College football kickers are among the least trustworthy group in sports and Purdue would have been better off letting a random student kick during Saturday’s game against Ohio State. The Boilermakers were on the wrong end of a doink just moments after the most ironic in-game promotion possible.
It all began on the first drive of the game.
Purdue took first possession and drove 44 yards on nine plays to set up 4th-and-8 from the Ohio State 31-yard-line. Kicker Julio Macias missed a 48-yard field goal attempt to keep the score at 0-0.
Five offensive possessions later (they were all punts), the Boilermakers got the ball back with two minutes and two seconds remaining in the first half. Ryan Day had just lost his mind on his offense during an angry sideline tirade because he knew the home team would have the chance to put points on the board before halftime.
That’s exactly what happened! Kind of.
Purdue had a nice 69-yard drive to set up 1st-and-goal at the one-yard-line. Head coach Jeff Brohm called a timeout to stop the clock with 23 seconds left.
During the break, a group of students were presented with the opportunity to kick field goals of various length for various prices. The third and final kick was from 40 yards — for a car.
The student nailed it. He won a two-year lease in exhilarating fashion!
And then the Boilermakers returned to the field. Disaster struck.
Three-straight runs went for negative yardage and resulted in a net loss of 13 yards. Macias trotted back out on 4th-and-goal from the 22-yard-line to attempt a 39-yarder.
Just minutes after a student made a 40-yard field goal, Purdue’s kicker missed a 39-yard field goal. He doinked it off of the left upright.
To make matters worse, Macias missed again from 27 yards out during the third quarter.
The Boilermakers missed three field goals in total. Two of which were from less than 40 yards.
Meanwhile, a random student picked out of the crowd nailed three kicks from 40 yards or less! Yikes.
Maybe Brohn should turn to that guy?!