Well, Purdue got the win it absolutely had to have.
As we discussed, losing was not an option Saturday. It simply could not be allowed to happen.
Had Purdue lost Saturday, it might have undone Danny Hope.
So how fitting was it that his coaching reign at Purdue, so inextricably linked to the misfortune of injury, might have been given a reprieve of sorts by a lucky break.
Had Kofi Hughes' catch that was ruled an interception for Josh Johnson, who made a hell of a play just to make the joint-catch, been ruled as such, or if it were a reviewable play that might have been over-turned (which isn't to say it would have), IU would have gotten a chance to score a TD and tie with a two-point conversion.
That was still a tall order against a Purdue defense that played fairly well in the second half, but it was at least a possibility, and the interception took that possibility away and more or less ended the game.
I know many expected, or at least hoped for, something a little more convincing than a game rife with nervous moments still late into the fourth quarter. But the result is all that matters in the final analysis.
Purdue can now call this a "successful" season and play in a postseason game for the first time since '07. That's a big deal for a program that's fallen on hard times.
But it has to be just the start of something more.
The million-dollar question now, and the one that will drive whatever decisions have to be this off-season, is simply, "Is it?"
We can talk until we're blue in the face about the pending decision that will have to be made about Hope's contract. It's a zero-sum game now - inaction is not an option - and the results have been just middle-of-the-road enough to make this difficult position even stickier. The decision will be driven not only by wins and losses, but also by interest in the program, tangibly quantifiable in the sale of tickets and such.
Today's result closed the door on nothing in that sense. These decisions can't be made based on the result of any one singular afternoon. If a school ever comes to that point where it does, its mind is already made up anyway.
But that is not what matters most right now: What matters most is that Dennis Kelly, Joe Holland, Albert Evans, etc., guys who've been good soldiers for the program this whole time with very little reward, get to taste some success.
These players all committed to Purdue at a time where bowl games were a birthright of sorts for the new kids coming into the program.
None of them could ever have imagined having to win a sudden-death playoff in the last regular season game of their careers just for the right to play in one lower-rung postseason affair.
Be happy for them.
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This post was edited on 11/26 7:40 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
