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Nevada Football: First Look-Nevada Vs Purdue
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An Early Look At Nevada Vs Purdue
The Nevada Wolf Pack will open up the 2019 season against a Power 5 opponent against Purdue Boilermakers. This contest between the Wolf Pack and the Boilermakers is set for Friday, August 30th with a 9:30 p.m. ET kick on CBS Sports Network.
The Wolf Pack are taking on a Purdue team that is looking to rise up in the Big Ten conference. Last season the Boilermakers finished with just a 6-7 record but they did qualify for a bowl appearance where they lost to Auburn in the Music City Bowl. The high-water mark for Purdue last season was when they defeated the then no.2 and eventual Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes 49-20.
Without question,Purdue’s biggest strength is with their offense. Despite losing starting quarterback David Blough, three starters on the offensive line, two starting wide receivers and their top rusher in DJ Knox, the Boilermakers do return the electric sophomore Rondale Moore.
https://twitter.com/NevadaFootball/status/1132043357994270721
In his freshman season last year, Moore tallied up 2,215 all-purpose yards and 14 touchdowns and his stellar play earned Moore All-American honors in 2018. Moore returns for Purdue and expect him to get another heavy workload to help out new quarterback Elijah Sindelar. Purdue does have some talented freshman coming into help out Moore in wide receivers David Bell and Milton Wright.
An area of concern for Purdue is the offensive line as the Boilermakers only return a pair of starters from 2018 in Grant Hermanns and Matt McCann. An offensive line that is replacing veterans could be an area of weakness that the Wolf Pack defensive line can possibly exploit.
On defense, Purdue last year struggled quite a bit as they were last in the Big Ten in total defense, passing defense and was 11th in the Big Ten in scoring defense as they gave up 30 points per game.
Depending on how one views this, the good news is that Purdue returns almost everyone from that defensive unit so improvement could be possible. The Boilermakers do return their leading tackler in Markus Bailey who totaled 115 tackles in 2018. Bailey anchors a linebacking corps that includes Western Kentucky graduate transfer Ben Holt, Cornel Jones and Jaylan Alexander. The addition of top recruit George Karlaftis could give the Purdue front seven some talent to rush the passer
In the secondary, Purdue struggled defending the pass last season and they look to rectify that weakness last year with senior safety Navon Mosley leading the way. The Boilermaker secondary is a unit that has athleticism and length that could give the Wolf Pack receiving group some difficulties.
On the whole, this Purdue team is looking to keep up their identity as an explosive offense highlighted by Rondale Moore and some talented new players and on defense the Boilermakers look to improve from a dismal showing last season with an infusion of talent and athleticism.
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