Joe Tiller began last season with high hopes for his ground game for good reason. The Purdue coach had a steady back returning in Montrell Lowe and a potential game-breaker in Joey Harris. Unfortunately for Tiller, the 2001 season taught him that hope can’t grind out tough yards, nor can it keep defenses honest.

The Purdue rushing game averaged just 98 yards per game and a miserable 2.7 yards per carry. Lowe never established himself as a true feature back and carried just 12 times in Notre Dame’s 24-18 win on Dec. 1. Harris chipped in with eight carries for 22 yards.

But those kinds of statistics could be a thing of the past if Purdue can consistently approach the results it enjoyed last weekend in blowing out I-AA Illinois State. In the 51-10 romp Harris, who won the starter’s job from Lowe in the preseason, rushed for 144 yards on 23 carries and added two catches for 67 yards, including a 57-yard touchdown on a screen pass. As a team the Boilermakers nearly tripled their rushing output from last season.

Finally, Tiller’s hope for an honest running game translated into tangible results.

“Joey is a little more talented than Montrell is,” Tiller said. “Joey’s strong points are his speed and ability to be a more formidable blocker in the passing game.”

Harris’ advantage over Lowe as a blocker stems mainly from his height. He stands three inches taller than the senior back. Whereas Lowe tends to cut block blitzing linebackers, Harris can stand them up en route to quarterback Kyle Orton. Granted, taking on a I-AA linebacker is a far cry from stopping Brandon Hoyte or Mike Goolsby.

Still, the extra offensive dimension should pay dividends for Purdue this season. Orton predictably turned in his most well-rounded career start against ISU throwing for 250 yards and three touchdowns while completing 50 percent of his passes.

“When you look at what he did in the Illinois State ballgame, it is obvious that’s he’s a quarterback of good size, has a good strong arm and very confident about his ability to lead that team,” Tyrone Willingham said. “And I think you take that from his coach, because his coach I think somewhere said that this is a young man that he believes is better than Drew Brees, and that is a high comment in my opinion.”

Tiller’s offense and Orton’s improvement will test the Irish secondary, not so much in terms of Vontez Duff and Shane Walton, but nickel back Preston Jackson and dime back Garron Bible. Both Jackson and Bible played against Maryland but they’ll see a much more efficient passing game from Orton than Maryland’s Scott McBrien and Chris Kelley.

“I thought (the Maryland game) was a great opportunity for them to learn, get their feet wet and see what they have to do to be good players in our system,” Willingham said. “I was very pleased with what they did, obviously, because they blended right into our defense almost seamlessly to help us get the shutout and keep Maryland to almost a bare minimum in terms of total offensive yardage.”

While Willingham shouldn’t expect another shutout this weekend – the Boilermakers haven’t been blanked since 1996 when the Irish posted a 35-0 win in South Bend – the coach will need his reserve defensive backs to play well against both Orton and the up-and-coming Harris.

“There are probably some areas that we were not tested in versus Maryland that Purdue will test,” Willingham said. “There will be constant improvement, or the need for constant improvement.”