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Looking Back: Austin Appleby at Purdue

Purdue v Iowa Photo by Matthew Holst/Getty Images

Here is every major appearance by Austin Appleby at Purdue:

2014

Opponent CMP ATT PCT YDS YPA TD INT Result
Central Michigan 7 17 41.2 78 4.6 1 0 L 38-17
Iowa 2 6 33.3 11 1.8 0 1 L 24-10
at Illinois 15 20 75.0 202 10.1 1 0 W 38-27
Michigan State 24 37 64.9 211 5.7 1 1 L 45-31
at Minnesota 16 26 61.5 153 5.9 3 2 L 39-38
at Nebraska 18 46 39.1 216 4.7 1 2 L 35-14
Wisconsin 17 37 45.9 204 5.5 1 0 L 34-16
Northwestern 26 48 54.2 251 5.2 2 2 L 38-14
at Indiana 19 35 54.3 123 3.5 0 3 L 23-16

2015

Opponent CMP ATT PCT YDS YPA TD INT Result
at Marshall 31 48 64.6 270 5.6 1 4 L 41-31
Indiana State 20 34 58.8 289 8.5 4 0 W 38-14
Virginia Tech 9 28 32.1 110 3.9 0 2 L 51-24
at Iowa 23 40 57.5 259 6.5 1 0 L 40-20
Indiana 36 57 63.2 332 5.8 2 2 L 54-36

Purdue was 3-9 in 2014 and 2-10 last year. They clearly had lots of issues.

Appleby completed 52.9% of his passes in 2014 and 57.5% last year. He left Purdue with a negative touchdown/interception ratio at 18/19. Only twice in two years did he put up more than six yards per attempt against FBS competition.

Also of note:  when Appleby mentioned earlier in the week that all stadiums were the same, I assumed he'd played at Ohio State or Michigan.

Nope. He was on the bench for two trips to Michigan State and Wisconsin, plus a visit to Penn State as a freshman. His most notable live action came at Iowa (capacity 70,585) and at Nebraska (91,585), which, all due respect to the 90's Cornhusker squads that dominated us...2014 was not a 90's Cornhusker squad. And all due respect to Purdue, but they weren't commanding the kind of volume the Gators will produce in a big venue.

Maybe the problem was coaching. Either way, good news there:  Appleby's offensive coordinator at Purdue was John Shoop, Bob's brother.

Maybe Jim McElwain is some kind of quarterback whisperer. Maybe he'll make use of his legs, which were effective against Illinois and Minnesota in 2014 but produced 56 carries for 92 yards total in 2015.

There are a lot of maybes for this kid in his first start in a Florida uniform. Tennessee's defense needs to turn them into definitely not.