Jeff Brohm likes to coach by intuition.
Analytics? Let's just say the Purdue coach isn't a "Moneyball" disciple.
“I go by feel and what I think is going to work,” said Brohm on Monday. “I don't go by percentages.”
That’s what made the scenario late in the fourth quarter of last week’s heart-pounding 31-29 win at Maryland fascinating.
With under three minutes to play in the game, Purdue was clinging to a 24-23 lead and had the ball. That’s when it happened: Boilermaker tight end Payne Durham caught a pass and chugged upfield, stiff-arming and head-butting would-be tacklers before a scrum of Terrapins finally subdued the 6-6, 255-pound Durham 56 yards later.
When Durham stood up, the ball was at the Maryland 2-yard line and 2:11 hung on the clock. The Terrapins had all three timeouts left. That's when the questions began to pop up.
• How soon should Purdue try to score?
• Should Purdue score a touchdown? Kick a field goal?
• What down should Purdue try to score?
• Should Purdue try to score?
• How much time could Purdue kill?
On and on it went in the mind of Brohm, his staff, TV analysts and arm-chair quarterbacks tuned into the game.
“At that point with where we were at, I just knew if I was on the other sideline, I would let the team score to get the ball back, and I knew that's what they were doing,” said Brohm. “So, we wanted to use some clock. We knew they had timeouts, so you had to use the timeouts first.”
Brohm had his strategy: Have quarterback Aidan O’Connell sneak the ball … but not score. Just fall down … and don’t go backward while doing it.
O’Connell did just that on first and second downs.
“Burn some more clock,” said Brohm. “We didn't burn as much clock because they used their timeouts, but we were able to use their timeouts.
“Then, on third down, you have to think, ‘OK, if we try to risk this again on fourth down, you're going to have a decision: Do you kick a field goal or do you try to go for it?'
"Now, if you get stopped, you’re only up by one, they go get a field goal, they win the game. But, let’s not lose the game."
On third down, Purdue decided to try to run it in for the TD.
“Just in case we don’t get it, then we’ll have to make the tough decision whether to go for it or kick the field goal.”
Brohm's plan worked, as Devin Mockobee ran in from the 1-yard line. That gave Purdue a 31-23 lead.
But Purdue left 1:20 on the clock for Maryland, which had exhausted its timeouts.
“I thought we managed it, in my opinion, about as well as we could, not being totally for sure because it was a unique situation."
But Purdue's worst nightmare subsequently unfolded. Terrapin quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa marched his offense to paydirt, covering 68 yards on four plays and taking a scant 37 seconds to hit tight end Corey Dyches with an 18-yard scoring pass.
"Unfortunately, they still went down and scored very quick. … " said Brohm.
Now, the Terps were just a converted two-point play from tying the game and forcing overtime. Maryland notched a successful pass play on its two-point try, but the Terrapins were penalized for ineligible man downfield.
"I thought we had a call that worked on the first two-point play," said Brohm. "You know, they had a shuffle pass along with a perimeter throw. Since they didn't throw the shuffle pass, that meant their lineman was downfield. (Tagovailoa) extended the play on the perimeter throw. Jalen (Graham) was guarding his guy (Rakim Jarrett). We have everyone covered.
"I think Jalen must have thought (Tagovailoa) was going to run in the end zone. He abandoned his guy, left him open, and that allowed for the open completion. Looking at it, (Tagovailoa) was going to get tackled, so Jalen should have just stayed on his guy and then the play was over then."
The penalty pushed Maryland back five yards to the 8-yard line. On the second two-point try, Tagovailoa sailed a pass out of the back of the end zone. Purdue then recovered an onsides kickoff.
Game over.
"The second (two-point play) was really the same call," said Brohm. "I thought we had things guarded pretty well. Tried to buy time in scramble and we did a good job covering."
Was Brohm already thinking of OT plays as Maryland was lining up for its two-point tries?
"As far as overtime plays, we always have a set selection ready to go and really it's just about red zone plays from the 25-yard line going in and how can you get in the end zone and get touchdowns."
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