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MADISON, Wis. — Elijah Sindelar seemed frozen, feet stuck to the Purdue sidelines 50 yards away from the action unfolding in the final minutes Saturday.
No. 7 Wisconsin was simply draining the clock, preserving a 17-9 victory, while the Boilermakers sophomore quarterback’s mind was churning.
Every offensive play, every series was flicking past.
Could he have thrown an out route on the backside of a run play where the Badgers were off coverage at any point?
Why didn’t he throw a more accurate ball on a rollout to receiver Jackson Anthrop on a third-and-five before Purdue settled for a field goal late in the third quarter?
And, especially, why didn’t he just chuck the ball out of bounds on a second-and-goal in the fourth quarter, instead of taking a chance to Anthrop near the sidelines and, ultimately, having the pass intercepted?
There was little Sindelar could do to settle the constant evaluating.
And it’ll probably continue for a while.
Because, in a surprise, the Boilermakers went into Camp Randall Stadium and had a chance to pull of an upset that would have defined Jeff Brohm’s first season. But despite Purdue’s defense providing chance after chance, giving the offense great field position off turnovers, the Boilermakers’ offense couldn’t deliver Saturday.
And an opportunity slipped away.
Brohm’s team did what he wanted — the motto was “play tough and hang tough” — but it just couldn’t finish.
“That was a great sign. We had a chance to win in the end, and that’s a tremendous sign. It shows the fighting spirit our guys had,” Brohm said. “They were able to overcome some adversity early on, and sometimes it wasn’t pretty. But they hung in there and they hung tough. That’s the main thing we can take from it. I think you’ve got a group of guys in there who are disappointed, but they’re encouraged to know, hey, we’ve got to go try to win the next one. If we just put our head down and grind this thing out and work hard, we can do it, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work and everybody trying to improve.
“We’ve still got a long ways to go. The fact that we play hard and we want to win, that’s the most important. As coaches, myself, all of us, we’ve just got to find ways to be create and help our guys improve and just find ways to win.”
It was the first time in Brohm’s head coaching career his offense did not score a touchdown. Purdue (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) had only 221 yards of offense, a measly 66 rushing.
But the unit still had its chances.
The best, probably, came in the fourth quarter.
The Boilermakers forced Wisconsin to its first three-and-out of the game with 10:43 to play, giving the offense the ball on its own 39.
After a first-down run, Sindelar connected with Greg Phillips on a 12-yard pass to move the ball to Wisconsin’s 46. After another run, tight end Cole Herdman got open on a flea flicker to set Purdue up on Wisconsin’s 10.
On first-and-goal, Markell Jones got three yards up the middle, bringing up a second-and-goal from the 7.
Sindelar had time in the pocket but couldn’t find an open receiver, and then Wisconsin had a defender break into the backfield. Sindelar scrambled, flushing right initially before backtracking. And, instead of throwing the ball out of bounds, he saw Anthrop near the sideline. So he threw it. And Wisconsin’s Leon Jacobs stepped in front of the pass.
“It’s a little bit of a risk-reward play. It’s second-and-goal, trying to cut it in half and make it third-and-goal from the 5 rather than third-and-goal from the 10,” said Sindelar, who completed 13-of-29 passes for 155 yards. “Took a chance, ended up not going our way. But if it did go our way, nobody says anything. Just happens he picks it off. That one hurts. Wish I could have that one back.
“I was actually (planning on) throwing it away and that’s when I saw Jackson and was I like, ‘I’ll give him a chance.’ Should have just threw it away.”
Purdue never got the ball back.
Wisconsin converted a third-and-12 early in its next drive and, later, a third-and-six — both on passes — and ultimately got into the red zone and kneeled. It erased the final 8:14.
But Purdue’s defense hardly can be blamed.
After allowing a 67-yard rushing touchdown on the game’s first series and a 14-yard passing TD on the second, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter, the Boilermakers locked it up.
And got the offense the ball back.
Da’Wan Hunte’s interception gave Purdue the ball on Wisconsin’s 44. The offense had to punt.
Garrett Hudson blocked a punt, which teammate Race Johnson scooped up and headed toward the end zone. But Johnson tweaked his hamstring, and so the offense got the ball on Wisconsin’s 15-yard line. The offense got nothing when David Blough was sacked twice on three plays and then missed a field goal.
Danny Ezechukwu’s interception in the second half put the ball on Wisconsin’s 28-yard line. The offense settled for a 40-yard field goal.
“They gave us ample opportunities to make something happen. Offensively, we have to do a better job of capitalizing,” Sindelar said. “(The defense) did a great job. They held them. They forced some turnovers. They got us great field position a couple times, and we ended up shooting ourselves in the foot with penalty, penalty and we were in field goal range one time and we got, I think, two false starts. One was off cadence, one was off silent. The fact is we can’t do that to ourselves offensively. “We’ve got to be able to play a perfect game against a team like this to win.”
Purdue couldn’t escape Madison with a breakthrough victory.
But its continued fight, its effort until the end, its defense that consistently seems to rise to occasions, those provide hope.
If not reassurance.
“We’re going to keep playing hard. We’re going to keep flying to the ball. We’re going to keep getting turnovers. And I know it’ll work in our favor,” Hunte said. “We’ve been playing a lot better, but we’ve just got to clean up certain things. Every week is a challenge. It’s the Big Ten. Every opponent is tough, and we understand that. Every week, we’re going to continue to get better and clean up on things we didn’t do well in the game.
“I like the direction we’re going in. I’m just proud of my teammates.”
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