The Boilermakers retained the Bucket with a senior-tastic 38-21 win down in Bloomington, in front of many Purdue fans and a smattering of IU students who got lost on their way to the cafeteria.
Joey “The Duke” Elliott went 20-29 with no picks, four TDs, and reached 3,000 passing yards for the season, Jaycen Taylor had 170 total yards and a key early TD, and Torri Williams had an INT, in just a few examples of Boilermaker seniors making it clear that they were not relinquishing the Bucket.
Winning on the road is never easy. Wait, was this a road game? Let me check my notes… ah, yeah, yeah it was.
It was simply terrific to see the seniors play like they did. As per usual, Purdue played well in the first half before the opposition began to gain some confidence. IU scored just before the half and Bill Lynch appeared to be ready to wet himself with excitement.
However, apparently the pasta and turkey meal usually served in Purdue locker rooms at halftime was accidentally served in the Hoosier clubhouse, as Al-Terek McBurse took the opening kick of the second half to the house. The 28-7 lead essentially put the game away, though IU showed a lot of heart by continuing to fight. I have to admit, I have a lot of respect for Ben Chappell – dude played hard and is pretty slippery for a big guy. This game did not look like the joke of a mismatch it’s been at other times, including last year. And that’s a good thing. Would anyone mind if Purdue and IU were playing for their 8th, 9th or 10th wins in these games?
The two programs finished with overall records only one game apart (5-7 for Purdue; 4-8 for IU), but Purdue’s 4-4 conference mark is something to be proud of (IU was 1-7). This season didn’t go perfectly, without a doubt – and we’ll have more on the season in the coming weeks – but it always feels good to see a Bucket win and, let’s be honest, 5-7 (4-4) is better than most of us expected heading into this season.
15 comments:
Just think - we're 1 timeout away from beating ND, OSU, Mich and IU all in the same season. 3 out of those 4 ain't bad.
4-4 in the B10, wins over OSU (Big Ten champs) and at the Big F'ing house. Took Oregon to the clock on the road. 1 time out away from beating ND. This was a good year for a rebuilding program. Hey, look at Michigan, they are rebuilding (2nd year) and are bottom feeders. We are on the way back up! BTFU
You're right. 4-4 in conf usually means bowl game...a few bad plays/calls from a very good season. Regardless, unlike a lot of programs, we're on the upswing and have hope.
Proud of our boys, excited for the future. Seniors looked great, wish I could've made it down for the game. Congrats Boilers, good season.
Now, on to basketball. Choo choo.
I'm happy that my pessimism was completely unwarranted. IU has some pretty solid players, but so do we, and we still have the Bucket.
Yeah, I think it would be nice to play IU for, say, a January bowl bid ... let's be honest, we've seen all too many Bucket games where the season ends for both teams.
But Hope and company can only worry about one side of that matchup, and hopefully there are enough building blocks for January to be a reasonable goal in a couple of years. (Hey, the Big Ten is a balanced conference, even if this year the teams at the top suck. It's not like the Boilers will go 8-4 just by saying so. Although that would be cool.)
Big Ten Network camera time was 90% IU and no time on Purdue. Why? I would much rather see Coach Hope being shown winning the game as opposed to the Loosiers losing the game. The Loosiers should have to earn that coverage.
Also, to go with it, the two Boobs in the Booth were calling the game like IU was gonna turn the corner any minute. No credit to the Purdue defense. Why??
Yeah, the one guy seemed like an IU homer... not sure who he is (didn't catch his name), but he said he had called 3 other IU games this season, and he was just *shocked* that Purdue could get that much pressure against IU's line. I definitely got the feeling that he was hoping it would turn around.
Boiled Sports, please forgive me, but this a Boiler rant against the IU Star homer...
http://blogs.indystar.com/cgi-bin/indystar/mt-comments.cgi
Thes best way to castrate the enemy is to hit them in their newspaper early!!!
"Bill Lynch appeared to be ready to wet himself with excitement."
haha! So true. That reaction was a little over the top by Lynch. Landholm concede that touchdown for some strange reason.
"Would anyone mind if Purdue and IU were playing for their 8th, 9th or 10th wins in these games?"
Yes, I would. I don't want IU to get to 10 wins ever. I am content to have Purdue playing for the 9th win and IU playing for their 3rd win.
Anyone else hear in the opening to the game that these two teams have been playing for "more than three centuries"?
Yes, he said that.
I'm sure it was actually a hot rivalry back in 1709... IU's championship banners were only, what, 4 years old then?
I think he said something like in three different centuries which would be true. I had the same question when I first heard it.
I've been told the Purdue basketball game will be on justin.tv/footballsaturday for those who don't want to pay to watch it online.
and hey! The defense was nice enough to set us up with three free toppings on a Papa John's pizza and still preserve the Bucket. (In the Indy area, on Mondays after Colts and IU games - because of course Indy is not Purdue territory - you get a large pizza for $9.99 with one free topping for every TD scored by the team in question, so basically you get to choose between the two. Strangely, this week IU is the better deal. Normally Peyton keeps us well-fed.)
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