Instant Analysis: Oregon-Purdue

In a game that nobody wanted to win, one thing can be said about the Oregon Ducks: They refused to lose more than the Purdue Boilermakers did.

Trailing 20-3 on the road just before halftime, Mike Bellotti’s boys could have folded the tent. Despite whiffing on nine red-zone snaps in the first half, the lads from Eugene continued to plug away. Even though they dropped what seemed like a million passes (at least eight; with this story being filed less than an hour after the game’s conclusion, that stat is unofficial and might be revised in the coming hours), the Ducks fought on into the afternoon in Indiana. Their miscues, fumbles and stumbles put them in position to lose, but the visitors from the Pac-10 were persistent throughout a second half in which they found a finishing kick that was good enough to carry them to victory.

To try to analyze this game in any meaningful way would represent an exercise in futility, because futility was found in abundance at Ross-Ade Stadium. While the Ducks suffered their own boatload of blunders, the Boilermakers also dropped several balls while coughing up the pill three times (Oregon committed five turnovers on the day). And despite driving into Oregon territory in the game’s final minute with the score knotted up at 23, Purdue settled for a much longer field goal than it might have had a right to expect.

The Boilermakers worked the ball inside the Oregon 30, arriving at the 27 with 28 seconds left in regulation. After an incompletion brought the clock just under 25 seconds, Purdue still had more than enough time to throw a pass and get inside the UO 20. With a tricky wind swirling through the ballpark, the home team needed to have a field goal of under 40 yards in order to feel somewhat comfortable about the prospect of a last-second kick. But Tiller—in his last season as the coach in West Lafayette—weirdly chose to run the ball into the line and allow the clock to drip down to the two-second mark. When a 35-yard kick was very much within Purdue’s reach, Tiller felt content with a 44-yard boot.

Not surprisingly, the resulting attempt by kicker Chris Summers went wide left… way left. Even though Purdue had Oregon on the ropes in overtime, only to step off the gas and give the Ducks yet another opportunity, the best chance for Purdue had already come and gone at the end of regulation. When given new life, the Ducks—despite losing starting quarterback Justin Roper to an injury in the first overtime sequence—had the stronger will and the greater grit, finding ways to create havoc on defense and outlast their opponent from the Big Ten.

It certainly wasn’t pretty or efficient, but when given their get-out-of-jail-free card, Mike Bellotti’s bunch displayed less hesitation and more desire. What the Ducks lacked in poetry or precision, they made up for with sheer persistence. That, in the end, is perhaps the best way of summing up a mysterious mistake-filled mess of a matchup in the Midwest.