Well, I don't know quite where to begin here in writing a post-script for a scathing Boilermaker loss, other than to say that I've covered Purdue football in some form another for about two decades and chronicled a lot of bad losses, some of them you had to see to believe, and in some cases, even then you didn't, and this was one goes on that shelf.
A walk-on, backup, freshman kicker made a 56-yard field goal to beat a Purdue team that minutes earlier had been salting the game away.
The kid got a scholarship out of it after the game, at least.
A lot went into this — a lot had to, after Purdue was head-and-shoulders better in the first half and up 31-17 in the fourth quarter — including the sheer absurdity of a game-sealing interception being ruled incomplete when the ball never hit the ground and no one stepped out, then that walk-off kick, after a worst-case-scenario-timed turnover by an experienced quarterback.
What it boiled down to above all else was this: Purdue had its chances, same as it did so often last year, against Northwestern, Missouri and Eastern Michigan, then later against Michigan State and Wisconsin, all games it was a play or two away from maybe winning, those dozen or so snaps being the difference between six wins and who knows what.
Purdue had its chances again, and again, they went by the wayside.
Two special teams turnovers, one more a fluke than anything, one a flawed decision by a great player, an unnecessary risk in a situation where Purdue didn't need to take risks. Nevada didn't win this game because it scored off those turnovers, but it might have won this game because by getting them, it dragged Purdue's defense back onto the field. Had it gotten the rest it earned in those situations, maybe it's better when it matters most. That defense was gassed at the end and if you want to call it an excuse, hey, you do you, but there's not a player on that roster that had played a football game prior to tonight at 4,500 feet above sea level.
That being said, the defense had enough fuel in the proverbial tank to force zero-sum third- and fourth-down situations that would have likely won the game, and, in fairness, probably did make the play to win the game, without reward.
But this was more of the same from last season: A game in that unit's hands, slipping through its fingers, whatever the reason may have been, though in this case, blame lied not with the defense alone, but with the other thirds of the game that set it up to fail.
Obviously a most unwelcome start to a season in which more should be expected from Purdue. It's season did not end tonight, for certain. But it did start badly, for certain.
A lot of crazy stuff had to happen for this outcome to materialize, but circumstance needed help, and Purdue provided it.
The two turned-over punt returns started it. Jared Sparks' dropped pass nudged it along. And then the second of Elijah Sindelar's two interceptions finished the job, or least stood as the beginning of the end. Maybe Purdue should have been more aggressive offensively like it was when it drew up big plays for Jackson Anthrop and David Bell, but trust fuels aggression, and Purdue couldn't afford to the ball more over. That's pragmatism, and when you throw in protection worries, clock consumption should have been enough to win this game. The one drop alone cost Purdue 20 seconds of clock and a makeable second-and-three or whatever it would have been,
Purdue was not the same in the second half as it was the first, and while Purdue seemed to do a really nice job orchestrating offense that played to its strengths and covered its weaknesses early, getting Elijah Sindelar into a nice rhythm, it could not find the same success in the final 18-and-a-half minutes, on the wrong end of a 20-0 scoring run.
That's on everybody, as is this result, all-told.
And now a program that has found ways through two seasons to maximize momentum and milk it finds itself, again, in a position where it has to regenerate some.
This was a dreadful and painful loss for Purdue, as difficult a setback for the Boilermakers as I think I've seen and one, they have to hope, doesn't prove a tone-setter for this promising season.
A walk-on, backup, freshman kicker made a 56-yard field goal to beat a Purdue team that minutes earlier had been salting the game away.
The kid got a scholarship out of it after the game, at least.
A lot went into this — a lot had to, after Purdue was head-and-shoulders better in the first half and up 31-17 in the fourth quarter — including the sheer absurdity of a game-sealing interception being ruled incomplete when the ball never hit the ground and no one stepped out, then that walk-off kick, after a worst-case-scenario-timed turnover by an experienced quarterback.
What it boiled down to above all else was this: Purdue had its chances, same as it did so often last year, against Northwestern, Missouri and Eastern Michigan, then later against Michigan State and Wisconsin, all games it was a play or two away from maybe winning, those dozen or so snaps being the difference between six wins and who knows what.
Purdue had its chances again, and again, they went by the wayside.
Two special teams turnovers, one more a fluke than anything, one a flawed decision by a great player, an unnecessary risk in a situation where Purdue didn't need to take risks. Nevada didn't win this game because it scored off those turnovers, but it might have won this game because by getting them, it dragged Purdue's defense back onto the field. Had it gotten the rest it earned in those situations, maybe it's better when it matters most. That defense was gassed at the end and if you want to call it an excuse, hey, you do you, but there's not a player on that roster that had played a football game prior to tonight at 4,500 feet above sea level.
That being said, the defense had enough fuel in the proverbial tank to force zero-sum third- and fourth-down situations that would have likely won the game, and, in fairness, probably did make the play to win the game, without reward.
But this was more of the same from last season: A game in that unit's hands, slipping through its fingers, whatever the reason may have been, though in this case, blame lied not with the defense alone, but with the other thirds of the game that set it up to fail.
Obviously a most unwelcome start to a season in which more should be expected from Purdue. It's season did not end tonight, for certain. But it did start badly, for certain.
A lot of crazy stuff had to happen for this outcome to materialize, but circumstance needed help, and Purdue provided it.
The two turned-over punt returns started it. Jared Sparks' dropped pass nudged it along. And then the second of Elijah Sindelar's two interceptions finished the job, or least stood as the beginning of the end. Maybe Purdue should have been more aggressive offensively like it was when it drew up big plays for Jackson Anthrop and David Bell, but trust fuels aggression, and Purdue couldn't afford to the ball more over. That's pragmatism, and when you throw in protection worries, clock consumption should have been enough to win this game. The one drop alone cost Purdue 20 seconds of clock and a makeable second-and-three or whatever it would have been,
Purdue was not the same in the second half as it was the first, and while Purdue seemed to do a really nice job orchestrating offense that played to its strengths and covered its weaknesses early, getting Elijah Sindelar into a nice rhythm, it could not find the same success in the final 18-and-a-half minutes, on the wrong end of a 20-0 scoring run.
That's on everybody, as is this result, all-told.
And now a program that has found ways through two seasons to maximize momentum and milk it finds itself, again, in a position where it has to regenerate some.
This was a dreadful and painful loss for Purdue, as difficult a setback for the Boilermakers as I think I've seen and one, they have to hope, doesn't prove a tone-setter for this promising season.
