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INDIANAPOLIS — Afterward, they were talking about “finishing.”
The ultimate underdog, a three-touchdown-plus one that hadn’t had a winning season in four years, against the No. 16 team in the country with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner.
But, in the end, Purdue players weren’t explaining away another blowout, something that’s been common for this program of late.
They weren’t repeating the recent refrain about how they couldn’t summon the fight when it mattered, how they were hanging heads on the sideline at key points.
They weren’t wondering where the belief was, weren’t questioning if they belonged on the field with an opponent such as this.
They were lamenting in ability to finish in the fourth quarter.
Because these Boilermakers, ones led by first-year coach Jeff Brohm, actually had a chance to beat the Cardinals. These Boilermakers, buoyed by an apparent renewed sense of confidence, had the ball, down seven, with minutes to play.
They didn’t finish, no, but they competed til the end.
Which is exactly what Brohm wanted to see, a “competitive fire,” as he calls it.
In the end, Purdue made too many mistakes — three interceptions, including a pick-six, personal fouls, a not-surprising inability to “contain” Lamar Jackson — and lost, 35-28, Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.
But perhaps in this loss more than any one recently, there was hope.
“You have to (fight), each and every Saturday,” said Jackson Anthrop, whose two touchdown catches and emerging go-to ability sparked the offense. “Especially this year, we might be the underdog most of the Saturdays, so you’ve got to go out there and fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. If you get put on your back, what else is there to do?”
To be clear, none of Purdue’s players who spoke to reporters afterward or Brohm were happy with the result.
Quarterback Elijah Sindelar, who made his first career start and also finished the game, called it "bittersweet," knowing how close Purdue came but not being able to finish. But also seeing the demeanor displayed, that fight mentality he says is "going to be our M.O."
Brohm knew his team needed to play mistake-free for it to have a legitimate chance at the upset. It didn’t. But Brohm, a ridiculous competitor, could see the good, too.
“They learned the pure simple fact of football is that if you really want to compete, believe in yourself and try to find a way to win, you can do it,” Brohm said. “For a team that not many people were giving much hope for against a very good opponent, we were in the game, we had a chance to win. We were playing with them to a certain degree. We find a way to keep it close. We unfortunately came up short.
“Our guys have to understand football, as much as you try to scheme and do things to win, it’s a simple matter of, ‘Do you want to win? How bad do you want it? Are you going to fight to find a way to do it?’ Today, we did that. We have to build upon it. We can’t just expect it to happen again. So we have to go out next week and prove ourselves against another opponent.”
Purdue (0-1) actually had two chances to tie the game late.
After Louisville (1-0) kicked a field goal for a 35-28 lead, Sindelar trotted onto the field to lead the offense again — David Blough played, too, but got yanked for good after the second of two interceptions — with 4:18 to play. Two completions were followed by three incompletions to bring up fourth-and-five, but Sindelar found Anthrop for a big first down to keep hope alive. Four plays later on another fourth down, Anthrop had another catch to move Purdue to midfield.
But on second-and-10, Sindelar forced a throw to the sideline — later he said he knew the coverage and just made a bad decision — and it was intercepted, ending the drive. By the time Purdue got the ball back again, there was only 74 seconds left and it didn’t get a first down.
“Turnovers are going to hurt you. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing,” Brohm said. “When you’re playing a good football team, you can’t overcome it. We could not overcome.”
Purdue kind of executed its game plan on defense in terms of Jackson, the Heisman winner. It didn’t want the QB to scramble and beat it with his legs. And he rushed for only 107 yards on 21 carries. But then he torched Purdue through the air, completing 30 passes for 378 yards and two touchdowns.
After Purdue had taken a 28-25 lead with about 11 minutes to play, Jackson was masterful on Louisville’s next drive. He completed a 39-yard pass down the seam, got free of pressure to throw only an incompletion instead of being taken down for negative yardage, kept it on a read for a 12-yard gain and then zipped a pass into the slot for a 20-yard, go-ahead touchdown. He accounted for all 75 yards on the drive.
“It’s tough, man,” said linebacker T.J. McCollum, who had nine tackles in his Purdue debut. “He’s a dual quarterback. He can do it all. He’s very athletic. We’ve just got to make our tackles. It’s easier said than done, but you’ve got to make your tackles.
“We did what we could. We blitzed. He just got out of those situations. He knows how to get out of bad situations with his legs. He’s elusive with it. It’s unbelievable. He’s a great athlete. It is what it is.”
But there were reasons to be encouraged by the defense, too, McCollum said.
For one, Purdue was aggressive and forced turnovers: Ja'Whaun Bentley forced two fumbles in the red zone, and the Boilermakers recovered them both.
"We definitely are going to be known for an aggressive team, hard-working team. We’re going to give it our all, every game, every day. But we’ve just got to finish," McCollum said. "We definitely did some good things, but we didn’t come out with the W. I’m all about wins. I want to win. For us to lose, it sucks. Even though we played good, great and people think we (wouldn't) even stick that far, I still want a W. I think we should have won that game."
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