Sunday’s NFC championship sport received’t be the primary time that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy sq. off.
Hurts, in his second season beginning for the Eagles, made his method to the University of Oklahoma for his closing season of college football in 2019 after dropping his beginning job to Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama. And on a November afternoon in Norman, Oklahoma, Hurts and the Sooners discovered themselves warding off a ferocious comeback from Purdy and the Iowa State Cyclones.
Oklahoma had lengthy dominated Iowa State, however the Cyclones had come to be a little bit of a thorn in OU’s facet as soon as Matt Campbell took over the long-struggling program.
In 2017, ISU went into Norman and upset the then-No. 3 Sooners, 38-31, snapping an 18-game dropping streak to Oklahoma that stretched again to 1990. A 12 months later in Ames, Iowa State gave Oklahoma one other battle however ended up dropping, 37-27.
At that time, Purdy was the No. 3 quarterback on Iowa State’s depth chart. A couple of weeks later, although, accidents spurred Purdy — then only a true freshman — into motion. He led ISU to a wild 48-42 win over Oklahoma State and by no means relinquished his beginning function. Sound acquainted?
Purdy was the 262nd and closing decide in the 2022 NFL draft and spent a lot of the season as the 49ers’ third-stringer. But accidents to Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo pressured Purdy into motion, and the rookie has impressively been as much as the duty and has the 49ers a game away from the Super Bowl.
Hurts, Oklahoma jumped out to massive halftime lead
Back in 2019, Purdy was in his second season as ISU’s starter whereas Oklahoma had added Hurts, who would go on to be this system’s third straight quarterback to complete as a Heisman Trophy finalist (Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray received the award, Hurts completed second).
When Hurts and Purdy first went toe-to-toe, Oklahoma was ranked No. 9 in the nation however was coming off its first lack of the season, a 48-41 heartbreaker at Kansas State. Iowa State was 5-3 and placing up massive numbers on offense with Purdy at quarterback and Breece Hall at working again.
But Oklahoma had an explosive offense of its personal and jumped out to a giant lead. In the primary half, Hurts threw three landing passes — together with two to CeeDee Lamb — and added two others on the bottom.
Purdy had thrown two landing passes of his personal, however Oklahoma held a 35-14 halftime lead and the sport regarded destined to show right into a rout.
But Purdy and the Cyclones had different concepts.
Purdy led epic Iowa State comeback
OU’s lead was 42-21 getting into the fourth quarter, setting the stage for an unbelievable comeback — one that will come up simply quick.
The first play of the fourth quarter was Purdy’s third landing cross of the day, a 3-yard play-action reference to tight finish Chase Allen to make it 42-28.
On the following possession, Iowa State’s protection received the ball again by stripping Lamb, however Purdy and the offense couldn’t capitalize as the Sooners received a fourth-and-goal cease with 7:37 to play.
Even after that cease, Purdy and the Cyclones stored their foot on the fuel. The protection pressured a fast punt and received the ISU offense again on the sector. This time, after making a number of nifty performs along with his ft, Purdy discovered Sean Shaw Jr. for a 33-yard landing to chop Oklahoma’s result in 42-35 with 3:35 to play.
Iowa State nonetheless had two timeouts remaining, so Hurts and the Oklahoma offense wanted to select up a number of first downs to lastly put the sport to relaxation.
Instead, catastrophe struck as Hurts made his first main mistake of the sport with 2:53 remaining. On third-and-7 from OU’s personal 28, Hurts rolled proper and inexplicably lobbed a cross into visitors as an Iowa State defender closed. Lawrence White picked off the cross and returned it to the Oklahoma 35. All of a sudden, Iowa State was in an amazing place to tie the sport — and even take the lead.
Whether it was along with his arm or his legs, the Oklahoma protection had no solutions for Purdy. Purdy reeled off a clutch 15-yard scramble on third-and-13 and later arrange a goal-to-go state of affairs with a exactly positioned throw to Charlie Kolar.
The two would join once more a number of performs later. This time, it was third-and-goal from the 13 when Purdy stood tall in the pocket with stress in his face and located Kolar for a leaping landing with 24 seconds to play.
With the rating now 42-41, Campbell and the Iowa State teaching workers had a call to make. Should they kick the additional level and go to extra time or go for the win on the highway?
They determined to go for the win. The ISU offense stayed on the sector, however a comeback for the ages couldn’t be accomplished.
Purdy dropped again to cross on the 2-point conversion try. He tried to suit the throw to La’Michael Pettway by means of a really tight window. The ball hit Pettway in the fingers, however two OU defenders have been in place and ripped the ball away.
The strive was no good and Oklahoma in some way survived with a 42-41 win.
Hurts, Purdy to fulfill in Sunday’s NFC championship
Purdy completed the day 19-of-30 for 282 yards and 5 touchdowns. He additionally rushed for 55 yards and a rating in the loss. On the opposite facet, Hurts accomplished 18-of-26 throws for 273 yards and three touchdowns and added 68 yards and two scores on the bottom.
Oklahoma would go on to win the Big 12 title and clinch a berth in the College Football Playoff. The Sooners have been smashed in the semifinals 63-28 by Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers, who went on to win the nationwide championship.
That was Hurts’ closing college sport and he was chosen in the second spherical by the Eagles in the 2020 NFL draft. Initially a backup to Carson Wentz, Hurts took over as the Eagles’ starter in 2021 and led the group to the postseason. His play has ascended to a brand new stage this season. The Eagles have been the NFC’s No. 1 seed with Hurts rising into the MVP dialog. And now, after a blowout victory over the New York Giants on Saturday, he has the Eagles on the verge of the Super Bowl.
Purdy would spend two extra seasons as Iowa State’s beginning quarterback. By the time he left Ames, he was this system’s all-time chief in makes an attempt, completions, completion share, yards and touchdowns.
Despite a powerful college profession, he was not seen as a surefire NFL prospect. The 49ers selected him with the literal final decide in the 2022 draft, No. 262 general. Incredibly, Purdy will begin the NFC championship sport in Philadelphia solely 9 months later.
Will Purdy get the most effective of Hurts this time round?
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