A Little Purdue History

Normally, we don’t engage in the sort of rival-bashing that goes on at a lot of sports sites that are particular to a specific team. Oh, wait, no, we do like to bash other programs… specifically, one other program. We like to slap IU around, mainly because they deserve it but also because we’re all Purdue alums and, hey, it’s in our DNA. (IU Mouth Breathers: DNA has to do with Biology, the class you spent sleeping through in high school. I mean, those of you who went to high school.)

After Purdue’s pretty thorough victory over the Hoosiers on Thursday night, a post was put up here at Boiled Sports being rather excited about our win. We didn’t go overboard pummeling the IU program (because we realize it’s competitive) since we really wanted to pay tribute to the winners that night. There’s really not much worse than the victors of a rivalry spending their victory time bashing their vanquished opponent, you know?

One of our regular readers, Purdue Matt, the author of Boilermaker Banter, let us in on an ongoing exchange he was having with a co-worker of his. Rather than force you to wade through it all, let’s go through it bit-by-bit just for fun, shall we?

Matt simply commented on how sweet silence was and got the following reply (bold text is the actual email – interspersed regular text is my rebuttal):

I hadn't gotten any of your propaganda yet today so I just figured you were up at the parade in West Lafayette.

Propaganda? I don’t think scoreboards exhibit propaganda. Just the truth, my friend, just the truth. And sometimes, the truth hurts.

I assume there is a parade today since beating IU once in awhile seems to be Purdue men's basketball's equivalent of the Super Bowl/ NCAA Championship?

Nobody said that. You just made that up to make yourself feel better. Nobody in the world thinks beating the 24th ranked team in the country at home is a monumental accomplishment. Just a fun one for a program on the rise.

Beating Purdue doesn't have nearly the same meaning to me that beating IU has to you and most Purdue fans.

Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it’ll make it hurt a little less. And, I have to ask, how much gloating do we all think this clown did when IU pounded the Boilers in Assembly Hall? Yeah, exactly.

I was hoping to win one of the next two games on the road and if we beat Michigan Saturday it works just as well for me.

You’re lying. If you had to choose, you’d want to be Purdue over anybody else except maybe for Kentucky.

We've beaten Purdue like a drum this decade so they have to win one sooner or later. You can't sweep them every year.

I thought you didn’t care? And you’re right, you can’t sweep them every year…and you don’t. Practically ever.

And no...you won't find me complaining about the officiating as most Purdue fans and their announcer do after a loss.

Just a completely random shot at everyone associated with Purdue with nothing to back it up. Solid.

Our friend Matt replies and simply tells him he’s spouting sour grapes and the anti-Purdue diatribe continues from the IU dude who claims he doesn’t care one iota about losing to Purdue:

It's not sour grapes. I'm consistent. I always laugh at Purdue basketball. You'd have to go back five decades to the 60's to find a time when Purdue finished with a better record than IU in the Big Ten. Obviously Purdue has never been significant on a national scale.

Okay, this is where we begin to get pissed off. First, the 60s were forty years ago, not “five decades,” so learn some math skills first. But more importantly, this guy is simply just making shit up again. From the Big Ten Website:

“Purdue dominated the decade’s middle years by claiming the 1994, 1995 and 1996 crowns, becoming only the second team to win three in a row outright since Ohio State (1960–62). The 1996 title gave the Boilermakers 21 League crowns, the most in Big Ten history.”

Read the last sentence again. The words aren’t very big, so even IU supporters should be able to sound them out. And for clarity, Purdue went 11-9 against IU in the 1990s.

And how about this from the same site:

“The Wolverines, Indiana, Purdue and Illinois held much of the spotlight during the 1980s with the Hoosiers winning two more NCAA championships in 1981 and ‘87. A Big Ten Final Four double took place at the decade’s beginning and end as Purdue and Iowa both made it to the 1980 Final Four, while in 1989, eventual champion Michigan defeated Illinois in the NCAA semifinals.”

Granted, IU gets props for being a power at times and winning a lot. Keep in mind we’ve never claimed they weren’t good twenty and thirty years ago. But Purdue is mentioned right there and the point is that Purdue has never been insignificant.

So, to recap thus far, Purdue hasn’t been good since the 60s… except for the 80s and 90s. Everyone clear so far?

Most Purdue fans aren't even old enough to remember them playing for a national title.

Not really true, but yeah it’s been a while. But to be fair, IU’s last national title was twenty years ago so today’s college kids were infants or unborn at the time.

IU has consistently beaten Purdue more often then they have lost to them going back to at least the 1940's.

Flat wrong again, knuckle-dragger. If you go to this link, you’ll see – shockingly! – that Purdue has a winning record against every Big Ten team for all of time! Curses! You’re foiled again!

How interesting… Purdue has a winning record against all Big Ten teams. The team closest must be IU, though, right? Oh, no, wait, it’s Ohio State. In fact, Purdue only has a better record over two other Big Ten teams than they do over IU! Interesting. After Thursday’s win, there’s a 24-win discrepancy between the two basketball programs. So, you know, sweep us for a dozen straight years and…you still won’t be ahead. (Facts are fun, aren’t they? Granted, not as much fun as making things up but, you know, still fun.)

But....they [Purdue] win one game against us [IU] for the first time in a long time and you'd think they just won a national title.

Right. No celebrating big home wins! Be classy, like IU fans and players, such as Matt’s co-worker who accuses Purdue of “having a parade” for beating IU, and Earl Calloway, who talks shit to opposing coaches.

Purdue basketball and it's fans define themselves on how they are doing vs IU more than anything else.

Because nobody ever evaluates themselves on how they do against their in-state, in-conference, historical rival. I’m sure Duke and Carolina never are concerned with how they do against one another.

I think the goal is more to beat IU, finish ahead of IU in the Big Ten (that hasn't happened in a long time), recruit better than IU, etc. than it is to get to a Final Four, play for a national championship, and maybe even win one someday.

As illustrated earlier, Purdue has finished ahead of IU plenty and has beat them down plenty. Not sure what else needs to be proved on that topic. And yes, the goal is to finish ahead of other teams. I thought that was obvious. And yes, we haven’t won a national title since 1932. A long time, we all acknowledge. But, again, IU’s title drought doesn’t look to be ending anytime soon, either.

It reminds me of the inferiority complex Red Sox fans have with the Yankees. By the way.... don't forget. Colts 29 Bears 17. Colts win a title. Bears don't. I'll trade the title for a meaningless regular season loss to Purdue.

Yes, IU is just like the Yankees. Keep telling yourself that. What an inane comparison.

And yes, throw in the Colts-Bears factoid. That has a lot to do with Thursday’s Purdue-IU basketball tilt.

Oh, and if that “meaningless regular season loss” gets the Boilers into the Tourney and IU just misses… well, that might give it some meaning, no?

In the spirit of fairness, the CSTV Big Ten Website also says the following:

“The Hoosiers put together two of the finest college basketball teams ever seen, in 1975 and 1976. In those two years, IU was 63-1 overall and became the only school ever to finish two consecutive Conference seasons undefeated. The 1976 team finished its season at 32-0, as the first unbeaten Big Ten team in 57 years. Since then, no team in Division I has gone undefeated. In the bicentennial year, the Big Ten became the first conference to send two teams to the NCAA finals, as the Hoosiers prevailed over Michigan in the national championship game.”

That’s ridonkulous. That’s a dominant program and an incredibly, not-to-be-questioned run. It was also:

Thirty years go (three decades)
Before the tourney had 64/65 teams
Before the advent of the three-point line

The point is, we’re not questioning IU was a spectacular program during those glory years. They’re just not now.

No, we don’t plan to rebut every Neanderthal IU fan or Notre Dame fan, etc., who bashes Purdue. This isn’t a full-time job and we don’t intend to make it so. But this one just felt like fun. You can’t stop people from making things up but when you feel like spending a few minutes looking things up, it’s just so easy to pick apart any IU fan’s argument. My guess is Matt’s co-worker didn’t even go to IU. Just a guess.