Exactly. Hooker executes the script well. I think he's an above average QB playing in a great scheme.
I thought Purdue's Farva-looking walk-on completely outplayed Hooker in all phases. Most of Hooker's stat wonders are due to throwing to wide open WRs and Tillman being an absolute beast. Take away the freebies and Tillman and nobody is singing Hooker's praises. Purdue damned near lost EVERYONE and their QB was still throwing absolute dimes to guys with no knee cartilage and who went into the game with like 200 receiving yards on the year.
It's how Heupel coaches. He's got an idea how to attack what the other team has shown and then adjusts again.
Heupel is making the right calls, IMO Hooker tenses up and it affects his throwing motion which makes him less accurate. The fly routes late in the game were the right call. Hooker straight up missed one throw and the ref let Purdue get away with robbery on the 2nd. They were the right call, but Hooker is missing those throws late game where he's not in the 1Q.
As I mentioned, Hooker doesn't have to throw it. He could tuck it with timeouts or check down. Yall can have the qb and coach who doesn't go for the jugular there with open wrs.
Heupel called 2 straight plays with a wide open WR that was presumably the first read. That's always a good playcall in my book. Obviously, in retrospect, he should have checked down because he overthrew the first one by about 8 yards and Purdue was mugging Tillman for the 2nd one.
Purdue's QB looked awful in stretches of the game, as well. We didn't punish them when he looked awful
I still think hooker has a shoulder issue that he aggravated in the 2nd quarter. He went from lights out to awful too quickly.