Purdue's rebuilt offense, led by Browne and Ijeboi, brings real balance into Washington week

Purdue goes into Friday night's home game against Washington with something it has lacked for years: an offense that knows what it is. The scouting report from UW Dawg Pound, SB Nation's Washington site, starts with quarterback Ryan Browne. He threw 10 interceptions against nine touchdowns last season. This year he has 1,550 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception, with a completion rate near 70 percent and 8.4 yards per attempt.

The other half of the story is Fame Ijeboi, a sophomore who backed up at Minnesota last year. He gave his old team a hard lesson on Saturday, running for a career-high 195 yards and three touchdowns on 31 carries in the 41-13 win, according to the Associated Press recap on Fox Sports. Ijeboi gave his blockers the credit: "I couldn't have done it without them," he told the AP. Yahoo Sports reported that the game earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors, and that Pro Football Focus has him ahead of every ball carrier in the country in forced missed tackles. Through six games he has 549 yards and nine touchdowns on 117 carries.

The SB Nation preview credits second-year coordinator Josh Henson, who came over from Lincoln Riley's USC staff, with changing the plan from week to week. Browne threw 42 times in the double-overtime loss to Wake Forest. Against Minnesota, Purdue ran 47 times and passed 24 as a portal-built offensive line opened the way for 299 rushing yards. FAU transfer Asaad Waseem (472 yards on 29 catches) and Xavier Townsend are the main targets, and tight end George Burhenn is back to a full workload after early injuries. The preview flags two weak spots: red-zone finishing, where Purdue scores touchdowns on about three of its five trips per game, and the six-sack night against Notre Dame.

What it means for Friday

Purdue is 3-3 and has won two straight Big Ten games, at Illinois 24-17 and then over Minnesota. Before that came a three-game slide: a two-point overtime loss to Wake Forest, a 52-38 loss at UCLA and a 49-10 loss to Notre Dame. Minnesota is a shared opponent. The Gophers won 27-24 at Washington, and Purdue beat them by 28.

The matchup the preview keeps coming back to is Ijeboi against a Washington defense with 10 sacks. If the Huskies can't win first down with a four-man rush, Browne gets play action and time to find his receivers downfield.

On this site's board (full prices for Washington at Purdue), 11 venues list the game, and Purdue is favored. Novig has the Boilermakers at -163 on the moneyline and Washington at +153. Purdue is favored by 3.5 points, priced at -104 on Novig, with the Huskies +3.5 at -102. Novig sets the total at 51.5, with the over at -108 and the under at even money. The best under price anywhere is at BetRivers, which offers 53.5 at -122, two points higher than Novig's number. Sportsbook hold runs from 3.9 to 7.0 percent across the three markets, so how much each venue keeps varies by a few points.

That 51.5 total fits a Purdue offense averaging 415.5 yards per game. Whether the game goes over or under it may come down to the red zone, where the Boilermakers have stalled too often.