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football and just keep playing through it," Hudson said. "It can be stopped. But we have to be more stout. We have to be stronger. We have to keep playing hard." Offensive Coordinator John Shoop Defensive Coordinator Greg Hudson Narrowing the rotation Manhandled BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com third For the team time thisforseason, Purdue's defense allowed an opposing to rush more than 300 yards. Last week, it was Iowa that racked up 318, short of the other 300-plus totals this season by Wisconsin and Ohio State. The Hawkeyes and the Badgers used a zone blocking scheme. Defensive coordinator Greg Hudson knows how successful that can be: He was on staff at Minnesota in early 2000s when the Gophers manhandled opponents with Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney, a pair of 1,000yard rushers. "We had that offense rolling, running for 300 on people, and it was taking somebody from Point A to Point B against their will," Hudson said. "It didn't matter how big or strong you were. The zone Tom Campbell Iowa became the third team this season to rush for at least 300 yards against Purdue, and it bullied the Boilermakers by using an effective zone blocking scheme. blocking, when you're really good at it, it's multiple plays. It could be like speed option, could be toss sweep and then they can cut and go right downhill on you." What Hudson needed his Boilermakers to do was to have "gap integrity," but the front seven especially struggled in getting pushed out of its gaps, thus forc- ing the secondary to come up and make tackles. Hudson said he's continuing to work with his group on that aspect of the game — and they'll need to do it better this week against Penn State, another team that'll use zone runs. "You've got to be strong, and you've got to have some tenacity After playing nine receivers against Iowa and eight against Ohio State, Purdue is expected to be giving the majority of the offensive snaps to four players at State College. DeAngelo Yancey, B.J. Knauf, Danny Anthrop and Cameron Posey are the top four receivers heading into Penn State. Yancey has consistently gotten the most snaps, leading the team in that category for the last five games. Knauf's playing time — when he has played and wasn't suspended — also has been consistent. He's been No. 2 in snaps behind Yancey since his return to the lineup. Posey played only two snaps last week while nursing an apparent injury, but he's consistently gotten in the 20s and up to as many as the 40s. Anthrop, though, has had sporadic play. He had 24 snaps, unofficially, last week but had only 12 against Ohio State, five against Nebraska and didn't even play against Northern Illinois. Still, Anthrop is coming off a career-high 82 receiving yards against the Hawkeyes, including a 44-yard touchdown late, and all of the receivers have shown flashes of playmaking ability. That's something the Boilermakers desperately need. "We're really going to try to work those players," offensive coordinator John Shoop said. "We're trying to get the ball downfield as much as we can. Part of it is protection, and part of it is working the pocket and part of it is making a new line of scrimmage, getting good releases and getting depth. It's not any one thing. It's all of those. We took some strides last week in protecting and building a pocket, finding a safe spot in the pocket and we've got to take steps this week in completing them, getting them down field. We took some shots and just missed. (We) can't just miss." Holding up The offensive line had one of its better efforts of the season protecting the quarterback, allowing only two sacks. The Boilermakers were able to hold up after getting some help GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 10 • 18