It was one of those days for Purdue.
Hosting No. 4 Penn State at Ross-Ade Stadium, the Boilermakers—then trailing 14–0—thought for a second they had trimmed the deficit to one possession with a touchdown midway through the second quarter.
Purdue sophomore wide receiver De'Nylon Morrissette did catch a pass from quarterback Hudson Card on some black-painted grass. The only problem? Morrissette was standing behind the pylon with the football out of bounds. No catch, no touchdown.
"When you look down and there's a pylon in front of you..."
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) November 16, 2024
"That's not a good sign." pic.twitter.com/DKn5dDe3VN
Card threw another incomplete pass on third-and-goal, and the Boilermakers settled for a 22-yard field goal to put its first points on the scoreboard.
The college football world had some fun with the odd attempted touchdown catch out of bounds, criticizing the grounds crew for the confusing paint job:
Keep your head up 8 https://t.co/ick45BGpjq
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 16, 2024
No reason for the end zone to be painted that way https://t.co/Gv16qQbYu9
— Robert Littal BSO (@BSO) November 16, 2024
That endzone is painted CRAZY. In the middle of the back, the edge of the endzone ends where the black paint does. But in the corner it's black outside for another two yards?
— Levor Trawrence (@Levor_Trawrence) November 16, 2024
They played themselves with that end zone design.
— Regal Sports (@theRegalSports) November 16, 2024
Exactly why you paint that part of the end zone white to make it abundantly clear which part is out of bounds.
— Buckeye HQ (@RealisticBuck) November 16, 2024
Home team's fault for that dumb design
— Edgar Woo (@edgarwoo_) November 16, 2024
Purdue, which entered the day 1–8 and on an eight-game losing streak, entered the fourth quarter trailing the Nittany Lions 42–3.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fans Mock Purdue's End Zone Paint Job After It Costs Boilermakers TD vs. Penn State.
