Iowa State (6-2) at Texas (5-2)
12:00 PM ET
Purdy is a gamer. Will his skillset translate to the NFL level? It’s become borderline impossible to gauge that for most of these college guys but Purdy is certainly worth a floater pick in the mid rounds.
Highlights Package
Ryan Wilson at CBS Sports does a nice job tracking the college quarterbacks, especially during this season where most of us don’t even know which conferences are playing game.
We had high expectations for Purdy this season and, truthfully, he’s been disappointing. But against Kansas Sate, he had has best game of the year. He only attempted 20 passes, in part because of a dominant run game, but Purdy completed 16 throws for 236 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. He also rushed seven times for 59 yards, which was a season high.
As we saw often last season (but less so in ’20), on Saturday Purdy was accurate on short and intermediate throws but he also showed great touch on a 21-yard touchdown toss to Xavier Hutchinson against tight coverage:
What a snag!@CycloneFB WR Xavier Hutchinson makes an impressive catch to put Iowa State up 21-0 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1hrQlNvBHQ
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 21, 2020
This is a big-boy throw, and something we hadn’t seen a lot of from Purdy this season. It’s an encouraging development, but it’s also important to remember that Purdy is at his best when the running game is clicking. He’s not going to have success throwing the ball 40 times because, in part because his gunslinger mentality can get him into trouble when he tries to force balls into too-tight windows. Purdy is much more efficient, however, when he’s playing the game-manager role, which includes using his athleticism in the running game too.
