Big Ten Clash

Hah. With that title, I bet you thought I was talking about that other Big Ten matchup on Saturday. But who cares about that? No, college football’s rivalry weekend is rapidly approaching and that means it’s time for Purdue to obliterate Indiana again in the Old Oaken Bucket game.

When last we left them, Purdue was having its only losing season in the Joe Tiller era (for more on Joe Tiller see below post) and still pistol-whipped the Hoosiers 41-14 in Bloomington. The last time Purdue had this much talent on the field was in 2004, when Kyle Orton and Taylor Stubblefield took IU behind the woodshed and led the Boilers to a 63-24 hammering in West Lafayette. Your intrepid Boiled Sports writers were there in 2004 and will be there again this weekend.

In 2004, as Purdue rolled up 42 points by halftime, I actually felt a little bad for the Hoosiers. They looked more inept than usual and ultimately gave up almost 800 yards of total offense. I was sitting in the (theoretically) IU section, in fact, and so I kept shouting witticisms such as the following after Purdue scored on yet another turnover and IU got the ball again: “DON’T FUMBLE!! OUR OFFENSE NEEDS A REST!!”

Purdue has won the Bucket eight of the past nine seasons, with IU squeaking one out in 2001.

Official Boiled Sports prediction (courtesy of boilerdowd down below): 37-22, Purdue.