WEST LAFAYETTE -- Purdue football sort of flailed at arm's length in its 35-0 loss to No. 2 Oregon on Friday night.
It first appeared the Boilermakers might get left in the dust again - resurrecting a troubling theme. Instead, they latched onto a leg and made the Ducks drag them to their first home shutout loss since 2013.
Purdue could not carry enough of last week's improvements forward to challenge the Ducks, nor did it completely revert to its early season struggles. It never threatened but kept it reasonable through pace of play and a second wind from the defense.
Now comes a two-week preparation for a possible referendum for the future of the program. Ryan Walters and staff must take the best moments of the past two weeks and instill some consistency prior to a Nov. 3 home game against Northwestern.
Grading the Boilers for how they fell to 0-2 against the Pacific Northwest:
Ryan Browne had a chance to maybe eliminate the quarterback question as an off-week storyline. No such luck. After playing with such certainty at Illinois, he had several skittish moments Friday. Too many negative plays, and too many pre-snap penalties. Shortening the game was a smart plan, but if you cannot get in the end zone, all it does is beat the spread. Yet again, Purdue came into the game averaging a nation-worst 3.1 points in the first half - and undershot that average.
Matching up with Dillon Gabriel and his weapons would have been a tall task with a healthy secondary. With Nyland Green unavailable, the Ducks' QB started the game 12 of 13 for 208 yards. Not until the final few minutes of the first half did Purdue summon any resistance. Oregon came in averaging 7.03 yards per play and went for 7.2 per play Friday. It's still not good enough, but the defense's chaotic volatility needs simply any help at all from its offense. If that happens, maybe a game like this is a four-quarter conversation, too.
This unit keeps coming up with big moments. Tonight it was downing a 64-yard Keelan Crimmins punt at the 1. (Oregon covered the remaining 99 yards in six plays.) Spencer Porath's missed 36-yard field goal in the first half snapped his streak of five straight makes. Not good, but until this offense stops asking him to account for all of its first-half scoring, Purdue has bigger problems than placekicking.
This posts at the buzzer, so I'm intrigued to hear in the postgame how much Purdue added to the offensive playbook. Oregon clearly was much more prepared for Browne's zone-read game than Illinois. Kicking the field goal on fourth-and-4 down 21-0 is one of many darned-if-you-do/don't situations Walters has faced. For the second straight week, though, the coaches didn't trust a power running option on a crucial short-yardage look. Maybe it's time to try Devin Mockobee or even Browne himself on the next crucial third or fourth-and-1. I'm not sure what the rationale is for keeping the starters in down 35-0, but it looked especially bad when Corey Stewart was writing on the ground with 1:53 to play.
After Purdue downed that punt at the 1, Oregon responded with six straight plays of 9-plus yards. The key was a 39-yard completion from Gabriel to Kenyon Sadiq to set up a third straight touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
No quarterback controversy in Eugene. Gabriel finished 21 of 25 for 290 yards and two touchdowns.