Purdue quarterback wants to improve his game

By Doug Healey
Assistant Sports Editor

CINCINNATI — Purdue quarterback Brandon Hance was disappointed with his performance even though the team beat Cincinnati 19-14 in his first career start.

"I think I can do a much better job," he said. "I consider myself a playmaker and I didn’t make enough plays. It's not so much what I did wrong. It's what I didn’t do right."

With an open date this Saturday, Hance and the offense will have two weeks to get things right before Purdue plays Notre Dame on Sept. 15 in Ross-Ade Stadium.

"The extra week is gonna be beneficial," said Hance. "We don’t have any reason to be skipping practice. We have a lot of work to do and things to improve on."

Hance didn't make many mistakes on Purdue's first possession against the Bearcats, as he led a seven play, 85-yard scoring drive that he capped with a one-yard touchdown run. However, after Purdue's first series, the Cincinnati defense held the Boilermaker offense to just two field goals and one touchdown in its next 14 possessions, even though its average drive started on the 34-yard line.

The Bearcats used many different defensive schemes to confuse and put pressure on the redshirt signal caller.

"With a young quarterback, you expect to get blitzed and we didn’t show we could handle the blitz," said Purdue coach Joe Tiller, whose team was 4 of 15 on third down conversions. "We missed our hot receivers. It's not so much audibling to a good play. It's a matter of getting out of a bad play and into a neutral play."

Hance, who was sacked three times in the game and took several hits without possession of the ball, including two late shots that prompted roughing the passer penalties, said communication needs to improve.

"We were prepared for the blitz but I don't think our execution was at the level where it needs to be," Hance said.

Hance led the Purdue offense to a 270-yard performance, completing 14 of 25 pass attempts for 117 yards. The quarterback ran the ball 11 times for 10 yards, while the team had 158 yards on 38 rushes. The offense's point total and passing yard total were lows for a Boilermaker victory under Tiller.

Tiller said the team will not add anything new to the offense any time soon, which will enable Hance to become more comfortable with the abridged playbook.

"I don't think we can restrict the offense anymore," Tiller said. "We went into this game with about 70 percent of our offense. We'll probably stay there for — who knows? — maybe the whole year."

Senior tight end Tim Stratton said Hance ran the offense well in his debut as the starting quarterback.

"Any quarterback in this offense, especially after Drew (Brees), there's gonna be a lot of expectations," said Stratton. "But as a freshman he handled the pressure well.

"Brandon (Hance) just needs more experience. The mental aspect of the game, he's all right, but he's just got to get more experience in the pocket and throw more balls."

Hance said playing in front of a sellout crowd in the season opener was a good experience.

"There's really no preparation for it besides going out there and doing it," he said. "It was just good to be in that situation, in front of a loud and hostile crowd, on television."

Because it was Hance's first start, some of the seniors made an effort to calm his nerves and make him feel more comfortable before the game started.

"A couple of us took him off to the side and said, 'Hey, it's your day, kid,' when we went down the stairs and the crowd erupted for the first time," said senior defensive tackle Matt Mitrione. "He's a leader. Give him time and he'll be comfortable — no more jitters."

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