Sutherland Can’t Let Go the Pass He Didn’t Catch

Vinny Sutherland couldn’t sit still.

One moment the Purdue Boilermakers’ senior wide receiver rested his chin on his hand as he listened to his teammates answer postgame questions. The next moment he shifted restlessly and combed his fingers through his short brown hair.

Still compelled to do something to burn off his simmering frustration, he drummed his fingers on the table in front of him, his blue eyes staring into the distance at something only he could see.

Purdue’s 34-24 Rose Bowl loss to Washington had ended only a few minutes earlier, but Sutherland was already well into a process of analysis and second-guessing. Although he had tied a Rose Bowl record set by 14 other players by catching two touchdown passes Monday--a five-yard pass from Drew Brees in the second quarter and a dramatic and well-executed 24-yard play that tied the score at 17 in the third quarter--all Sutherland could think of was the second-quarter pass he couldn’t hold in the end zone, leaving the Boilermakers to settle for a field goal that sliced Washington’s lead to 14-10.

“I don’t think they’re better than us,” he said of the fourth-ranked Huskies. “We just played like [garbage].”

There may be a day when Sutherland looks back and appreciates his seven catches and 88 yards, both game-high numbers.

There may also be a day when he reviews the tape of his second touchdown and marvels at how he created the opportunity with a 51-yard kickoff return that broke the Purdue bowl record of 42, set by Leroy Keyes in Purdue’s 1967 Rose Bowl debut. He might nod and recognize the importance of the 12-yard reception he made along the left sideline to keep the touchdown drive alive.

He may smile when he again sees how he used his sprinter’s speed to burn cornerback Roc Alexander and strong safety Greg Carothers and grab Brees’ on-target pass in the left corner of the end zone, putting the Boilermakers back on equal footing after the Huskies seemed on the brink of breaking the game open.

Someday, he will acknowledge those achievements and be proud of setting a school record with 13 receiving touchdowns this season, one more than Brian Alford caught in 1997. Then, perhaps, the sting of the loss will recede.

Monday wasn’t that day.

“It’s my last game. I’m pretty bitter,” said Sutherland, who is third on the Boilermakers’ career receiving touchdowns list, with 30. “What we’ve accomplished over the last four years means a lot, but this is the one you might remember forever.”

The Boilermakers’ mantra throughout their 8-4 season had been “Finish,” a bow to their failure to hold a 24-0 lead over Georgia in the Outback Bowl last year in a 28-24 overtime loss. They were determined to end this season with a flourish, not with regrets. Regrouping after Washington built a two-touchdown lead, they gave themselves a second chance at redemption.

The chance slipped through their outstretched fingers, leaving Sutherland glassy eyed and simmering with self-directed anger.

“Some of us didn’t make plays,” he said. “But they made plays too. We aren’t out there by ourselves.”

Sutherland, a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s outstanding receiver, resisted suggestions that it was one of his better games. “I dropped the ball and didn’t come through in the end,” he said. “The effort was there. . . . We knew they were running their safeties down and we had to work hard to make plays.”

Coach Joe Tiller wasn’t as tough on Sutherland as Sutherland was on himself.

“I thought he played well today,” Tiller said. “He had a chance to make some big plays today, and he did, but unfortunately, because we lost, he’s going to dwell on the dropped pass, and that’s the wrong thing to carry away.

“He put us in position to compete. He played pretty well. I’ve seen him play better. If I had to give him a grade, I’d give him a ‘B’ grade.”

Against the bigger Huskies, though, nothing less than the Boilermakers’ ‘A’ game could work. It clearly wasn’t their best performance; they played in spurts and undermined their own chances by taking 11 penalties for 69 yards, both season highs. Like Tiller, Sutherland pointed to the third quarter as the turning point, specifically after Washington took a 20-17 lead on John Anderson’s 42-yard field goal and they twice failed to get a first down.

“The play calling was right. The players weren’t making the plays,” Sutherland said. “The penalties hurt us, too. We’d get a little momentum and there was something we messed up on every down.”

Someday, he will realize it wasn’t all a mess, that he and the Boilermakers have much to be proud of. But maybe not someday soon.

“There have been some ups and downs. It’s been a fun road,” he said. “I’ve had a great time at Purdue. I just would have liked to win this one.”