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FOOTBALL Offensive Coordinator Gary Nord Defensive Coordinator Tim Tibesar Higgins, Offense Up To Challenge Patrick Higgins had quite the KCharters@GoldandBlack.com BY KYLE CHARTERS ing to take over Purdue's play-call- ing duties only two days before its game at Iowa. But despite having only 48 challenge last week, prepar- hours to do so, the results were re- markable. Purdue upset Iowa on a last-second field goal, winning 27-24, after generating 490 yards of offense, the most this season for the Boilers in Big Ten play. Higgins' role was elevated be- cause of an injury to offensive co- ordinator Gary Nord, who hurt his back on Wednesday. "We really didn't know 'til we've done in the past and con- tinued the process really. Higgins' organizational " certainly helped. A former of- fensive coordinator at UTEP from 2000 to 2003 under Nord, who was the Miners' head coach, Hig- gins was ready for the challenge of calling the game. "The more you can plan when skill you have all your sensibilities to- gether and you can remove the emotion from the game, the bet- ter off you can be in those criti- cal situations in the game where emotion usually plays a big part, Thursday mid-morning that Gary wasn't going to be able to travel and that we as a group were go- ing to be responsible for calling the plays, wide receivers coach, the day af- ter the win. "So we just did what " said Higgins, Purdue's a play comes in that's not exactly right, they'll know it because they know what we want to do in third- and-short, third-and-medium and third-and-long. "And in the critical situations at 16 seconds left, we had to go over 'Hey, if this is what happens in the last (plays) are going to be our go-to stuff. two minutes, these he said. "They always say the game plan you put together on Thursdays is much better than the game plan you come with with 15 seconds left in the game. It helps because if everybody knows what you're expected to do, then they can prepare for what they have to do. And it helps because we're all on the same page, because if " that. We messed around a little bit with one (play), but for the most part they were ready for what we thought we wanted to run." Strictly from an operations ' So (the offense) had known point-of-view, not much changed on game day. Rather than on the field, where Nord usually calls the play, Higgins was in the press box, the same as he'd been the previ- ous nine games this season. "Gary would always tell (the plays to) Coach (Pete) Nochta, and Coach Nochta would signal it in," Higgins said. "So instead of Without Gary Nord in Iowa City, Purdue had to formulate a new plan for getting plays in to Robert Marve (left), but it worked to near perfection against Iowa. Coach Nochta hearing it from Coach Nord, he heard it from me in the box, so really that pro- cess was all the same. Really, the kids did a good job of executing the personnel substitutions and changes because they knew we were coaching short-handed. They took ownership of the pro- cess and really stepped up. " day of the Big Ten season, limiting Iowa to only 264 yards and less than four yards per play. DEFENSE STEPS UP, TOO Purdue's defense had its best Tom Campbell "I think our guys played hard and played with a lot of heart," defensive coordinator Tim Tibe- sar said. "You look at the tape and see that we just won more of the one-on-one matchups than Iowa did. Whether it was the contest- ed catches and throws, we had some big pass break-ups down in there. Whether it was the blocking schemes and a guy gets one-on- one with a blocker and he's able to beat him and get pressure on the quarterback. Or he's able to come off a one-on-one block and make a tackle in the backfield. GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 11 • 24