Boilers to focus on IU quarterback

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Standing in the way of Purdue's Rose Bowl hopes is Indiana's do-it-all quarterback, Antwaan Randle El.

No. 17 Purdue (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten) plays Indiana (3-7, 2-5) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Ross-Ade Stadium for more than just the Old Oaken Bucket — the traveling trophy the teams play for each year. If Purdue wins this game, the Boilers will clinch their first Rose Bowl berth in 34 years.

To stop the Hoosiers, Purdue will definitely need to stop Randle El. With his exceptional running and passing abilities, the versatile quarterback is at times a one-man show.

"They have a very athletic quarterback in Randle El and he's going to give us a good game, so I mean we just have to focus up on the option and keep him contained," Purdue safety Stuart Schweigert said.

The option, a play designed to give the quarterback the option of running the ball himself or pitching it to the running back, gave Purdue trouble in its 30-10 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich.

Mixing the option with other running plays, the Spartans (5-5, 2-5) accumulated 292 yards rushing Saturday.

"With the option, early on they succeeded and then they just kept going with it and we had trouble stopping it," said Schweigert.

Spartan tailback T. J. Duckett ran for 174 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries. When Duckett wasn't taking the pitch from the quarterback, he was blocking for quarterback Jeff Smoker who burnt the Boilers for 46 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

"I thought he did a good job pulling the ball down and running with it," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said of Smoker.

"We'd get somebody up the pitch but if you play man-to-man you don't account for the quarterback. You cover everybody else. They had a good game plan and they had a pretty good beat on us."

Now Purdue has to hope Indiana and Randle El don't have a similar beat on the Boilers' defense this week.

"I'm sure Indiana saw how we played the option today," Schweigert said Saturday. "I'm sure they're smiling a little because we had trouble stopping it.

Needless to say, the Hoosiers will attempt to have a similar amount of success. The option is Indiana's forte, and Randle El is the reason Indiana has success with the play.

The junior from Riverdale, Ill., has rushed for 1,158 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. He has also passed for 1,660 yards and nine touchdowns.

Often times teams try too hard to stop the option. Because of this, Indiana has a play that begins as an option play might but turns into a pass and works efficiently.

Indiana used the fake option/pass to set up two of its touchdowns last season when the Hoosiers almost defeated Purdue.

Randle El had 329 yards passing with a touchdown. However, the Boilers held him to just 48 yards rushing in a 30-24 win in Bloomington, Ind., in the final regular season game for both teams — Purdue's third straight win over Indiana.

For the Boilers to put a fourth consecutive "P" in the chain of letters attached to the Old Oaken Bucket, Schweigert said the Boilers need to stop Randle El and have a better attitude than the one they had during the Michigan State game.

"We're going to have to come out and play an energetic game," Schweigert said. "I think we just have to come out and have a solid week of practice and just be real energetic and pumped up and ready to play."

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Sports editor: Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editors: Anne McLaren, Keith Thomas

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