied for fourth on the team in tackles with 10. He also has one pick and a quarterback hurry.
Senior safety John Slaughter may have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. After all, he was a teammate of Bruin QB Nico Iamaleava at Tennessee. In fact, they were part of the same recruiting class for the Vols. He’s third on the team in tackles with 11. The other starting safety will be either Jaden Mangham who started in Week One or Justin Denson, Jr. who started last week. Mangham has eight tackles while Denson has made ten including a TFL.
Purdue will be without Week One starter Mister Clark. (Yes, his first name is, indeed, Mister.) Last week, Clark’s injury resulted in Smiley Bradford getting the start at nickelback. Bradford has made five tackles and he also has one quarterback hurry.
Outlook
In general, I expect the Bruins to exploit the fact that Purdue is only using a six-man front to run the ball extensively like they did in the first two weeks of the season.
Eventually, the Bruins are going to need to throw the ball more than they have but this may not be the week to expect that. Receivers Mikey Matthews and Jonah Smith are listed as out while Aidan Mizell and tight end Josh Phifer are both listed as doubtful.
As a result, I expect UCLA to try to keep the game close heading into the fourth quarter where the Bruins will rely on the three-hour time difference to catch up on the Boilermakers.
Go Bruins!!!
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