Ryne Smith turned to his teammates near the Purdue bench and screamed in excitement after making a three-pointer.WEST LAFAYETTE – Gary Emanuel has seen firsthand the efficiency and effectiveness of Brian Kelly’s spread offense.
Emanuel was defensive line coach at Rutgers for the last two seasons, and Kelly’s Cincinnati team was on the schedule both seasons.
Last year, Cincinnati won 47-15 while gaining 564 yards. In 2008, Rutgers fared better, losing 13-10 while giving up 336 yards.
Now, Emanuel is Purdue’s co-defensive coordinator. And his first opponent is Notre Dame, Kelly’s new team.
“I expect a well-coached team that’s going to play very fast,” Emanuel said. “They play up tempo and try to keep you off-balance with personnel and with the pace of the game. They have a couple different paces and tempos they play.
“Coach Kelly does a great job with his personnel. He’s a great offensive coach.”
Kelly’s offense is familiar to Emanuel and coach Danny Hope for another reason: It reminds them of Purdue’s offense under quarterback Drew Brees. Both coaches were on Purdue’s staff then.
Hope said the routes, formations, progression of the quarterback’s reads are similar.
And the ball is going to be spread out, across the field and to several players, especially receiver Michael Floyd and tight end Kyle Rudolph.
“The ball is going to be all over the place,” Emanuel said. “They get a high number of plays off. A 4- or 5-yard pass is just as good as a 4- or 5-yard run. Same type of philosophy Purdue had.
“Always trying to move the chains and they try to keep you off-balance with what they do offensively.”
Perhaps it’ll help the Boilermakers that their own offense has been working on a hurry-up.
To prepare to defend a possible no-huddle attack, coaches have stressed to Purdue’s defensive players to be attentive, sharp and as fast as the offense.
Communication on the sideline – for calls and for new personnel groupings – will be key.
“We anticipate that they might try to change the tempo up a little bit. That does put a little stress on the defense. But we know we need to focus on getting lined up and getting the call from the sideline and if we do that, we should be able to keep up,” linebacker Joe Holland said.
“Like coach (Danny) Hope said, ‘Nothing is stopping us from getting lined up quickly.’
“It will be a challenge. We know they have a lot of athletes that can spread the field out, but we’re confident we’ll be able to line up quickly as well.”
Emanuel would like to frequently substitute to keep players fresh.
But he realizes Notre Dame likely will dictate that possibility, depending on fast they run the offense.
“We’ll see how the game plays out,” he said.
