[NU Sports] Third Quarter & Wind

[John Labbe]

The wind played a big factor in the third quarter today.  At the 
beginning of the second half, Purdue got the ball so we got to choose 
which endzone to defend first.  I would have chosen to have the wind at 
our backs for the third quarter, but we chose the more conventional 
approach so we had the wind at our backs in the fourth quarter.

This meant that our opening kickoff was into the win, and it was 
returned for a TD.  True, we still should have stopped that guy, but 
had we been kicking into the wind, the ball would have been out of the 
endzone.  Then, later, we were punting into the wind multiple times, 
which ultimately set Purdue up at our 7 yard line after a big punt 
return.  So Purdue was able to score 14 on 7 yards of offense, thanks 
in large part to the wind (and breakdown on our special teams coverage 
(they took forever to get down there on that punt)).

I would have taken the wind in the third quarter to keep the momentum 
and build on the lead, and hopefully have the game out of reach by the 
fourth quarter.