INDIANAPOLIS -- The biggest reason for Purdue's rise to national prominence in football -- coach Joe Tiller's innovative spread offense -- has also been one of the biggest reasons for the team's main weakness this season.
Scoring touchdowns inside the opponents' 20-yard line remains Tiller's primary concern heading into Saturday's game against Northwestern.
"The thing I'm most frustrated with, quite frankly, is our goal line offense," Tiller said. "Last year we got pretty good on the goal line. This year we're struggling on the goal line again."
On the season, 18th-ranked Purdue has scored on 31 of 37 trips inside the red zone (84 percent), including 18 touchdowns. Those aren't bad numbers, but they are skewed by performances against two woeful defensive teams.
Against Arizona's 105th-ranked defense, the Boilermakers scored TDs on four of five trips into the red zone. Against Illinois' 92nd-ranked unit, they scored six touchdowns on nine red zone possessions.
In the last three games, however, Purdue has scored four touchdowns on 12 red zone opportunities against the stingier defenses of Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan.
"It's getting to the point where it's becoming a little bit more of a concern," quarterback Kyle Orton said. "We just need to find a way to score a few more touchdowns."
Tiller and players say operating the team's wide-open offense, which often features five receiver sets, can be problematic inside the 20.
"If you're working from 50-yard line with five wides, there's a lot of ground the defense has to cover," Orton said. "Inside the 10, there's less holes to attack. We have to get better, but it's not as easy as it looks."
The struggles on the offensive line haven't helped much either, Tiller said. The young group has become too accustomed to pass blocking and needs to improve on the smashmouth run blocking necessary inside the 20, he said.
"We are certainly much more of a finesse team than we are a power team," Tiller said. "Your linemen usually spend more time backing up than going forward, and that hurts you when the field shortens up."
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ORTON'S BACKUP: If Orton goes down early Saturday, freshman Grant Walker could see playing time due to a rotator cuff injury to Brandon Kirsch.
Tiller said Kirsch will still be called upon first, but could only play shorter stints, thanks to an injury that has lingered from his pitching days in high school.
The injury flares up whenever Kirsch throws a lot of passes, something Tiller often asks of his quarterback.
"He's had problems with it whenever he's gone out there and thrown high repetitions," Tiller said. "That's a concern for us."
For now, the situation isn't serious enough to consider moving Kyle Smith back from safety to quarterback, Tiller said. Smith moved to defense earlier this season and has impressed coaches with how easily he has made the transition.
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INJURY UPDATE: Despite Kirsch's situation, Tiller said the team is as healthy as it has been all season.
"I don't think we can probably hope to be in better shape than we are, considering we've played eight," he said.
Fullback Patrick Schaub appears to have the most significant injury right now, Tiller said, with a torn tendon in his thumb. He wore a splint during practice this week and will play Saturday, Tiller said.
Other injuries that appear to be mending include linebacker Niko Koutouvides' swollen knee and running back Jerome Brooks' leg bruise.
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FASHION DEPARTMENT: No matter how badly he didn't want to admit it, Tiller knew that Purdue hadn't won a game at Michigan since 1966.
Willing to try anything to reverse those fortunes, Tiller had his team wear white pants with white jerseys on the road for the first time in his seven-year tenure.
"I thought, we haven't won with gold pants, maybe we should try white pants," Tiller said.
It didn't work. Michigan rolled to a 31-3 victory at the Big House, teaching Tiller a valuable lesson.
"I learned that it's not the color of the pants, it's what you put in the pants," he said, wryly. "But it was worth a try."
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NO FULL HOUSE?: Projected attendance for Saturday's game against the Wildcats is 52,000. That's 10,500 short of capacity.
Tiller was disappointed by the news.
"It's a mystery to me," he said. "You know, there's only two more opportunities for folks to see this senior class perform, and it's going to leave here with a pretty impressive legacy, I think."
Originally published Thursday, October 30, 2003
