Joe Tiller, Purdue Football Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory Yet Again

"Our inability to finish is what really grabbed us," said Lame duck Purdue head coach Joe Tiller, after an embarrassing come-from-ahead loss to Oregon, on Sept. 13.

Tiller says this as if it is earth-shattering, as if it isn't the continuous scourge of his teams to be embarrassingly unable to play a full 60 minutes.  It says something painful that even after Purdue went up 20-3 in the second quarter, I had a bad feeling about the game.  We've seen this pathetic script played out too often.

“We’re disappointed,” Tiller said.

Don’t be disappointed, Joe.  Be furious! Quit accepting these pathetic half-efforts from your team and your coaching staff!  That complacency has continually doomed your teams!

I realize Tiller put Purdue football back on the map, but since those early years where Purdue was an innovative threat to everyone they faced, the coaching has turned soft, weak, and scared.  I left last year's Ohio State debacle when, down 23-0 with just minutes remaining, the Boilers punted.  What happens if you go for it and fail, you get routed a little worse?  What about last week's game against Northern Colorado?  Punting on a 1-AA opponent's 35-yard line?  Are you kidding me?

How many couldn’t see this coming once Oregon began charging back?  How many really trusted Purdue's feeble quarterback to win the game for the Boilers against a quality opponent?  How many couldn’t foresee both sides of the ball faltering at the worst possible time, again?

It is long past time to put this relic out to pasture, and this miserable little farewell tour keeps reminding Purdue fans of that.  Tiller may leave as the all-time winningest coach in Purdue history, but sadly, the fans will always remember the miserable, pathetic, embarrassing failures of the last five to seven years.

Way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yet again, Boilers.  This same story is getting pitifully old.