SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No way was Anthony Mahoungou going to be cradling the Foster Farms Bowl trophy.
His right arm was, essentially, strapped to his side, the result of a shoulder injury suffered on the second-to-last significant Purdue offensive play Wednesday night. The injury didn’t prevent him from making one of the game’s biggest plays, somehow snatching a pass and fending off a physical, handsy Arizona defender, and falling into the end zone to complete a 38-yard, go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes of the Boilermakers’ dramatic 38-35 victory.
It did, however, mean he couldn’t celebrate in a worthy fashion.
That trophy? Elijah Sindelar estimated it was 40 pounds.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way I can do this with just one arm,’ ” Mahoungou said. “So I just kissed it. That’s all I did.”
Mahoungou’s face lit up, then, flashing the wide smile that teammates love.
He could do it, despite the physical pain, because he’d, again, responded from in-game adversity.
Just like his senior classmate, Greg Phillips.
Both began the season as starters, seemingly fending off the players the coaching staff recruited to take their jobs, but then both stumbled during the season. They were derailed by dropped passes. They were unable to produce any consistency. So they got benched.
Jared Sparks, a converted quarterback, snatched Mahoungou’s position. Phillips, a captain, found himself in the doghouse for early comments about — depending on your point of view — possibly guaranteeing victories and being too boastful after the team’s quick start.
But in their final game, hoping to make the important final impression, both did.
Phillips had the game of his Purdue life, catching a career-high 14 passes for a career-high 149 yards and a career-high two touchdowns. He entered the season with only 30 catches for 275 yards and zero touchdowns.
“Basically, I just wanted to come out here and play the game I knew I could play and not let my hard work go in vein, give Purdue the thing it needed that I didn’t give in the beginning,” Phillips said. “I just wanted to slow the ball down, catch the ball, do the small things and it led to the big things.”
Sindelar said he wasn’t specifically targeting Phillips, just taking what Arizona’s defense gave him.
But he still found himself going back to the senior over and over.
“Greg was on point with his routes. It was fun to watch,” Sindelar said. “I remember he had a sweet move against Missouri where he just broke the guys ankle. He had all those moves (Wednesday). When somebody is hot, you just try to give them the ball, just keep feeding him. That’s what I tried to do in the first half, and he made some huge plays for us.”
Phillips had seven catches in Week 1 but hadn’t had more than four after that until Wednesday. He appreciated the insistence on getting the ball to him against Arizona.
“When you catch the first one, it’s simple, and the next one comes to you and, oh, another one coming to you, another coming to you, the confidence just keeps building, ‘OK, I can do this. I need to go ahead and take over. I need to try to make a guy miss and make a play.’ ”
Mahoungou did that on his first touchdown catch, getting a pass near the sideline and easily dispatching the DB before racing into the end zone for a 31-yard TD. He made another great grab over the middle later, leaping to snatch it out of the air. But, then, he fell back into old patterns, unable to hang on to balls in his vicinity, unable to fend off tight coverage. Eventually, a ball that he dropped went into Arizona’s hands for an interception. Mahoungou got yanked, as receivers coach inserted Sparks, who clearly was not healthy on that bum ankle. But Mahoungou got another chance — he said he promised Shephard he would rebound — and he seized it.
Even with that ailing shoulder.
Mahoungou got hurt on a pass that ultimately resulted in no gain — Elijah Sindelar lost the snap, scrambled to grab it and then found Mahoungou. But he stayed in and was targeted for that final throw.
“Leading up to the last play, they rotated the safety away from Anthony. So all I had to do was drift and give him a chance,” Sindelar said. “They were actually bailing, so I probably should have thrown him a back shoulder ball, but we needed a touchdown so I gave him a chance and he came up big for us.
“I had all the confidence in Anthony,” Sindelar said. “I gave him a chance. … What a great play that was, walking to the sideline and celebrating with my team, knowing we had a good chance to win the game.”
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