Big Plays Cap Comeback as Boilers Prevail 31-17
This isn't your father's Purdue football team, unless you are Brady or Brooke, in which case, thanks for reading, and tell your dad we're very glad he took the Purdue job. Anyway, the hypothetical reader's father's team would have insisted on running the ball in inclement weather, would have let a rash of turnovers bury them, would have ... well, done just about anything except what Jeff Brohm's Boilers did Saturday.
At halftime, the Good Guys had turned it over 4 times and were trailing 14-6. The passing game hadn't quite clicked, the running game wasn't where it wanted to be, and the defense had given up two big runs to set up Minnesota touchdowns. With a storm front moving in, things were literally looking grim for Purdue in a game that was supposed to be a victory tribute to the recently-departed Joe Tiller.
In yet another pleasant departure from history (especially the Hazell years), the second half was not at all like the first. Elijah Sindelar drove the Boilers 52 yards in 10 plays, capping it with a 22-yard pass to DJ Knox, and Purdue was down just 14-13. Three Gopher possessions later, Minnesota had picked up just two first downs, and the Boilers had it back at their 20. As the storms moved in, Sindelar hit Jackson Anthrop for 35 yards, then overcame a holding call to get Purdue inside the 10 on a big Knox run. Brohm chose to kick on 4th and 2 from the Minnesota 9; Dellinger nailed the field goal, and the teams headed for shelter with the Good Guys up 16-14.
Much, much later - the only other afternoon game that seemed longer was the 7-OT affair between Western Michigan and Buffalo - Minnesota came back and did what they do best, grinding out first down after first down, converting two more fourth-down attempts in the process. (They were 3 of 4 on the day.) The Boiler defense stood firm, and Minnesota had to settle for a 38-yarder ... but they were up 17-16, and with just 2:26 to play, the few fans sticking it out would have been forgiven if they'd thought it was the last three years all over again. The ones who stayed knew it would be different, and they didn't have to wait long to be proven correct.
Knox took the kickoff to the Purdue 44; two plays later, the Boilers were in Minnesota territory, and after Anthony Mahoungou got his second long play of the day, Markell Jones finished the drive with a 12-yard run; a Sindelar-to-Phillips conversion made it 24-17 Purdue, taking just over a minute of game time. That didn't leave much for the Gophers; the question was whether Purdue's defense had one more big play left in them, and the answer was Ja'Whaun Bentley, who took a Conor Rhoda pass 76 yards for the clinching score.
The thing about a game like this is that Purdue didn't need to win it; a loss would be disappointing, but again, few people expected Brohm to make such a difference so quickly. (I happened to run into a former player from my days at Purdue who was impressed with what Brohm has done with recruits who were mostly Hazell's; he's not the only one to notice that.) But the fact that they did, in adverse conditions, and in a way that left no doubt, helps to build a foundation for winning ... and not necessarily just for next year, either. Sure, next week's game in Madison probably won't go well, but no one thought it would, and each of the remaining games looks a lot more winnable than they did in August. (Except the Rutgers game. That's always looked winnable.)
Purdue played a team that had appeared to be at least a bit better at this point in the season; they made a bunch of mistakes, left points on the field too many times, and still came back to win by two scores. It's fitting that on a day that remembered the career of the last coach to breathe life into a moribund program, the guy who might be the next to do so led the Good Guys to a win in a style that Tiller would certainly have appreciated if he'd seen it himself.
The Boilers haven't started 4-3 since 2011, and they haven't put together 4 I-A wins before November since 2007, when Tiller's men started 5-0 and were sitting at 7-2 before dropping their last three and falling into the Motor City Bowl. That was the last team Tiller took to a bowl game, and the last time Purdue won 8 games in a season. They almost certainly won't win 8 this year, but with Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana still on the schedule, it's not difficult to imagine Brohm making December plans with these guys. Let's hope that we see a 4-3 squad facing Nebraska the next time the Good Guys play at home ... and that the weather has settled down enough for us to enjoy another good home game.
Rest easy, Coach Tiller. At least for now, the program you revived is in good hands. Boiler Up!
Feature image courtesy of Purdue Athletics, taken by Tom Campbell or Tom Schott
