Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Alex Carder And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Bowl Game

by Matt Sussman on Dec 27, 2011 8:33 PM CST in MAC Football

That might've been the most lopsided five-point game in bowl history. Purdue's 37-32 win over Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl was decided for one reason alone: turnovers.

If turnovers were dollar bills, WMU would have been able to not only buy a Little Caesars Pizza, but have enough money left over for a 2-liter, provided they were able to find some change in the cup holder.

This was only the second time Alex Carder threw four interceptions in a game. He's usually not this erratic (28 touchdowns and 10 INTs this season) but really made some bad choices and appeared to try and be the first quarterback ever to throw a football through a defender. Not only do physics disallow such throws, it'd be abnormally painful to the defender. He also fumbled the ball twice, including on the final drive when WMU had a glimmer of hope had they could compile an 88-yard touchdown drive in 2:09 with no timeouts.

So that's a bummer. WMU remains perfectly imperfect in bowl games, the MAC drops their first one of the year, and Purdue ends up with a winning record. Strange times abound. Things were looking up with Carder located Jordan White on a flea-flicking touchdown. Then they followed it up with a fake extra-point as John Potter, in a similar play from last year, ran in the 2-point conversion:

Fun stuff. It seemed like they were en route to a successful game, but turnovers are going to mortally wound the psyche of any team. It was nice to see them come back after falling behind 34-18 in the third quarter but I wonder if Bill Cubit didn't err by leaving Carder in as long as he did. His passes just looked a little off and maybe it was the injury flaring up, but perhaps benching Carder in lieu of Tyler Van Tubbergen, a VERY capable quarterback, should've been the way to go.

And not enough can be said about everything Jordan White did in the game. For all his season-leading marks this year, 13 catches for 265 yards was a career-best mark in terms of receiving yards. His previous high was 235 yards, set in that 66-63 loss to Toledo. This was a wonderful showing for White to the NFL scouts. He demonstrated capable speed but more importantly hands of velcro.

So that's the WMU season. 7-6 and a bowl loss. Sounds about right. If this is what the Broncos are OK with every year they should keep Cubit around for a while.

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Comments

I thot that it was a wonderful bowl game! The best of the season actually and I didn't have a dog in the hunt.

Both teams seemed to really respect each other, both made terrific plays and neither gave up. It was a long game and I had things which I HAD to do but I still watched until the end. This, IMO, was one of those games that did NOT have a loser. The numbers may have been different on the scoreboard but both teams won. Congratulations!

"What you are entrusted to do as a coach is to create an environment where your players have a chance to be successful." CHIP KELLY

by Famous Duck on Dec 27, 2011 9:11 PM CST reply actions

Western was the loser

You don’t turn the ball over that many times and say you can win a game

by Brown and Gold on Dec 28, 2011 11:07 AM CST up reply actions

Eeesh

On one hand, WMU certainly fought it out and gave themselves a chance. They just turned the second hand over to Purdue, though.

Fun game to watch, as someone who was pretty ambivalent on the outcome. (I’m an MSU fan, but I live in Kazoo so I root for Western in general, but it’s good for the Big 10 if we win our bowl games.)

I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen two successful onside kicks in row. I’m really sure I’ve never seen two in a row that weren’t at the end of a game.

Also, I’m pretty sure I saw Josh Schaffer, number 82 for WMU, force two fumbles while on offense, cancelling out a pair of Carders oopsies. That’s gotta be a fairly unique accomplishment.

by witless chum on Dec 27, 2011 11:03 PM CST reply actions

ugly

WMU found a way to lose (many ways, actually) a game that was there for the taking. The play-calling on the 4th-and-1’s was pathetic. Another blown opportunity for a little MAC respect.

by marksstc on Dec 28, 2011 9:47 AM CST reply actions