Hidden Plays: Oregon-Purdue

Poor Purdue. They outplayed Oregon on both sides of the ball, yet flew home to West Lafayette with the L. Look at Oregon's drive chart and note their futility from midway through the 1st quarter through the end of the 3rd. That was largely Purdue's disciplined D keeping Jeremiah Masoli in check. Meanwhile, the Ducks were getting carved up on defense by efficient Boilermakers QB, Joey Elliott, and hotshot RB, Ralph Bolden, who is fast, strong, runs hard, breaks tackles, and is a decent receiver out of the backfield. A total stud. Add to all that the fact that Oregon looked sluggish, confused, and continually killed momentum with penalties (finishing with 9 for 66 yards). And yet, entering the 4th, the score was Oregon 31-Purdue 24. Why?

The Boilermakers gave the Ducks 17 points on 3 plays: A fumble-6, a pick-6, and a pick-3 (INT turned into a FG). They also gave away 1 point on a blocked PAT. You gotta give Oregon credit for being opportunistic, but those big plays disguised both Purdue's strong effort and a frustratingly uneven showing by Chip Kelly's squad. It's too early to give up on the Ducks, they have way too much talent for that, but they're a head case. They could blowout Utah on Saturday or get blown out, I have zero read on that game. As for Purdue, head coach Danny Hope can take comfort in being a legit Big 10 sleeper. There's a lot to like about his team. But, there's little comfort in knowing that in spite of (and due to) their own charity, they had their chance to possibly win this game ... at the very least, force overtime ... and they couldn't do it.

HIDDEN PLAY #1

Scoreboard frames the action, Purdue in a 3rd and fairly long situation. They're only down 1 and Oregon has only intermittently stopped them, so no need to do anything crazy.

Good call. Elliott rolls out of the pocket, where he's had some success, and looks downfield where he knows he has one-on-one coverage.

Elliott's pass is a little underthrown, but if WR, Keith Smith, can haul it in, he's got a pretty decent shot at taking it to the house.

Unfortunately, the opportunity is squandered ...

... when the pass clanks off of Smith's hands. Not an easy catch, but in the 4th quarter of a tough, but winnable road game, that's a play you gotta make. Now, even if Smith caught the pass, I don't think the TD is automatic. Oregon's 2 DBs probably had enough speed to make it close. Still, a reception here flips field position, puts Purdue in FG range, and gives the Boilermakers a good shot at taking the lead.

HIDDEN PLAY #2: DON'T LEAVE YOUR FEET!

Purdue had a shot to force OT on the 2-point conversion. Elliott again rolled to his right and spotted TE, Kyle Adams, running along the back line. The record books will show this as as pass failed, but in fact, the pass was perfect.

As you can see, the Oregon defenders are in "Oh shit!" position.

The ball is literally inches from Adams' waiting hands. Nothing could possibly go wrong ...

... except that Adams inexplicably JUMPS (???) for a ball that was face high. I don't get it. A panic jump? Who's ever heard of such a thing? But, that seems to be what happened. What do your coaches always tell you? "DON'T LEAVE YOUR FEET!!!" Adams left his feet.

By the time Adams came down, he was that far out of bounds. A true hidden play.