Duck players and coaches said all week they expected that their trip to Ross-Ade Stadium to face the Purdue Boilermakers would be their first true test of the season.
And tested they were, as the Boilermakers pushed them to the brink of their first loss of the season, but ultimately fell short as No. 16 Oregon escaped West Lafayette, Ind. with a come-from-behind road win, prevailing 32-26 in double overtime.
After a missed Purdue field goal in the Boilermaker half of the second overtime, Oregon turned to true freshman quarterback Chris Harper, who led the Duck offense 25 yards on five plays to win the game on a 2-yard touchdown run by junior transfer running back LeGarrette Blount.
Blount led the Ducks in rushing with 132 yards on 12 carries and scored the Duck offense’s only two touchdowns in the game.
“LeGarrette is big back that you are seeing get more and more comfortable in this offense,” said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti in a radio broadcast interview.
Roper was unavailable in the second overtime because he was injured in the first overtime as he dove to convert a third down. Roper came up just short, and was rolled on by a Purdue defender as he stretched for the final yard, twisting his left knee. Roper tried to get to his feet, but fell back down to the grass and had to be helped off the field by trainers.
Bellotti said that he expects Roper to miss 1-2 weeks with what he described as a sprained left knee.
Roper was 20 of 48 throwing the ball for 197 yards with two interceptions, and was plagued by dropped balls as well as his own mistakes.
“We did not throw the ball well today,” Bellotti said. “We might have dropped 10 balls, honestly.”
Roper completed his 20 passes to four different receivers led by tight end Ed Dickson, who caught seven balls for 93 yards. Jeffrey Maehl caught seven passes for 38 yards, Jaison Williams caught five for 49 yards, and senior transfer Terence Scott caught one pass for 17 yards.
Oregon may have thrown so much because the fell behind so far so early, as Purdue went ahead on their second play from scrimmage, an 80-yard scamper off-tackle right by Purdue fifth-year senior running back Kory Sheets to lead 7-0 less than one minute into the game.
Sheets would lead all rushers in the game with 29 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns.
Purdue would go on to score on each of its first four possessions to lead 20-3, but then the Duck defense buckled down, holding Purdue scoreless for its next 10 possessions and intercepting Purdue senior quarterback Chris Painter twice, one each for defensive backs Jairus Byrd and T.J. Ward. The defense allowed just one field goal for the rest of regulation, allowing Oregon to claw its way back into the game.
Trailing 20-6 late in the third quarter, Oregon junior cornerback Jairus Byrd caught a Boilermaker punt at the Oregon 13 yard-line, exploded through the first wave of would-be tacklers, and streaked 87 yards to paydirt, drawing the Ducks to within a score of the Boilermakers at 20-13 with 4:41 left in the third quarter.
“That return by Jairus Byrd changed the game,” Bellotti said.
Oregon seized the momentum, stifling the Purdue offense and scoring just more than four minutes later when Blount tied the game at 20-20 on a 5-yard touchdown run that was set up by his longest run of the day, a 72-yard blast straight up the middle of the Purdue defense.
Senior kicker Matt Evansen scored 15 of Oregon’s 32 points on three extra points and four field goals, (22, 23, 33, and 38 yds) including a pressure-packed 38-yard field goal to tie the game at 23-23 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“Matt Evansen has arrived,” Bellotti said. “If said before that I think he’s as good of a kicker as there is in the country.”
Senior running back Jeremiah Johnson ran the ball 17 times for 97 yards despite not being at 100 percent, according to Bellotti.