Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16 Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16
Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16 Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16
Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16 Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Q&A WITH DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BROCK SPACK<br />
BEND BUT DON’T BREAK MENTALITY<br />
<strong>Boilers</strong> Accomplish No. 1 Goal … Stop <strong>Irish</strong> Ground Attack<br />
BY DOUG GRIFFITHS<br />
DGriffiths@GoldandBlack.com<br />
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Purdue’s No. 1<br />
defensive goal entering its game Oct. 2 at<br />
Notre Dame was to make the <strong>Irish</strong> onedimensional.<br />
The Boilermakers did just that.<br />
Defensive coordinator Brock Spack’s<br />
unit limited the <strong>Irish</strong> to 76 yards rushing<br />
(2.1 yards per rush). Entering the game,<br />
Notre Dame was averaging 1<strong>16</strong>.2 yards<br />
rushing per game.<br />
“They’ve had a lot of success at running<br />
the football,” Spack said. “They ran<br />
the ball really well on Michigan (40 carries<br />
for 135 yards and two touchdowns),<br />
which concerned us a great deal. We<br />
wanted to make them one-dimensional<br />
today and try to keep the ball in front of<br />
us. We had to do that and did.”<br />
But the Boilermakers were torched<br />
through the air by Notre Dame sophomore<br />
quarterback Brady Quinn for a<br />
Purdue opponent record 432 yards and<br />
gave up more than 500 yards for just the<br />
second time in Spack’s eight years as<br />
defensive coordinator..<br />
However, the Boilermaker D had a<br />
bend but don’t break mentality.<br />
Notre Dame was in Purdue territory<br />
on 10 of 11 possessions in the game, but<br />
scored just two touchdowns and settled<br />
for one field goal. The <strong>Irish</strong> also had a 44yard<br />
field goal partially blocked.<br />
On one of Notre Dame’s deepest drives,<br />
it was kept off the scoreboard thanks<br />
to a great play by defensive tackle<br />
Anthony Spencer. On second-and-goal<br />
from the Purdue 2, <strong>Irish</strong> running back<br />
Darius Walker ran left and had the ball<br />
ripped out of his arms by Spencer.<br />
Defensive tackle Brent Grover recovered<br />
it at the 3.<br />
The Boilermakers proceeded on a 97yard<br />
drive to make it 20-3 and never<br />
looked back.<br />
Spack said Spencer’s play couldn’t<br />
have come at a better time.<br />
“That was a huge strip,” said Spack,<br />
who shaved off his mustache as he<br />
promised the team he would if it beat the<br />
<strong>Irish</strong>. “It’s just great to see a kid execute<br />
what you try to teach.<br />
“Spencer got hurt (sprained his ankle<br />
late in the second quarter). He was having<br />
the game of his life. I can’t count the<br />
plays in the first half that he made.”<br />
Following are Spack’s thoughts on<br />
Purdue’s fourth win of the season.<br />
GBI: How big is this win?<br />
Spack: “In the last eight years, we’ve<br />
been up here three times and it was really<br />
frustrating. We had come very close<br />
and hadn’t been able to pull it off.<br />
“Today was really unbelievable.”<br />
GBI: When you were walking off the<br />
field were you kind of pinching yourself<br />
looking at that scoreboard?<br />
Tom Campbell<br />
Defensive coordinator Brock Spack reacts after the<br />
Boilermakers force a three-and-out in the second quarter.<br />
Unfortunately, the <strong>Boilers</strong> were whistled for offsides on<br />
the <strong>Irish</strong> punt on the next play which kept the drive<br />
alive. The <strong>Irish</strong> were stopped later when Darius Walker<br />
fumbled near the goal line.<br />
Spack: “Yeah. In the last five or six<br />
minutes of the game, you knew it was<br />
over and it was quite a feeling.”<br />
GBI: Can you put into words what<br />
this win means to Purdue fans?<br />
Spack: “No. You get tired of getting<br />
it (losing to Notre Dame in South Bend)<br />
shoved in your face all the time. I heard<br />
so many times, ‘You can’t win up there.’”<br />
GBI: Doesn’t a win like this put the<br />
2004 team in a special place in<br />
Boilermaker lore?<br />
Spack: “Our theme was that it was<br />
just another game. I told our players during<br />
the week, ‘If you win this game here,<br />
it is what legends are made of.’ You then<br />
become a very special group because<br />
obviously it doesn’t happen very often at<br />
Purdue.”<br />
GBI: A lot of critics took the<br />
approach that they would believe it once<br />
they saw it in terms of Purdue winning<br />
at Notre Dame.<br />
Spack: “This is the fourth time we’ve<br />
been here in the last eight years. All four<br />
times we thought we could win and this<br />
time we finally did it. These kids did a<br />
great job. What more can you ask for?”<br />
GBI: The tackling effort was much<br />
better against the <strong>Irish</strong> than at Illinois,<br />
which you thought would be the case.<br />
Spack: “I thought we would play<br />
hard here. We always seem to do that.<br />
They learned from last week that you<br />
can’t take anything for granted in the<br />
game of football. It can make you look<br />
like a fool or like today it can make you<br />
look like a hero.”<br />
“I had a slight smile<br />
on my face as I left Illinois’<br />
stadium last week because<br />
I thought that was good<br />
for us. We won, but we<br />
went through some adversity.<br />
It was a great teaching<br />
tool for us.”<br />
GBI: How did the<br />
tackling improve that<br />
much in just a week?<br />
Spack: “It’s a mental<br />
issue. Always remember<br />
this in football … ties go<br />
to the offense. If you go in<br />
there and tie up a blocker<br />
or lean on a ball carrier,<br />
that goes to the offense<br />
because you have to whip<br />
the blocker, accelerate to<br />
the ball and terminate the<br />
ball-carrier.<br />
“We didn’t do that on<br />
every play last Saturday.<br />
And when you play<br />
against good teams like<br />
Notre Dame that can run<br />
the football, you cannot<br />
allow them to run the ball<br />
because they would have<br />
you on your heels.”<br />
GBI: What do you<br />
think of the offense?<br />
Spack: “It’s unbelievable. At all the<br />
alumni functions I did in the spring and<br />
summer I said that I thought No. 18<br />
(Kyle Orton) was one of the best I’ve ever<br />
been around and I’ve been around some<br />
great ones.<br />
“He is a great player and he has proven<br />
it. He has something that is hard to coach<br />
and that is he’s mentally tough and physically<br />
tough and has great arm strength. He<br />
has turned into a great player.<br />
“I have not seen one like him.”<br />
GBI: Is there a player anywhere in<br />
the country right now hotter than<br />
Orton?<br />
Spack: “I don’t think so. I could see<br />
this coming in the spring.”<br />
GBI: After Spencer caused the fumble,<br />
the offense went on a 97-yard<br />
touchdown drive. How big was that?<br />
Spack: “It was huge. When you turn<br />
it over and a team comes back and scores<br />
off that turnover, it’s just heartbreaking<br />
and really hurts your confidence.”<br />
GBI: Just out of curiosity, does your<br />
defense stop Orton and Co.?<br />
Spack: “I wouldn’t say we stop<br />
them. Once in a while we might slow<br />
them down a little bit, but he’s awfully<br />
good.” j<br />
You can get Spack’s thoughts after each<br />
game weekly on GoldandBlack.com.<br />
GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED • VOLUME 15, ISSUE 5 • 13 GoldandBlack.com