When you were playing the Joe Tiller, diabetes-hating Purdue team of yesteryear, you always were prepared for "basketball on grass," an up and down spread attack keyed by some very good quarterbacks (Drew Brees, Kyle Orton).  This year, despite a 1-2 record and loss to Northern Illinois, the Boilermakers are putting a little more effort into the ground game.  While many expected Jaycen Taylor - who formed a potent running back tandem in 2006 and 2007 - to be the feature back, sophomore Ralph Bolden has surged to the top of both the depth chart and the national rushing leaders.  Leading the nation in rushing after two games, Bolden fell to second after Northern Illinois packed the box and racked up over 41 minutes of possessions, keeping the Boiler offense off of the field.

A 5' 9" native of Georgia, Bolden burst onto the scene with 234 yards on 21 carries against Toledo in week one, then followed it up with 123 more at Oregon.  Toledo has a horrid defense on paper and on the field, as you can see from the fact Bolden doesn't have to do a whole lot but run to the open green space in this highlight video:

Oregon was a tougher test, and Bolden became more involved in the passing game, collecting three catches for fifty-two yards and a score to go along with the twenty-nine carries and 123 yards.  Even if the comparison is easy to make because of their slight statures, it doesn't seem to be ridiculous to compare Bolden to Maurice Jones-Drew; both very compact, low centers of gravity, good speed and ability to bounce off some tackles.  The huge running lanes that appeared against the Rockets weren't there in Eugene, but as you can see (horrific music warning - turning your speakers down now is not a bad idea), Bolden still managed to matriculate his way on down the field.  

The run at :53 he takes a handoff out of the shotgun, runs directly into the hole and shrugs off a tackle attempt and pounds his way into the endzone.  2:06 is a simple little pass over the middle, but there are no Ducks around and Bolden scoots it into the end zone for an easy score.  Against Northern Illinois, Bolden wasn't quite as effective, but it was more to do with the overall game situation than a failure on his part.  The visiting Huskies held a 21-7 halftime lead and as I mentioned above, allowed the Purdue offense less than twenty minutes of possession time.  From our colleagues over at SBNation's Purdue site, Hammer and Rails:

It's important for Purdue to get something going on the ground because quarterback Joey Elliot hasn't exactly lit the world afire in his first few starts.  He's completing 61% of his passes for just a shade under 225 yards a game, but the touchdown to interception ratio is not great (four TDs and five picks, with three coming against the Rockets).  The Irish defense has been a little better against the run than the pass (74th in the nation versus 91st), but the overall performances in the opening trio of games leads me to believe that this game could be very similar to the one Purdue played against Oregon and both Irish contests versus Michigan schools.  Unless the Irish offense is particularly scintillating, I doubt Purdue finds itself in a 28-7 hole, as they will presumably be jacked up for a primetime match-up with an instate rival they've lost three of the last four to.  Of course, the last time the Irish took a high powered offense into Ross-Ade Stadium for a night game:

Even with Jimmy Clausen hobbled and Mike Floyd on the sidelines, history implies that the Irish will be able to move the ball on Purdue's defense.  Now I've watched as much video as I could on Bolden, and I've been impressed with pretty much everything he does.  He protects the ball well on impact, has good hands, nice open field speed and a nose for the endzone.  If the Irish want to move to 3-1 and avoid another letdown, then they'll have to contain Bolden and make Elliot beat them.  Considering how Tate Forcier and Kirk Cousins have looked the last two weeks, Coach Danny Hope ought to be okay with that situation.  It's up to Jon Tenuta and his boys to make both coach and quarterback considerably less comfortable.