The Purdue Boilermakers are making a strong case to become "Trick Play U." Back in 2008, they took down Michigan thanks to a perfectly-executed hook-and-ladder trick play with 30 seconds left. A few years ago, they pulled off the old hidden-player fake kneel that Gus Malzahn made famous at Auburn.
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Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm has proven to be a risk-taker when it comes to wacky and bizarre formations. He even estimated his team runs about 50 trick plays a season, which comes out to four per game.
"We take pride in (trick plays)," Brohm told Rivals. "It's hard to score against good defenses and it's up to us to figure out how to score points and (trick plays) have helped us going back to last year."
When Purdue took on the Oregon State Beavers to kick off the season over the weekend, Brohm broke out a formation I can't say I've ever seen.
Purdue's Bizarre Trick Play Formation
Trick play szn is back pic.twitter.com/XJr8DB0GyM
— Branded (@BrandedSports_) September 5, 2021
RELATED: Creative Trick Play Snaps Ball Over Punter's Head on Purpose
I'm not even sure what Brohm would call this one.
With about 11 minutes left in the third quarter on Saturday, Purdue set out to kick a 41-yard field goal to add to its 13-7 lead.
Then, five offensive linemen shifted out to the left away from the snapper, who was accompanied by one other lineman. The ball was snapped to tight end Paul Piferi. He raced to his right, where quarterback Jack Albers had been lined up by himself.
Albers then threw to a blocker who had broken off from the pack, tight end Payne Durham, for what should've been a fourth-down conversion. However, an Oregon State defender was able to rip out the ball from Durham's hands as he was coming down, which resulted in an interception.
#Purdue lined up for a FG but went with a trick play. Backup QB Jack Albers took the pitch and connected with Payne Durham, who bobbled the ball and OSU came up with INT.
Play before, Milton Wright dropped a TD. https://t.co/23YRHlMvfo— mike carmin (@carmin_jc) September 5, 2021
I don't even care about the interception. Brohm pulled this weird-as-hell trick play out of his bag of tricks and his team did everything perfectly. The defense just made a great play to negate it. Style points for the formation, though.
Purdue went on to win, 30-21, so the second-half potential touchdown didn't take away too much from the game.
The Big Ten may be Ohio State's to lose this college football season, but if Brohm and his trickery have anything to say about it, they could surprise people in the Big Ten West.
