Tasty Pod-Castings with TheB1Gtime.com

A few weeks ago, we were asked to appear on theB1Gtime.com's Purdue installment of their B1G preview podcast series.  Last week, it was recorded and aired...this week, I link it here on this site in an effort to stretch out as little content into as much time as possible. If you already listened to it because you saw the link on Twitter, listen again for the nuance and sophisticated twists that you might have missed during the first go-'round.

For those of you who don't know, B1Gtime is a website that focuses on the entire conference and is run by a former Wisconsin blogger, Andrew Coppens, who is pretty damned good at what he does.

Check it out by clicking HERE.

Sure, it's only half as handsome as a Handsome Hour, but it's nearly as long and also pretty satisfying.

So take a listen while at the desk at work, or at the pool of your palatial estate.

May The Best Man Win

It's official. Danny Etling has enrolled early to be a student at Purdue University...and later tonight, Darrell Hazell will no longer be a part-time coach at Kent State...And with this, the quarterback competition begins.

RS Senior, Rob Henry is still a QB at this point...and he's made it very clear that he wants to play quarterback for Purdue.  Henry has thrown for about 1,200 yards, 11 TDs, 8 Ints and completed about 54% of his passes at QB at Purdue. He started a handful of games a few seasons ago, is a former captain of the team and by all accounts is a pretty good teammate. Henry is a dangerous runner, but has unusual throwing mechanics as he doesn't seem to follow all the way through. He will seek a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA as he tore his ACL after he had already redshirted.  It'd be shocking if the NCAA didn't give him a sixth year since he's a great student and a guy who's involved in the community.  BUT, they didn't give Keith Smith an extra year a few years ago...so never underestimate the NCAA's ineptitude.

Henry is 6'2" and weighs 200 pounds.

RS Freshman Austin Appleby was a Nike Elite 11 QB coming out of high school in Ohio. If you've watched him pass, you probably notice that he has a lively arm and, at least in my opinion, the best mechanics of the quarterbacks in the stable.  While he's a dropback passer, he's a pretty good athlete that can run as well.

Appleby is the biggest QB in Purdue's stable at a legit 6'5" 235 pounds.

RS Freshman Bilal Marshall was a dual-threat QB out of high school in Dade County, Florida.  Marshall ran quite a bit in high school and his throwing mechanics needed work (the last time I saw him throw)...but he can get out of trouble with his feet very quickly.  From what I've heard, he's been an apt pupil since coming onto campus.  Not a ton of people are giving him a shot to start next season, but I think he's a darkhorse because Hazell's Kent State team ran the option this season.

Marshall 6'3" and weighs 170...but has a frame that should be able to put on 10 pounds by next fall.

True Freshman Danny Etling is a four-star recruit out of Indiana whose team struggled during his Senior season.  Much like Appleby the year before a few key injuries might have helped keep his offense in check during his final season in high school...and Purdue benefitted from that.  I thought he would surely receive more offers, but a lackluster Senior year kept some away.  He was invited to the Elite 11 National contest, but didn't make the finals.  His cousin, Joe Holland, helped convince him to come to Purdue...and through the transition of Hope leaving and Hazell being hired, he stayed true.  He's a dropback passer with decent mechanics, but doesn't throw completely over the top.

Etling is 6'3" and weighs 200 pounds.

Walk-on (So) Parker, who saw limited action this season, will also compete for the starting job.

Competition is nothing but positive and having options with different skillsets is probably exactly what Hazell wants to see the first day in camp later this year.  The only downfall for Hazell is that there's probably not one guy who is the clear-cut favorite...at least at this point since none of them started last season. We're still about two months away...but workouts will start this week.

With Hazell's open practices, I'm hoping to get to see these guys with my very own LASIK-repaired eyes in March.

Get Your Tune-Up Handsomeness Info Here.

Do you love your Boilermaker football squad? Of course you do.

Do you love the game of college football; the sights, the sounds, the aroma? Who doesn't?

Have you missed the handsomest duo in all of the land? Absolutely.

While I'm not sure if J will be there at the beginning or not, I do know that the show will go on...and eventually, J will decide to chime in.  Until then, you'll be listening to delicious, silky tones of me, Boilerdowd...along with our pal Brendan Murphy from the Purdue Football Tailgate Show.  Perhaps we'll even hear you?

To tune in at 9:30 West Lafayette Standard Time, click here.

Listen. Live. Love...and do so, handsomely.

J and Boilerdowd are already in mid-season form.

Fact Checking is Fun!

So we weren't the only ones who noticed that Purdue's preview on EsPNU was chocked-full of errors...To prove the point, here's the story as it aired:


And click here for the re-taped, fact-checked interwebnet version.

I should get paid more for my awesome fact-checking skeeeeelz.

What EsPN Taught Me Yesterday

It's pretty well documented that we don't like EsPN when it pretends to be a journalistic entity.  Sure, they study up on the SEC for football and ACC for basketball, because they have vested interest in those conferences.  But, outside of Urban Meyer being aOSU's head man, there aren't too many storylines that interest the folks in Bristol about the nation's oldest conference.  Furthermore, when a football team from that conference is a middling to lower-third team, they don't care at all.

Purdue's not sexy...we get that.  BUT, if a network is going to spend four minutes on a preview on a BCS conference team...and that network claims to be a sports-related outlet, there should be some show prep that took longer to research than the final piece itself.  Clearly, on EsPN's "College Football Today" show prep is asking around the office and glancing at a Google search.

Adam Rittenberg is pretty good at his job...and he works for the crappiest sports network in all the land- he's what people inside of the EsPN family should call an expert.  Rittenberg knows quite a bit about what's going on inside Purdue football...because he reads up, interviews and prepares for the articles he writes.  Someone at EsPN's TV studios should give Rittenberg's card to David Pollack; the braintrust behind yesterday's Purdue season preview.

Reportering is hard.

Here are some things that the Entertainment Network told me about Purdue yesterday that I never knew.

-First, Robert Marve transferred from the University of Michigan to West Lafayette.  Sweet.  The poor guy probably has to pay his own tuition.  B1G fans know that intra-conference transfers are strongly discouraged by the league...so much that you don't get a schollie when you decide to make such a move (unless it's '12 and you're leaving PSU).  Sure it happens- UM's Boren transferred to aOSU after he found out that Rodriguez was an asshat...but it's not normal.  And while UM does stand for University of Michigan, Marve's former school was the University of Miami, Einstein.

-Second, Purdue never beats aOSU.

Actually, they've done so twice in the past three seasons...and thrice in the last six times they've played...but who's counting (not David Pollack).

Why not post a photo of Steele?

One of our favorites, Erin Andrews' replacement at the network, Samantha Steele, told me that it took two overtimes for the Boilers to beat the nuts in '11...And while I'm known to blackout from time to time in stressful situations, I'm pretty sure I only saw one OT last season at RA...but her error is much less egregious than Pollack's multiple boners on the air.

-Lastly, and most-glaringly, Purdue has secretly added MSU and Nebraska to the '12 schedule...all to be played in the last three games of the season.

This is big news to me...and I'm surprised that the B1G, any Purdue outlet and the Purdue Athletic Department itself has decided to keep this so hush.  Hell, even guys who are really in the know like J Money and TMill haven't let me in on this news...Jerks.

Regardless, I hope Purdue gets another homegame out of the deal...it'd be tough to play two more surprise road games...Dammit, I hope the coaches and players know.

Thanks to David Pollack, and his employer for never letting us down.  While our expectations are low, you guys always find a way outdo yourselves.  Schleps.