It's still a low-risk play. For that matter, what if you hand off to Jackson and HE gets hurt? Persa actually was injured celebrating a play a few years back. At some point, you just have to let them play football.
Again, not as low as you think (and this wasn't a situation where the 'Cats needed to run the QB sneak - and not once, but twice); which is what I had a problem with when running the sneak when Trevor got hurt.
First off, it was a bad Purdue team and the 'Cats already had a
21-0 lead.
Why risk the QB on a 4th and 1 that likely will have little impact on the end result of the game (but had a huge impact on the next game and the season)?
Esp. when everyone knew that the QB sneak was coming and Purdue had totally loaded up the box.
The QB sneak has a
higher probability of converting on a 3rd/4th and short than handing it off to the RB, and yet, we don't see coaches opting for the sneak over handing it off - and in fact, see it being the latter most of the time (and often, after handing it off in those situations have failed).
As for JJtBC possibility getting hurt - well, that could happen, but while (if that were to occur) that would be unfortunate, a RB is easier to replace than a starting QB.
Also, wouldn't exactly use JJtBC in that situation - as he isn't a big bodied, short yardage RB.
Now, the 'Cats don't exactly have that type of back on their roster (Long was the closest to it), but could use one of the SBs (after all, what would be the point of being a hybrid TE/FB?).
Persa's fluke injury has nothing to do w/ this matter.