If you didn't watch the game today you missed one that was at least entertaining...and you missed a nearly-fun game. Purdue had a long TD pass on their first offensive play from TerBush to Shavers, a 100 yard kickoff return for TD by Hunt, a few sustained drives and some solid defense versus an offense that was scoring like J when a Sade CD is playing...at least before today.
We wanted to see the Boilers fight...we wanted to see them compete...and they did that today. The players did their job for 58 minutes this afternoon as they went toe-to-toe with one of the better teams in the nation. The problem of course is after two weeks of getting their arses handed to them, a moral victory is worth nothing...especially the way this one played out.
Key moments in the game:
-After Purdue's first touchdown the PAT was blocked...score 6-0. (one point left on the field)
-2nd quarter, with Purdue up 13-7 on the 2 yard line, Purdue comes away with zero points as TerBush tries to force a pass into double coverage. The possession resulted in an interception, and aOSU ball. (at least three points left on the field)
-20-14 2:58 left in the 3rd qtr Purdue gets the ball on the aOSU 37.
Purdue could have all but put the game away. After a big runt by Akeem Hunt Purdue was inside the 20 with a fresh set of downs. After conservative play calling and a busted play, Purdue attempted and a field goal...and it was blocked. (three more points left on the field)
-With Miller out of the game, Guyton took over for the entire fourth quarter and really couldn't move the aOSU offense.
-20-14 11:50 remaining
Purdue just in aOSU territory with a fresh set of downs. after two busted plays, Purdue is forced to punt.
-20-14 10:51 remaining
Webster's pooch pins aOSU on the one yard line. After a hold on aOSU in the end zone on second down, aOSU gave Purdue two points in the form of a safety.
-22-14 2:40 remaining
Feichter's interception of Guyton gave Purdue the ball. Purdue's offense promptly went three-and-out after a possession that took just 47 seconds off of the clock. The possession included a false start, a befuddled-looking Purdue offense and a hair-brained scheme that included Purdue calling two time outs...in order to save the clock. This strategery of course allowed aOSU to avoid using their timeouts. Yeah, the rest of the football world doesn't get it either...but Hope is that much of a revolutionary.
After this mess, Purdue's defense joined the lying down party and allowed a previously-inept offense led by a green QB to find life versus a prevent-to-win defense. After scoring a TD to put them down by two, Guyton once again looked like a veteran, as a broken-down play led to Gaston being forced to guarda TE...it didn't end well for Gaston (shockingly), as aOSU tied the game.
With the wind out of their sails, Purdue's defense allowed aOSU to go up by seven in OT...and the offense responded by not moving the ball and being forced to throw a desperation heave that ended the game.
I felt like if Purdue had won, it would have changed the trajectory of the season. A win today and a few more wins this season and this season might have been universally viewed as a success. So in a way, Hope was coaching for his job today.
So how did he and his assistants coach as they looked to make a statement and a mark on the program's direction? They coached scared. The defense lost its teeth, the offense lost its lower-intestinal fortitude, and of course, Purdue left Columbus with a loss.
I'm proud of the players for fighting and playing in the way they're capable of playing for much of the contest...but this game still crashes down loudly and painfully in the right hand column. Plus, the coaches seemingly wiped away all momentum created in 58 minutes by throwing this one away.
Purdue stole a game last year versus aOSU in Ross Ade as two mediocre teams battled into bonus football...Today, our Boilers gave one away that they had all but wrapped-up. If nothing else, balance remains in the universe.
26 comments:
As I said earlier I didn't watch. But credit where it is due... The guys apparently came out to play today, for most of the game. That being said, where was this team the last two weeks? You guys have said all along a good, well prepared team wins the games it needs to (I paraphrased a bit). The last two weeks were those games. Today would've been icing on the cake. I saw a tweet from y'all that it appeared the guys were playing for their coaches jobs at one point... Why can't they just come out and play like that all the time?
Finally, saw a quote from the jconline post game presser that Hope was upset about some of the holding on the last OSU drive of the game... It shouldn't have even gotten to that point.
I ALWAYS feel bad for the guys on this squad. You know as a student athlete you put a lot of time and commitment into the effort- and the talent is here to compete with anyone- but the coaching staff gets in the way...time and time again. I feel bad because these guys keep playing and their coach doesn't put them in position to win. It is beyond frustrating. We quit playing to win...quit going after the giant at his house...the place where we have won what 2 times in the last 60 something years? Is this what we call managing our expectations?
So, to be fair to coaches Hope and Nord, Purdue did force OSU to use it's final T.O before they started to bleed the clock. as much as they could, before calling their timeouts. I didn't have a problem with the use of the T.O. as a delay of game would've stopped the clock as well. I did however have a problem with the utter lack of trying to get ONE MEASLY FIRST DOWN to end it on their terms. But whatever we're purdue, we play not to lose, instead to win... in all sports (See Men's BB vs. Butler, Xavier, and Kansas). I think as fans we root, but we also expect it because we've seen it so many times, hence the apathy-like horrible fan attitude, Coach Hope & Nord. But whatever, be pissed at us, it's not like we can do anything to affect your stay @ West Lafayette... or can we?
Alright, the TO criticism is getting absurd. There's plenty to be unhappy about without that. But it's to the point where EVERY timeout that Hope calls is getting picked at completely without merit.
When Hope called his TOs at the end of regulation, he waited until the play clock drained to the absolute last second, and OSU was already out of their timeouts.
It wasn't to preserve clock...it was to use every last bit of it they could without taking a delay of game penalty or lining up and risking a false start. It was an a SMART use of timeouts he knew he wasn't gonna need later.
There's lots to criticize here (like not using the time they had during to TOs to draw up a play to get the 1st), but lashing out against GOOD football decisions without thinking them through is just dumb.
I really don't blame the coaches for going conservative... No, I don't like it.. but since Terbush has thrown some bad interceptions against the blitz, it was probably the safer way to go. I really thing if anybody is going to pick on the coaches after this one game, it should be special teams.
I went for a hike, specifically to avoid the game. Got home late 3 quarter. I wish I had planned a longer hike.
So- letting the clock run would have been a worse decision than calling multiple timeouts? Odd.
I wouldn't call it smart football...especially since the timeouts set up nothing. Let the clock run...every second absolutely matters.
Zero expectations = zero pressure. You (or J Money, can't remember) said this exact thing would happen. We have to break the cycle of misery, if we give Hope credit for this (almost) win when it means absolutely nothing, we'll never get anywhere.
This is one of those games that I just LOVED the players. Man, they put it all out there. But just when they did all the great work, our coaches stepped in and decided to get into the game, X and O them right? I think these players are amazing. The coaches, not so much (gosh, what would we be if we spent a few bucks and had some non-moustache's?). What is crazy is that these same coaches - who KNOW we have to be reckless to even compete, get conservative at the very worst time. That was always my biggest bug about "old" Tiller.
The BIG POINT HERE - LISTEN.... HERE IT COMES..... READY?.............................This is a victory to Morgan B. We hung in, almost won even! It's like we even WON the game - except for the score! This is way better than being blown out and it proves our coaches are.... moving in the right direction!
Man, if I was M.B. I would be so relieved that a hard decision was taken out of my hands!
Now then, since I live in SEC country, before bed I'll go look at the news about the next coach that gets canned because he didn't beat the spread. nite ya'll.
My uncle is up this week from Alabama and he is of course a HUGE Crimson Tide fan. But just as I return the favor to him and root for Bama, (and have been doing so for about 25 years) he watches and was roots for our Boilers. Today in the final (timed) minutes of the game, he just about had a heart attack at not only the time outs called by our coaches, but the play calling. The words out of his mouth couldn't have rang more clear and truly IS what separates the Purdue's and Alabama's of the college football world. He said "that is grounds for dismissal in Alabama". "A man that calls himself a coach, who clearly doesn't know the very basics of the game has no home in the SEC". The bitter truth...and as I told him...every TRUE Boilermaker knew a couple years ago. Hope and his posse are not only selling our players short, they sell our program and our University short with every mistake they make. The players deserve better and our fans deserve more.
An almost win against #7 (especially when statistically Purdue dominated), after two skunkings, means the talent is on the field, but not on the sideline.
The kids can only do so much.
It ain't gonna happen soon, but I look forward to the day when we can put Hope out of our misery.
Looking toward the not too far future, I just came across this crap on indystar.com, it makes me want to vomit...I can't wait to sweep them. http://www.indystar.com/article/20121020/SPORTS15/210200337/Bob-Kravitz-Tom-Crean-embraces-No-1-ranking-why-not-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com
I'm actually OK with the timeouts as well. I believe what they were doing was letting the play clock run down to one second and then Hope would call a timeout (the deal where he stands next to the side judge or whoever as the clock counts down).
The play-by-play, if it is to be believed, bears that out: Ohio State called their final timeout at 2:35. Cottom ran for a yard, then Purdue called timeout at 1:48, which is close to 40 seconds after the end of that play. The timeout after Shavers' carry was at 0:59, again close to 40 seconds later. I don't think you can do much better unless you have your center snap the ball at 00 but before the whistle, and that's really hard to do ... plus Cottom's false start kind of put that drive in the hole in the first place.
What got me was that after watching all that film, it took them until the second drive of the third quarter, when Purdue was down again (the longest time they were down the whole game, still less than four minutes), to attack with those screens and short passes, even though they must have seen Indiana do it play after play after play ... and once they got that TD, they threw four passes the rest of the game, no more than two on any drive, and that only one time (probably because of the third and 10).
Hard to believe Purdue led for over 54 minutes. I stand by what I said before the game - Nord should go, now. The defense did a heck of a job keeping it close, only making one big mistake (a costly one, unfortunately) and creating a bunch of OSU mistakes. The kick return team came up big, and the offense actually looked pretty good when Nord ran something other than run-up-the-middle, stupid-run, pass, punt.
There are real problems with the kicking game, too. I don't know if it's the line, the kicker(s), or what, but it's so much harder to win close games when you leave points on the field every time. I guess I understand not practicing extra points too much, though. I've seen Gary Nord's offense.
I've not been so frustrated with close games against solid teams on the road as I have this year about the ND and OSU games. A better coaching staff, I believe, would have pulled off those wins. It's a shame to watch these kids have to run sorry-ass plays time and time again.
What really bugs me is when you have a chance to end the game trust your players and try for a first down. Whether AOSU had 1 minute or 1:40 they can still score. Mike Sherman of the Packers did the same thing in the fourth and 26 game. He has a HOF QB and runs the ball on third down to take 40 seconds off the clock.
@boilerdowd If the suggestion is that they should take a delay of game every play when trying to run down the clock (literally the only way they could run the clock down further), then you must be very upset by coaching at all levels of football. I can't think of a single coach whose clock management would appease you.
I was there in Columbus. The timeouts were called with 1 second left on the play clock. Not totally moronic, but still that was more time for them to plan their offense for the end. Shouldve went for the home run once to seal it with a first down. I don't have to repeat the sentiment about the coaching. I am glad it wasn't another shalacking, and I love our players. By the way, Columbus is a great place to go for the game weekend. Even with the outcome, I feel better today than I did before this game, and let's not give up on these players. The chance is there to win-out and not go to Detroit again.
Echoing what other have said, the two timeouts in the fourth were used so that we could run the play clock all the way down. One of the few smart clock management/timeout decisions that Hope has made in the last 4 years.
First off, I automatically delete stupid curse-laden comments with name calling...in case anyone cares/notices that comment has been removed.
Second, if multiple timeouts are the right way to handle this situation, why doesn't anyone else do it?
That move takes pressure off of a defense that should have all of the pressure, at that point...and stopping the clock for anything but an automatic first down should be out of the question.
The players were awesome thus game! They came to play and play hard they did. I am disappointed in the fact that we go so conservative so early. 4 min left and we're running and running. Go for the jugler, we did the rest of the game!
Anyway, this saved Hope, unless we have another let down. M.B. has to be looking over his shoulder too....new administration and all.... I doubt that Mitch will settle for mediocrity.
Great job this weekend - men! I just wish you had more backing from the sidelines. This loss, in my humble opinion, can be pinned on J.B. Gibboney. He knows Griggs kicks it low and after the first block should have made correction! We nail the FG we win!
Those saying they're okay with the TOs... you do realize that you're then giving the opponent a free TO to gameplan on the sidelines, right? To get everything set and in order? And in this case, it was a team playing a little-used backup QB? Do you think maybe they appreciated a little extra time to talk to Kenny G on the sidelines? To let everyone rest?
J-
That's a weak argument. Defense had the same amount of time to game plan and get rest as well. Once again the TOs were the least of the pet peeves that killed Purdue. Not being able to finish or take advantage of opportunities was what killed Purdue again.
OK, so, the TO argument is going to go no where, it seems (though I honestly don't agree with them).
Having said that, why are we arguing about the time outs rather than the weak results that came from them. Seriously, if the coaches are taking a timeout at that point in the game, knowing that a first down will seal the game, why don't they use that time to put in a play that has a possibility of earning the first down and it probably didn't even need to be that creative.
At the end of the day, the play calling coming from the TOs is bottom line issue.
1st down = ball game
My biggest issues:
1. Clock management. One example--We punted the ball with 15 seconds left on the play clock for crying out loud. There is no f'ing excuse for mistakes like that.
2. Overtime coin toss. Why in the world would we choose to start on defense after the defense had been on the field the prior 20 minutes?
3. Play selection. I know we were trying to run down the clock on that last drive, but for god sakes, run something creative to get the first down instead of 3 straight plays of up-the-middle!!!
Regarding the timeouts, Hope apparently did this at/near the end of the Rice game too (I don't entirely remember the game despite the fact I was there).
If that's the case, he obviously forgot how it worked then. Can someone else verify if this is true?
The p-b-p from last year's Rice game doesn't show any odd Purdue timeouts, just the one on fourth and one on the second-to-last possession ... but that was trailing, not leading.
Ok, thanks for checking. After a conversation w/ my brother we thought there might have been but weren't sure if we were up or down at that point.
Post a Comment