Purdue must correct turnover disparity - Indy Star

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WEST LAFAYETTE — Two games into his interim head coaching tenure, Purdue's Gerad Parker believes his team has put together six "pretty sound" quarters.

Those other two, however, were a catastrophe, leading to last Saturday's 62-24 loss to Penn State. The Boilermakers have battled well in the first half of the past two games, only to be outscored 62-7 after halftime.

Injuries and attrition have affected Purdue's ability to compete deep into games against the best teams in the Big Ten Conference. Parker acknowledges that problem, but doesn't make excuses.

"The first thing you do is you try not to allow bad things to happen," Parker said. "I think everybody says, 'Deal with it.' We need to not have as many bad things happen so you won't have to deal with as many.

"The other thing is, we have to create a heightened sense of focus during those bad moments."

The Penn State loss got out of hand when the Boilermakers reverted to their early season turnover trouble. On Saturday they travel to Minnesota, which ranks fourth nationally with a plus-10 turnover differential.

Purdue ranks last among Big Ten teams in turnover differential — and also ranks last in both turnovers and takeaways. Half of the team's takeaways came in the season opener against Eastern Kentucky.

Minnesota has outscored opponents 69-16 in points off turnovers. Purdue has been outscored 84-24 — scoring only three points off turnovers in the past seven weeks...


http://www.indystar.com/story/sport.../?hootPostID=986854652a6ac0b8ac5dacee9c3883da
 







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