Bucket Predicto

After a rip-roaring 3-0 out of conference start, the Hoosier faithful were once again excited about their Hoosiers. Ben Chappell's offense was humming as they averaged 40+ per game and Lynch's squad was feasting on tasty cupcakes that would've made Joe T. blush. But, the BT schedule has not been kind...so, a lousy IU team heads to Ross-Ade to play a banged up Boiler squad.

If you're not in Indiana or an alum of Purdue or IU, you probably don't care...but the players will.

What will happen tomorrow at high-noon?

J says
If you're a pessimist or think the team is cooked, then I can't fault you for worrying about this game. A loss here would be a really terrible way to finish the season. Not just because it's IU, but because this is an 0-7 in conference IU team. They're really bad. So is Purdue, sure, but I think Purdue's still got better athletes. That plus being at home plus Danny Hope's ability to get them up for certain games... like this one... and I think it's enough.

Purdue's defense was able to severely slow down Michigan's vaunted offense as well as Wisconsin's, so I reason that they'll be able to handle IU's offense. On the other side of the ball, that's where it could be hideous. Purdue's offense is just terrible right now and IU's defense is... perhaps even more terrible. Ah, but what about last week? For three quarters, Purdue's offense actually moved the ball effectively....and against a team that in any other year would be in the national title discussion right now. IU can make no such claim.

If THAT offense (from the MSU game) shows up tomorrow, then this will be another Purdue blowout and likely, one would think, the end of Bill Lynch's time at IU. If the typical Purdue offense shows up, then it'll be a closer game, but one that I would still expect the Boilers to win. When was the last time they played this game at home and didn't come out fired up?

Purdue hasn't lost a home Bucket Game since the Wabash was clean, Boilerdowd was young and Tim had hair.

Sorry, that's just me being silly.... the Wabash wasn't clean.

Purdue 35
IU 21

"Hey ladies...did you know we have a football team?"

boilerdowd says
If you like statistical rankings, this intro will be as delicious as Thanksgiving leftovers:

Weakness v. Weakness:
The worst scoring offense in the BT (Purdue) plays the worst scoring defense in the BT (IU).
The worst pass offense in the BT (Purdue) plays the second-worst pass defense in the league (IU).

I could go on as IU's defense is the worst or in the bottom three in nearly every category. At the same time, we have reason to believe that Purdue's offense has figured out its identity, finally, as the rash of injuries has settled down and Rob Henry's finger seems to be healing each week.

Offensively for the Hoosiers, Chappell is a very good quarterback with some very good receivers. Purdue has a few pretty good DBs, a great DB and the best pass rusher in the league...possibly the best we've seen in a Purdue uniform in the last 20 years (that says a lot). Kerrigan should make that official on Saturday by passing Colvin's all-time sack mark (he needs 1.5 to tie).

As we've seen time and time again, Bill Lynch teams get worse as the season progresses and Purdue has been able to benefit from this a couple times. They will again. Without a rushing attack, look for Kerrigan to get three sacks...and at the same time for Henry to give us a lil' something to look forward to in '11.

Purdue 33
IU 17

To Your Call Once More We Rally;
Alma Mater Hear Our Praise.
Where The Wabash Spreads Its Valley;
Filled With Joy Our Voices Raise.
From The Skies In Swelling Echoes
Come The Cheers That Tell The Tale
Of Your Vict'ries And Your Heros,
Hail Purdue! We Sing All Hail!

Hail, Hail To Old Purdue!
All Hail To Our Old Gold And Black!
Hail, Hail To Old Purdue!
Our Friendship May She Never Lack.
Ever Grateful, Ever True,
Thus We Raise Our Song Anew;
Of The Days We've Spent With You,
All Hail Our Own Purdue!

Oh Billy, you so silly...keep up the good work.

"Hey ref, you just missed one of the 12 plays that made us suck this season!!!"

We all know Bill Lynch isn't a very good coach. Ball State fans know it, IU fans know it. But, now, he's adding to his crappy coaching with horrible situational awareness. Lynch's Hoosiers mustered up victories versus a D-II school, two MAC squads and a fellow BT cellar dwellar in '09. But in spite of the obvious poor play last season, Lynch thinks his team was a mere 12 plays from finishing 8-4 last year.

I for one am a big Bill Lynch fan...I hope he stays at IU for a long time as Glass enjoys his bargain basement salary and try-hard attitude...who gives a damn about victories. But, me thinks his days in the land of awful football might be numbered. This talk reminds me of Colletto in his last season in West Lafayette- Ole Jim used to say Purdue lost because of incorrect alignment by the offensive linemen or, get this, a couple of plays kept them from being successful. Just like in Lynch's case, it had little to do with poor preparation, poor play-calling, lousy recruiting or poor talent assessment.

While I'm good with just allowing Coach Lynch to have the floor and letting his diarrhea of the of the mouth flow, Coach Hope isn't. He's said since he came into West Lafayette that he wasn't hired to make friends in the coaching profession. Rich Rodriguez was the first example of this philosophy, Bill Lynch is now the second.

Lynch said ATM's 87 yard kick return for a touchdown was the play that made the difference versus Purdue in '09...and that it didn't take talent (on McBurse's part) to score 6...instead, he blamed it on a "breakdown" by the fellows wearing crimson helmets. He went further to hint at the idea that IU was in a position to win had it not been for the opening kickoff of the second half.

I think one just might argue that Purdue was merciful as they were up by 21 following that single, talentless, breakdown play...and that was the lead that stuck. Perhaps they will erase all questions in Lynch's mind about any single play that might have made the difference in the '10 game...we'll have to wait and see. At least IU will be at home in 2010...oooh, wait, they won't.

Hope, like me, checked the math and reminded everyone that the ATM runback was merely 7 points in a 21-point loss. He also backed up his guy by saying his speed and talent made the play possible.

You might not like Hope's philosophy about calling other coaches to the carpet and simply letting conflicts sit where they lie...but his players most-definitely love the fact that he perpetually has their collective backs and is willing to stand up for them...I think we'll see that payoff this season. We'll have to watch the Hoosiers and see if they can figure out which 12 plays to eradicate in '10. If not, Lynch might join a long list of IU coaches who coach their last game as the Hoosier head man, in West Lafayette.

(thanks to my pal Chris for pointing this story out to me...)

If you can't beat 'em, sucker punch 'em.

If you're like me, you spent much of tonight parked in front of the TV and got to watch some pretty lousy football, honestly. But didn't matter to me, I was a happy dude. The play will get progressively better, we all know that, as the offenses get in sync...but we didn't get to see a lot of points this evening. What we did see was a couple of games chosen to be examples of the "Respect Weekend", according to the NCAA in which sportsmanship would be on display...uh, maybe not.

In the "jewel" of the evening, the #16 Oregon Ducks faced the #14 Boise State Broncos in Boise. Boise controlled the trenches all game and was generally dominant despite the relatively-close score, but that's not the story. The story was what happened after the clock read 0:00.

LaGarrette Blount is a talented back, but has never had the best attitude at Oregon. It got him thrown out of camp this year...but that didn't seem to be much of a big deal after that and was pretty much chalked up to normal "chippiness" that happens in camps all over the nation in the late summer. But what we saw tonight was a different story...and his inability to keep himself in check is officially a big problem for Oregon and first year coach, Kelly.

Despite losing, the Ducks still have a lot of fight in 'em

Who knows how this will be handled, but LaGarrette has left his team mates and coach in an awful position. He punched an opposing lineman in the chin, got into a shoving match with his own teammates, and then, the cherry atop the sundae of rage, tried to go into the crowd a la Ron Artest as he exited the field. A band of police, security, a coach an offensive lineman and other teammates wrangled the hot-headed Senior RB toward the locker room...The question is now how the Ducks' team and coaches will handle this story...because this will be what's talked about the next seven days as our Boilers prepare to head to Eugene.

Aside from this lapse of self-control, the Ducks looked overmatched and poorly coached in my opinion. Heading into this one, I discussed that we knew little about Oregon since so much had changed since last season. The turnover in their offensive line seemed obvious for much of the game as the Ducks didn't have a first down until the third quarter. Their QB ended the game at just over 51% passing, throwing for 120 yards, 1 interception and 0 TD. Oregon's talented backfield ended the game with 31 yards rushing.

J got to listen to Oregon's own radio team on XM radio and they were befuddled at the lack of offense for much of the game...I think much of the national media was. One thing we all know now is that this team is very beatable.

IU Controls EKU
Indiana opened its new* stadium this evening against the always-tough, formerly Danny Hope-coached EKU Colonels...and allowed this D-1AA opponent to stay alive in the game until the very last play.

IU looked extremely slow at nearly every position and IU fans who were thinking the Hoosiers might surprise some people need to re-think that idea. This is still a very bad, very lethargic IU team that seems to reflect the even-keel nature of their coach...and the pistol offense experiment that Coach Lynch thought would create "downhill running opportunities" produced 73 yards rushing...but Ben Chappell did have 326 yards passing. That said, he looked pretty inaccurate at times and his 1:2 Int:TD ratio shows that his yardage was inconsequential.

The Hoosiers are in for a long season.

*new is defined by IU AD Fred Glass in a recent IU commercial as a stadium built in 1960 with new seats/facilities in one endzone.

BS Capsule Previews: Indiana Hoosiers

Over the next few weeks, we'll be providing a quick-hit, uninformed, uneducated, poorly-researched capsule preview of each Big Ten football team (you know, kind of like typical reporters). Why spend time bringing in guests who actually know something about these other schools when we can just make knee-jerk comments and predictions, with heavy bias based on our love of Boilermaker sports? Enjoy.

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Indiana Hoosiers

Last year: 3-9 Overall, 1-7 Big Ten
Vs. Boilermakers: Lost 62-10

There are some rose-colored glasses out there if you dig deep enough, but the general consensus is that IU is the only team in the league worse than our Boilermakers. But of course Bill Lynch has to be optimistic – this is probably his last season (fairly or unfairly) to prove himself. If the Hoosiers have a mediocre-to-poor year, he might be gone. If they get embarrassed in the Bucket Game again this year, regardless of the rest of the season, then you have to think it’s a certainty. They’ll put up with some losing at IU – but crushing Bucket Game losses have been the end for other coaches.

IU moved Kellen Lewis out to WR and then moved him even further out… to off the team. We applaud the program making tough choices but he was their lone bright spot. To think they can compete without him when they barely competed WITH him is something of a stretch. And looking at their schedule, well, it could get ugly.

Sept. 3 EASTERN KENTUCKY
Sept. 12 WESTERN MICHIGAN
Sept. 19 at Akron
Sept. 26 at Michigan
Oct. 3 OHIO STATE (media guide picture day)
Oct. 10 at Virginia
Oct. 17 ILLINOIS
Oct. 24 at Northwestern
Oct. 31 at Iowa
Nov. 7 WISCONSIN
Nov. 14 at Penn State
Nov. 21 PURDUE

I’m not saying this will happen, but is it unreasonable to say that IU could go 0-12? Again, I don’t think they will go winless. But some of their best chances for wins (Akron, Michigan)are on the road. Give our hated rivals this much: they don’t have a plate full o’ cupcakes here. So what do we think?

Best case: 7-5. The Hoosiers could realistically start strong and reel off a 4-0 start, especially if they win their first two home games. They’ve got virtually no chance against OSU or @PSU, but their other games could honestly go any direction.

Worst case: 0-12. As mentioned, Indiana could theoretically lose any of these games. There’s isn’t a slam-dunk gimme on here. Which, again, is admirable, actually.

Our prediction: 3-9. If the team falters out of the gate, it’ll be a long season. If they start strong, their hope and optimism will keep them in a lot of games. But it’s hard to imagine a team that was pretty bad last year and got monumentally crushed by a lousy Purdue team would be able to lose their best player and somehow improve.

IU's Lewis Out

sacked

Kellen Lewis, who had been moved to WR before spring ball...and has now been moved further away from center by being kicked off of IU's football team...I think I can confidently say that this won't affect their chances of going to a bowl next season.

Ghosts and Zombies of the Grid Iron

There's this guy who visits our site regularly who defends Tiller and really refuses to say how bad things have become...yet, he will fully admit that IU's football team is not good and is poorly coached. Our pals over at the Lafayette J & C printed an article that might be of note to the shrinking group of people that keep telling us everything's fine.

Make no mistake, the situations that both Purdue and IU are in are deplorable...and they both can be attributed to poor coaching and preparation. Last year, Lynch used the memory of a former coach to motivate the players...it took the same deceased coach's wife to help the Hoosiers get the win versus our Boilers back in November. Now, they're unmotivated...

In the same way, Purdue's head man has lost motivation...his team can see it, heck, about anybody can read it in his quotes and inconsistent answers given to the media. On one hand, Tiller is given credit for being an offensive genius...on the other hand, he refuses to call plays when his offensive coordinator doesn't call the game to his liking. One one hand, he says his team's effort has been lacking, on the other, he won't make personnel changes when they seem to be an absolute must.

Both IU and Purdue's fanbases thought at least a low-level bowl would be in their futures coming into this season. Now, just past the midway point, neither Purdue's once-feared, Senior-laden offense nor IU's Charmin-soft schedule could help either team to a winning record. In fact, they're both well-under .500 and seem to be on their way to a date with destiny...or a date with a trip back in time anyway. At the end of the season at Ross Ade, it looks like we'll all party like it's 1996...The only difference is, neither fanbase is as accepting of the sub-prime* efforts their respective teams have been showing this season.

Now, both teams will welcome two programs on the rise to their stadiums on Saturday for Homecoming...both opponents are ranked and both seem to be unworthy of being mentioned with the other 23 teams in the top-25. It seems like the opportunity is ripe for IU and Purdue to shake the cobwebs loose and remind the fans why they believed not-too-long ago. But they probably won't. Afterall, Lynch no longer can motivate his young men with the ghost of a leader of men, and Tiller seems to be a Zombie version of the man who used to inspire never-say-die effort from the Boilers...Kind of fitting in this ghoulish season, don't you think?

There is a silver lining, at least up North...While Purdue has looked like dogmeat this season, there is a definite change coming next year...and, our basketball team provides a diversion reminiscent of the mid-90s as well. Conversely, IU's football team is in a no-win sitation as firing Lynch seems imminent, but a buyout will once again cost the Hoosier athletic department...something they don't need as they continue to build the 10,000 additional perpetually-empty seats**...and we won't get into a lot of detail about the state of their basketball program. I will say this though, the NCAA has still not ruled about the punishment of the Candy Stripers in the wake of Kelvin's antics...Oh well.

The really bad news, if you're a sucker for Purdue football as I am, is not only will it be cool on Saturday in West Lafayette...it's also going to be rainy. I guess it's fitting though- the gray skies are a fitting backdrop for a horror story.

*yes, I just paralleled the crash of the market with the crash of Purdue's program

**except for games in which the Hoosiers host aOSU, aka photo day

Thanks for nothing, Mildcats.

I was kind of excited that a ranked Northwestern team would be hosting Purdue next week in Evanston. I thought, perhaps the 17-game streak versus ranked teams could end versus the over-rated Cats...Sadly, Northwestern predictably lost as soon as they faced a team with any nads...and proved what J said a few weeks ago- NU was the worst 5-0 Big Ten team ever...That's saying a lot; Purdue has been 5-0 quite a few times with teams that were simply hapless.

The good news is that Minnesota might be ranked since they have a bye week...they'll come into Ross-Ade 6-1 and will be favored as Purdue hosts them for homecoming. If (*read as "when") the losing streak continues v. Minnesota, Purdue's last chance to play a ranked opponent will come against MSU in East Lansing.

Let's all be real honest- All of Purdue's final six games are very winnable...Too bad only three will be victories for our Boilers...UNLESS SOMETHING CHANGES! Currently, our offense is a blend of horribly sad and hilarious. For those of you who love stats, dig this one- Purdue's offense scores an average of 4.5 points/game! Frickin' Great!

Here's how bad our Boilers currently are (the good news is it's a team effort):

-11th in scoring offense
-8th in pass offense
-11th in pass efficiency
-11th in rushing offense
-11th in red zone offense
-9th in time of possession
-11th in total offense
-11th in kickoff returns
-11th in punt returns
-11th in punting
-10th in field goals made
-11th in PAT kicking
-9th in turnover margin

Kudos to Wiggs...He hit a 53-yarder and nearly hit a 52-yarder...Sadly, this is what our offense has become. At least he looks angry at the ball when he kicks it.

Well-played, Tar Heels
UNC did as they were supposed to and beat a mediocre UND team on Saturday...Much like the other small, private school near Lake Michigan above, this Irish program is nothing more than a squad that can only beat lousy teams...Good news for the Manatee and co- They play a whole bunch of them this season! The question now is, will UND be ranked before they play at Chestnut Hill? Let's hope so.

Circling the Drain
I love to say, "I told you so, IU fan."

The Hoosiers join Maine and Fla. Int'l as the third team to allow 40-plus points by the vaunted Hawkeye offense. Way to go, Lynch! Clearly, the plan he followed at BSU of tearing down a program is well underway in Bloomington.