Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda

Expanding on G.I. Jane’s article about Saturday’s game, I would like to share my opinion on the Boilers’ performance. In my post last week I talked about Oregon’s overpowering offense and I predicted the Boilers would get blown out. I was wrong. They hung with the Ducks and even had a SEVENTEEN point lead in the first half. I don’t think I’ve ever seen our defense play as well as they did. They bent, but never broke and they continued to come up with big play after big play. The only problem was Curtis Painter and the offense could not take advantage of these mistakes. Purdue was handed four turnovers, but only scored three points off those turnovers. I was glad to see Purdue playing so well against a good team, but it made me sick to watch us blow almost every opportunity we had and a SEVENTEEN point lead.
Looking back at the game there were so many plays where if one thing would have changed I’d be talking about a Boilermaker victory instead of a loss. The one play that sticks out in my mind happened right before the half when Purdue was up 20-3 with about a minute left to play. Instead of running the clock out and going to the locker room with a SEVENTEEN point lead Coach Tiller decided to throw the ball. This led to Painter throwing an interception and Oregon getting a cheap field goal right before the half. These three points were the difference in the game. If Oregon doesn’t get that field goal the game never even goes into overtime and the Boilers end their losing streak against ranked teams. But no, instead the streak lives on and the Boilers suffer a devastating defeat.
Overall, Purdue played great and I was really happy about that. However, we did blow a SEVENTEEN point lead and this made me sick. With all of that said, the season moves on and now Purdue must bounce back this weekend to play a familiar foe in Central Michigan.