Purdue Holds Off Northwestern For A Senior Day Win

Yesterday on a cold and snowy day Purdue held off Northwestern to win on senior day and keep their Big Ten West dreams alive. Early on it looked like Purdue was going to have a fun high scoring day against a very bad team. It ended up being close enough for some drama by the end. When it is all said and done though it is a W and that is what matters.

Pregame Fun

Yesterday I was having some fun trying to make a photo with the eyes and the ball again in pregame. Here with Payne Durham I was able to do just that. With the band coming into the stadium behind me I was a little closer than I wanted to be here, but it forced me into a tighter composition which worked well.

Senior Day

The day was all about the seniors. Both touchdowns were scored by seniors from passes thrown by a senior. Some of the biggest defensive plays late in the game were also by seniors. After the virus senior day has been a little more special. You have gotten an extra season with many of these athletes to appreciate them.

Another Flyover

During pregame I found out that there would be another flyover. I was struggling with an idea that was different than what I have done before. The way that they typically fly over the stadium really limits what you can do. I settled on a photo near the flag again. Mother nature kicked in and gave me a different photo when the flag started to take off. After watching a member of the band nearly take flight I somehow still made an image.

Make Sports Fun Again

Yesterday I watched a very exciting play where a player picked off a ball and returned it for a score. They showed the kind of emotion that you would expect from a defender who scores a touchdown. When I saw the flags fly I assumed that we would be kicking a super long extra point or kicking off from further back. Somewhere I must have missed the rule change where the play is negated from having fun. When I hear the people against paying these athletes give their reasons they always point out that these are kids playing for fun. If you take the fun away and expect them to play like professionals then you probably should pay them like they are professionals. What a shame that this play never happened.

 

Taking It All In

After the game I was photographing the team in the high five line. I started back to the media room when I realized that senior Payne Durham was taking his time before leaving the field. Payne is certain to be headed to the NFL, but here he spends a few last minutes soaking in a home college football game. I have always talked about how I would linger at the end of seasons because you never know what could happen. This year was a prime example of why that thinking is not crazy. I followed Payne around for a few minutes before doing pretty much the same thing. It was great to be back in Ross Ade Stadium this season. Even if it was only for a couple of games I will never take that opportunity for granted. This was the last football game that I will photograph this year. I feel like I made better photos this year than I have in the past. I am still growing as a photographer and that is good. At some point I am sure that I will put together a couple of posts of my favorite football photos from this year. Until then here are a few more photos from the game that I liked.