Travis Is Growing Up

In case you haven't noticed -- and we know many of you don't realize there are other sites out there since this one is so awesome -- our friend Travis, who has been doing very thorough Boilermaker writing over at Off The Tracks has shed his skin like the snake that he is and moved on up (like the Jeffersons) to a fancier new place.

It's called Slammer and Nails. Or, no, wait... Blubber and Whales? Shoot, I can't remember... no, that's not it. Hammering Stacey Dales? No... hmmm... Black Heart Gold Penis? Wait, no... Ramming Hay Bales? No, despite being in Indiana, that's not it, either.

Ah, I'm sure it'll come to me and I'll be sure to let you know so you can go check it out.

(I got it! Jamming With Snails! Or... Scamming Always Fails? Ah, I'll come up with it.)

Want To See a Game From Our Seats?

Do you want to get to one (or more) of the early-season Purdue games at Ross-Ade this year?

Do you want to pass gas on the same metal bleachers as us?

Are you large-breasted?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you're in luck. Because right now, for the bargain price of face value ($40 per ticket) or best offer, you too can visit Ross-Ade Stadium to see the Boilers take on early-season opponents Northern Colorado and Central Michigan from the very seats your heros (no, not Danny Hope... us, you idiots) pass their occasional wanton Saturday afternoons in.

Our seats are located in pristine Section 119, Row 58. The view is as follows:

Perks include:

Lots of fresh air (thanks to your altitude in the stadium)!

A good view of the Gold Dusters (or whatever they're called now)!

A bit of nostalgia for those of you who lived in the Quad (because you can see it in the distance)!

A view of Mackey so if the football season is headed south you can remind yourself basketball is just around the corner!

And lots more!

As mentioned, the games available are:

9/6/08 vs Northern Colorado

9/20/08 vs Central Michigan (re-re-match!)

Seriously, though, if you're interested in two tickets to either of those games, hit us up at BoiledSports@gmail.com and let us know.

Joe Tiller -- What Might Have Been

"Hey, that's a handsome blog! Let's read that!"

With all the Tiller-love floating at Big Ten media day and likely throughout this season for what he’s done at Purdue, let me take a moment to talk a bit about what could have been.

Sure, we here at BS appreciate what ol’ Joe has done for the program. Lord knows all of us were at Purdue in the ‘90s, living through the Fred Akers Experience as well as the Jim Colletto...debacle. So, yes, to preface this, we definitely know how good things have been in comparison. But do you realize how good they could have been? And I’m not talking about “if only we’d not gotten blown out all those times!” I mean, simple things. Easy to fix things. Made our own opportunities and caught a few breaks. Your know, things that get taken care of by a well-prepared football team.

Coach Tiller has guided the Boilers to three 9-win seasons, plus three more 8-win seasons. Which means we’ve had five legitimate chances at 10-win seasons during Joe’s 11 years at the helm. Do you know how many teams in the Big Ten have not had a 10-win season during Joe’s years in West Lafayette? Just three – the Boilers, Northwestern (who did have a ten-win season in 1995, however) and, of course, the Hoosiers. Still, that’s upsetting.

So what could Joe’s tenure have looked like? I’m so glad you asked. Now bear in mind we’re not suggesting we “got robbed” in any of these cases, etc. Please understand that – fact is, our program is where it is on its own merits (or demerits?). But it’s fun to think about how things might be different if the close calls went the other way.

Let’s take a look.*

1997
Record: 9-3
Shoulda been: 10-2

In Coach Tiller’s first season, he took over a squad made up of Jim Colletto recruits that had just gone 3-8 in 1996 and turned them into an 8-3 regular season team that won a bowl game. We were all delirious, yes it’s true. And none of us would trade that awesome, fun season for anything. Those of us who saw it and had experienced what preceded it loved it. But let’s look at that season.

Overall, the Boilers went 9-3, including an excellent Alamo Bowl victory. However, they opened Coach Tiller’s tenure with a two-TD loss at Toledo. This was followed by six straight wins, including the first in a while over Notre Dame. There were theories that Tiller was sandbagging against Toledo and not showing his full arsenal – and if you look back at that game it sure looks that way – and was holding his cards close to his vest until unleashing hell on ND. I do remember thinking if we’d only been able to beat that Toledo team, we’d have opened the season 7-0. It was unfathomable. Boilerdowd, as he tends to do, brought me back to reality by pointing out that a victory in that first game might have affected our boys and they might not have been able to keep winning if they had the “undefeated” tag attached to them. A good point.

However, had they simply taken that first game, suddenly that’s a 10-2 team. Is that a guarantee? No, but it sure appears possible.

1998
Record: 9-4
Shoulda been: 11-2

Tiller’s second season continued the thrill ride as we were not yet spoiled enough to expect solid seasons. And yet here it came again. But just like his first year, Tiller’s team stumbled out of the gate on the road, losing by ten at USC. And let’s not forget, this isn’t Pete Carroll USC – this is Paul Hackett USC, a team that went 8-5 in 1998. Still, not an unreasonable loss.

No, the unreasonable botch in 1998 came up at the dirtcloud known as Notre Dame Stadium, when the Boilers squandered a chance to finally win there and lost, 31-30. One of the more painful losses to the Domers, and as it turned out, the one close one that definitely got away and stood between the Boilers and a ten-win season. The other two losses were @ Wisconsin (an 11-1 team the Boilers only lost by seven to, in Camp Randall) and @ Penn State.

The unforgettable Alamo Bowl over #4 Kansas State wrapped up a blissful season for the Boilermaker faithful.

2000
Record: 8-4
Shoulda been: 10-2

The 2000 season, despite only being an eight-win campaign, will stand out in the minds of any Purdue fan under the age of 50 as one of the true magical seasons. How can this be, though, with four losses? Trust us, we’re Purdue.

It was Drew Brees’ senior season and it culminated with a Rose Bowl appearance and Big Ten championship. Clutch wins over Michigan and Ohio State – in literally almost unbelievable circumstances – made this a truly incredible season. So what kept it from being a 10 or 11 win season?

An inexplicable loss at Notre Dame, 23-21, in a game that Brees simply proved he just couldn’t do it in South Bend. Penn State in Happy Valley, long a tough place to play, turned up a 22-20 heartbreaker. And a complete letdown game November 11 at Michigan State (losing 30-10) a week after the biggest win in Tiller’s tenure over OSU at home.

And then, of course, the Boilers came out for warm-ups at the Rose Bowl wearing helmets with roses through the Purdue “P” on the side. We knew we were in trouble then. Could any of the Notre Dame, PSU and MSU games have gone the other way? Sure. And losing to a 5-6 (2-6 in the Big Ten) MSU team was simply unacceptable.

2003
Record: 9-4
Shoulda been: 11-2

Purdue once again begins the year with a loss, this time to Bowling Green. But this one hurt especially bad because it was at home and was by one point. A little-known trivia fact is that this was the one game that Purdue wore their gold uniforms with black numbering on them. The previous year’s gold with white numbers at home were impossible to read from a distance or on TV and were universally panned, resulting in the new versions. Well, after losing in the new ones, too, Joe Tiller deemed the black the only way to go and so for the second home game of the year, the team burst out to “Back in Black,” and went on to not only destroy Arizona 59-7, but to also win six in a row to race out to a 6-1 start to the season.

And then they went to Michigan, where Joe pooped himself and the Boilers got destroyed 31-3. However, they rebounded to win two more in a row to move to 8-2 with three games to go, including the bowl. Sadly, only a victory over IU was in the cards, as the Boilers lost a squeaker at OSU, 16-13, and by a TD in the Cap One Bowl to UGA.

So what game could easily have been a win? Well, despite OSU being an 11-win team, the loss there could easily have been a victory. And if you want to talk about “shouda beens,” I think we can safely say the opening game against BG was a missed opportunity at a ten-win season. Damn gold unis.

2004
Record: 7-5
Shoulda been: 12-0

I was originally only going to mention seasons where the Boilers came within one or two missed opportunities of winning ten games, but I have to mention 2004 as well because this was the best 7-5 team ever. At least for the first half of the season. Talent, poise, leadership, confidence… this team had it all. And then “The Fumble” happened.

Purdue won its first two games by a combined score of 110-7. Then they overcame the trap game they usually lose under Joe, beating Illinois in Champaign 38-0. And then came almost everyone’s favorite Purdue-Notre Dame memory of the past 15 years, the 41-16 pasting by Orton and company, followed by a third straight road win over Penn State. Now, let’s think about this – beating three straight teams on the road, two of them being ND and PSU. This was not the Purdue we had come to know. This was a team that believed – and had us all believing – that anything could happen and that maybe – just maybe – we’d finally turned the corner as a program and that all the pieces might just be in the right places. Orton was being talked about for Heisman, Tiller seemed to be keeping an even keel, the players were working hard… it all looked good.

Even ESPN thought so, actually sending the GameDay crew to Purdue for the first and only time ever. And I remember Kirk Herbstreit listing his “Top 5” in the country and they went basically according to the AP poll – with Purdue being #5. How crazy was this? ESPN on campus, the Boilers undefeated, a night game that the whole nation was sort of paying attention to. Crazyness.

The crazyness continued into the game, with the Boilers playing strong, solid, SMART defense and holding a 17-7 lead with eight minutes to go. They hadn’t tried to do things they shouldn’t against a strong Wisco team. As I said, they played smart and plodding football and worked themselves into a position to win. I even admit, I was feeling good, up ten with eight minutes left at home and with Kyle Orton at the helm. What would our rank be? 3? 4?

Then Orton fumbled, Wisconsin recovered and the Purdue football program…. well, it still hasn’t recovered. Gut-wrenching losses at home to Michigan (16-14), at Northwestern (13-10) and at Iowa (23-21) dropped the Boilers to 5-4 and the season, despite not being completely outplayed in any game, was lost. Somehow, they managed to get up for the OSU game and won by seven, but that only rubbed in the salt, with all of wondering how great that win over OSU would have felt if we’d gotten wins in those close games leading up to it. Everyone, from players to fans, vented their frustration the final week is a 63-24 thrashing of IU. But as I said, it was a lost season and one with long-standing impact on the program. They shouldn't have lost ANY of the games they did.

2006
Record: 8-6
Shoulda been: 10-4

While the ’04 team was a hell of a lot better than 7-5, this team was the worst 8-win team you’ll ever see. When you looked at the 13-game regular season, you could EASILY project ten possible wins. And a 4-0 start got us thinking it even more. They’d only need to go 6-3 down the stretch – totally possible.

But then the soft underbelly of the team was exposed and they were blown out or otherwise dominated in four of the next five games to be at 5-4 after nine contests. Still, five winnable games remained on the schedule if you included the bowl game, and after they reeled off three straight wins to run to 8-4, I remember telling boilerdowd that we had no excuse not to win ten.

Well, we went out to Hawaii and allowed Colt Brennan’s system offense to hang on for a 42-35 win – which wasn’t bad since after basically not showing up for the first half, the Boilers roared back in the second half. Still, it wasn’t to be and the team apparently decided they didn’t care one bit about the bowl game, losing in uninspiring fashion to Maryland. (“Crab cakes and football – that’s what Maryland DOES!”)

2007
Record: 8-5
Shoulda Been: 11-2

Again, an eight-win season that felt like a lost season. Perhaps we’re getting restless now, but when you look at the lineup the Boilers had to face, ten wins doesn’t sound ludicrous. And a 5-0 start will only make you think it’s even more possible, knowing you only need a 5-3 finish to make it happen.

And then you lose to OSU at home and UM on the road – okay, par for the course. I could even take this consistent failure against these schools if we took care of business everywhere else. But losses by a TD at PSU and inexcusably by 17 against MSU – at HOME – are just not okay. PSU wasn’t that good last year and MSU wasn’t, either – plus they were in our house. Losing to IU was just another kick in the testicles – such is life as a Purdue fan.

--------------------------------------------------

So what if all of this had happened? Joe would literally be a legend in West Lafayette and the program would be on a steady upswing. Sure, we'd basically be Kansas State of the 1990s with a bunch of 10 and 11 win seasons and little to show for it, but still, I might take that. Let us know what you think.

*Warning – reliving these seasons and looking back at the links provided that show the game-by-game results may be depressing to your health and encumber your sexual performance. Consider yourselves warned.

Media Day -- Tilleriffic

For those interested in the few questions and answers that were lobbed to Joe Tiller on Thursday, the video is below. It's notable for the fact that the Big Ten Network felt that only about 11 minutes of Joe's 15 were worth showing, that Joe thinks "we will compete" this year and he thinks "genuine" is pronounced "jen-U-wine."



He also wants us all to know these media day shenanigans are seriously impeding his early retirement Wyoming fishing plans. Jeez, Joe, I thought you weren't retired yet.

I'll be curious if he flies in for games this year or simply coaches via headset from beside the North Platte River.

OK Boiler Fans -- Wear Navy Blue Tomorrow

Something you're used to doing, I'm sure, because you're all so handsome and navy blue is a nice, sharp color. Especially with your sexy eyes. Ed DeChellis is a better coach than Bo Ryan, Penn State has talent that's at least on par with Wisconsin's, and the game's at Wisconsin's majestically-named Kohl Center -- plus the Nittany Lions have got to be amped up to play spoiler. Tell you what, Penn State... if you win tomorrow night, I'll fulfill your deepest desire: during over (sic) the course of the Big Ten Tournament, I'll refer to your school as WE ARE, PENN STATE.

Okay, sorry, I couldn't even do all that seriously. No, Penn State is not on a par with Wisky, but yeah, my post makes about as much sense as the lunacy over at Badger Tracker. Truth is, though, Wisky has a better shot right now because the Boilers have to play two road games that aren't exactly gimmes -- @OSU and @UM -- while the Badgers get to host PSU and go @NU. Yikes. So let's just chalk up two wins for Wisconsin. Yep, those two are guaranteed! For sure! No need to even play 'em! Wisconsin should win eeeeeeeeasily. Right? Gosh, I sure hope they don't trip over one of those lesser opponents.

I mean, truly. I sure hope Wisky's getting swept by the Boilermakers this year doesn't come back to bite 'em.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!! Don't jinx my team! I will fire thunderbolts out of my fingers! But not my index finger! It alone can destroy a city! I will simply use my weaker three fingers!

It's Notre Dame Week

So we're a month into the college football season and all seems right with our world -- Purdue is 4-0. Also making this a fun football season is the fact that Notre Dame, led by genius Charlie Weis, is 0-4... for the first time in their history. It took the Domers until week four against Michigan State at home to score an offensive touchdown. So I mean, there's bad and then there's.... bad. Not being able to score for a month is kind of horrendous. And you'd think this would make fans of the Golden Dome a bit more humble. You know, like when Michigan lost to App St. and the guys at MGoBlog turned their site pink and full of kittens for several days. They raised the white flag and admitted they had nothing to say to defend their beloved team's performance. But are ND supporters like this at all? Well, take a look at this post from "Her Loyal Sons" and judge for yourself:

It’s bad enough that ND is 0-4 this season. It’s even worse to know that this is Purdue week - The Most Boring Week In College Football Blogging.

If you guys hear anything that we should know and that we should let other ND fans know about Purdue, please feel free to e-mail us. We’re digging. We really are, but Purdue is simply the most boring college football program in the nation, and it’s hard to keep our attention on the task at hand. I got distracted by some pre-Algebra homework problems earlier when I was trying to pull some facts together about whoever their coach might be. I think he sells diabetes equipment or something.

This would be a vastly more interesting week if we’d dump Purdue from the schedule and take on a team like, say, ITT Technical Institute. Do they have a football team? I often wonder why kids go to play at Purdue. What, hate the difficulty of playing for a team that people might actually look up in the Sunday papers? Have a masochistic love of tedium?

Maybe we’ll do a “look back” on what’s happened in the last 4 weeks since, apparently, nothing much will be happening this week.

Wow. I mean, just... wow. The level of obnoxiously blinding arrogance is hard (nay, impossible) to measure here. Are you guys f-cking serious?? Shall we take things a-hole comment by a-hole comment? Okay.

It’s even worse to know that this is Purdue week - The Most Boring Week In College Football Blogging.

Really? In-state rivalries are that boring to you? I suppose so if you know a beatdown is coming. I hate to break this to Notre Dame, but USC doesn't really consider you guys a "rival" the way you do. They see you as a nuisance from the midwest. You don't matter to them, you're a W on their schedule and then they move on to actually challenging opponents. Your best try still wasn't good enough a couple of years ago. Long grass, home-field, hometown refereeing... and you still lost. So why not embrace an in-state rival that has actually been a good series in recent years?

If you guys hear anything that we should know and that we should let other ND fans know about Purdue, please feel free to e-mail us.

Um, oh, hey, I have something: We're 4-0, bitch. We have a top ten offense... in the nation. We're ranked. Our QB has 16 TDs and one pick. We're averaging almost 50 points a game. Want me to keep going? Or should I have started small? Like with: It didn't take us a month to score a touchdown.

Purdue is simply the most boring college football program in the nation, and it’s hard to keep our attention on the task at hand.

Really? The most boring? With an explosive offense and a suspect defense? You think that's boring? The fact that against any good team we'll probably be playing shootouts? That's boring to you clowns?? Right. So now you're just lying.

I got distracted by some pre-Algebra homework problems earlier when I was trying to pull some facts together about whoever their coach might be. I think he sells diabetes equipment or something.

I love that they're doing pre-Algebra at Notre Dame. Well-played, moron. You just made yourself look brilliant. Pre-algebra is something that's done by seventh-graders... outside of South Bend, I imagine. At ND, you can probably major in it. Unless this blog is written by a seventh-grader. Which, given its quality, actually seems possible. And yes, Joe Tiller looks like Wilford Brimley. We've done that joke a million times and he's our own coach. Do you want me to comment on what your coach looks like?

This would be a vastly more interesting week if we’d dump Purdue from the schedule and take on a team like, say, ITT Technical Institute. Do they have a football team?

I'm sure you boys would love to "dump Purdue" from the schedule -- who wants a team that can beat you and perhaps even steal some recruits? You guys only have 6 or 7 gimme wins a season on your schedule so ITT Tech would fit right in with the plan. That way, you can continue to put up the occasional 8 or 9 win season, secure a nice bowl and then get blasted by a far, far superior program. Oh, hey, did you guys know that the last time Notre Dame won ANY bowl game was when Jimmy Clausen was about six years old?

I often wonder why kids go to play at Purdue.

I don't know, maybe because they like to score points? Play in a conference? Not live in South Bend? Shall I go on?

What, hate the difficulty of playing for a team that people might actually look up in the Sunday papers?

What does this even mean? College football is on Saturdays. But these guys haven't seen something resembling college football in a while so it's easy to see how they might be confused.

Have a masochistic love of tedium?

Again, this irrational shot at Purdue for being boring and tedious. I don't get it. You can certainly take shots at us -- lord knows we take shots at our own program all the time and there's plenty to shoot at. But to call us boring? I just don't get it. Nine bowls in ten years. One losing season since Tiller has gotten here. Was Drew Brees boring? Was it boring when Kyle Orton and Taylor Stubblefield embarassed the Domers in South Bend in 2004?

Maybe we’ll do a “look back” on what’s happened in the last 4 weeks since, apparently, nothing much will be happening this week.

This last line made me laugh. You're going to "look back"? At what? At all the insanely awful play from your team this year? Give me a break. You have fun with your look-back. We'll be looking ahead at the rest of our schedule.

Gopher Toe

Each week we attempt to give you some things to think about regarding that week's Purdue game. For tonight's matchup with Minnesota, I just couldn't help posting this picture of the Minnesota Golden Gopher's... cameltoe, I guess.

Tonight the Boilers take on the 1-2 Gophers in the Metrodome in front of... several fans. Seriously, Minnesota needs to put a major college level football stadium back on their campus. It's kind of ridiculous.

Let's go back two years. Glen Mason, then Gopher's coach, basically got his team ready for Purdue starting with Spring practice. The Boilers had kind of owned Minny for a while and Mason was tired of losing to Tiller. His players played an inspired game in the Big Ten opener in 2005 and the Gophers prevailed -- barely -- in overtime. They reacted like they'd just won the Rose Bowl. Predictably, they tumbled in the subsequent weeks. None of us could really figure out why they took Purdue so seriously -- nobody else does, often to our advantage.

So last year, Glen Mason brought his senior noodlearm QB Brian Cupito into West Lafayette and the Boilers won a sloppy game that was a portent of things to come in the Boilers unimpressive 8-win season.

Well, things are a little different now. Mason is no longer there and the Gophers are starting a freshman QB. However, I'll tell you what hasn't changed: Minnesota still really can't stop anybody on defense and it looks like this Purdue-Minny game might look like the way they looked back when the cadre of writers here at Boiled Sports were starting our time at Purdue in the early/mid-90s. Purdue typically owned them back then, too, and used to win games by scores like 59-56. Nobody could stop ANYone and guys like Rick Trefzger looked like Heisman-caliber passers. Well, I think we could be in for another entertaining, if sad, shootout.

Minnesota is 1-2 but hasn't scored less than 31 points in any game. However, they've lost to Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic, so what does that tell you? Well, basically, that they couldn't stop boilerdowd if he were rushing the ball.

On the positive side for Minny, they've only lost their two games by a total of four point, and their starting QB, Adam Weber, has thrown for almost 800 yards and ten TDs in just three games. Not bad, but that's mainly because they've played three shootouts and are often (always) playing from behind. What scares me about this is that Purdue's defense, while improved, has still taken some quarters off against far lesser opponents. Sure, they've played some decent mid-level schools and maybe a mid-level school equals a marginal Big Ten school (like Minnesota). My point is that what concerns me is this game being a trap game: its SO easy to look ahead at the schedule and see a win tonight, a win next week at home against the South Bend Geniuses and then welcoming OSU to town at 5-0. And if it's easy for US to do that, then you know it's easy for the players to do that. And none of us have any confidence that our coaching staff can keep this squad focused. We're on the road tonight, playing against a team that can put up points. Sure, they won't be able to stop us, either, but what if we take a quarter off and are down 17 points? The question will be whether Painter and company can come back in that "environment." Fortunately, it's only the Metrodome and Minnesota fans so that's a nonfactor.

I checked in with my esteemed co-author boilerdowd and he thinks I'm unnecessarily concerned:

Minnesota's pass defense: 118th
Purdue's pass offense: 15th

Minnesota has allowed over 400 passing yards PER GAME. They've played BGSU, UM (Ohio) & Florida Atl.

I honestly don't see how they can win this game...It's much like it was during the Brees years at Purdue, but more lop-sided against the Gophers. I don't know if it's fair to call it a trap. It should be nearly like Purdue is playing without a defense opposing them.

I love that last line. "It should be nearly like Purdue is playing without a defense opposing them"

Yes, if they're focused. A bigger "if" than any of us want to admit.

Well, as I write this, the game is just ten hours away. So let's get on with it, prediction time.

boilerdowd:

Purdue 49
Mini 10

Painter & Bryant make it rain in the dome...also Orton to start another TD streak. Look for Dan Dierking to look strong as he has had a full week with the 1s. Defense gets back to where it was in the first half of the CMU game.

Tim:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

J Money:

I would be supremely disappointed if we lose this game because we're such a better team than Minnesota. As long as the Boilers stay focused early, this one shouldn't be a problem. However, I do think we'll give up points in chunks tonight unless the defense is just crushing in the first quarter and truly rattles Weber.

Boilers: 45
Gophers: 33

Saddle up, boys, the Big Ten schedule begins today and it's time to get serious.

It's Raining Points!

In a game seen by even fewer people than last week, the BTN televised a Purdue football game for the first time in it's extremely-short history. Purdue squared off against Eastern Illinois...and going in, some wondered was E. Ill Purdue's App. St.?

The 1-0 Panthers were 11th in the Championship Subdivision...and when looking at their roster before the game, I must say I was a bit concerned. All four of their offensive linemen were 300 lbs. or more and all were tall, one even 6'9"! On top of that, they had a 6'5" QB who had thrown for more than 300 yards in the previous game. While I didn't think it was likely, I thought that if our Boilers weren't ready, it might be a shootout for a half. I'm happy Tiller had 'em ready. Here are my thoughts on the Boilers' second victory:

First, The Bad
-EIU's big O-line kept Purdue's front four in check. In fact, I don't think the Boilers registered a sack until the second half (I'm not positive). I'm hoping some of this can be attributed to a vanilla scheme, but I don't think so.

-Jared Armstrong punted poorly all game...the rain didn't help much.

-Dustin Keller had his bell rung after his helmet was knocked off during the third quarter. He was pulled from the game, but his injury is said to be minor.

-Brandon Erwin missed a tackle in the second quarter as badly as I can remember any Purdue player missing one. While it's not the end of the world since he's no longer a starter, it was a pitiful effort, especially for a guy who I was hoping would be solid this season.

-Purdue's offense was not balanced- not because they couldn't run, but because they simply didn't try to do so during long stretches of the game.

-Purdue's defensive backs didn't cause as many turnovers as they could have. At least one interception opportunity hit a Purdue player between the numbers without being caught.

-The first string Purdue offense played in the third quarter...I don't think there was anything to gain, and much to lose at that point...I would have liked to have seen the 2s at the start of the half.

-The level of competition may not show us much at all...EIU was clearly overmatched.

-The weather was pretty awful...first it was really humid, then it rained buckets, then the lightning came through and caused the delay. It felt like the spring game in the second half as there were around 5,000 fans (including Boilerdowd's family) in attendance.

Now, The Good-

-Painter was razor-sharp from the beginning. He only "missed" on one pass in the first half...the other incompletions were dropped balls. Painter tied Brees & Orton for a Purdue record of 6 touchdown passes...in just three quarters of play. His play earned him Co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (along w/ Minnesota's Freshman QB).

-Jake Standeford played the entire first half in the stead of Lymon...I think that was a quazi-punishment for underage drinking, but that hasn't been confirmed. Standeford had one TD reception and another that was taken off of the board due to a penalty away from the ball. More impressive than his receptions, was a block he threw a block on an EIU defensive back that sprung Dustin Keller for a TD. This block was truly crushing. [Here's a rudimentary home video of the block procured from YouTube for those that, like me, weren't able to see it. --J Money]

-Purdue's receivers seemed to have no problem catching the ball during the rainstorm. While EIU couldn't catch the ball during the deluge, Purdue's passing game was nearly unaffected.

-Jaycen Taylor was solid again and seems to be separating himself as the first string back.

-Dorien Bryant was back to normal with over 100 yards receiving and a TD. He played well on the special teams side of the ball as well.

-Greg Orton once again had a great body-control catch...at this point, he seems to be the receiver that many had hoped Lymon would be.

-Dan Dierking ran very well (although v. the 2nd team EIU defense) and punched in another touchdown. Dierking seems to run a bit like Mike Hart and is about the same size...that said he's not as talented or quick.

-The second and third units got to play for big chunks of time...always good for the program.

Next week, the Boilers will get to play a much more capable team in Central Michigan than the previous two opponents. Central Michigan laid a Purdue-like 52 points on Toledo on Saturday, so it looks like our Boilers defense will get a real test. More to come as the week progresses...

Sideboob Friday; The Eastern Illinois Edition

Does that headline mean we'll be featuring sideboobs from the girls who attended Eastern Illinois? No, it doesn't. It means that Purdue is playing Game 2 of their quest for world (or at least Big Ten) domination this weekend against Division I-AA Eastern Illinois. DI-AA schools are all the rage now that Appalachan State busted down the door against Michigan last weekend, to the point where the AP is now going to allow votes to be cast for I-AA schools, if voters so desire. So maybe Eastern Illinois will get their long-awaited due next weekend. Or maybe not.

The Boilers have their home opener tomorrow, a week after opening on the road at Toledo and absolutely smoking the Rockets, 52-24. How will the Boilers fare at home against the likely lesser opponent tomorrow? Let's turn to our in-house panel of experts.

boilerdowd: My prediction for the game is Purdue whipping up on 'em, even if suspensions are handed down to all guilty parties. (This is a reference to an ugly bar-fighting incident that led to Selwyn Lymon getting stabbed and a number of Purdue football players nearly beating some guy to death outside a bar and then lying to police about it. More on this in another post.) Purdue 49, E. Illinois 12. Running game will be extremely dominant.

Tim: Hopefully the App State game has them awake and ready. I don't think there will be a problem this week. I'm looking for close to 500 yards of offense for Purdue and about 250 for Eastern Illinois.I'm guessing Purdue 45, Eastern Illinois 17.

J Money: I like boobies.

boilerdowd: Yes, we know. But what do you think about the game tomorrow?

J Money: Boobies!

Tim: Has he been hit in the head?

boilerdowd: Tim, just show him your boobies...

J Money: Okay, fine. Boilers roll after some Painter gets over some home-field pumped-up jitters (that lead to him firing overthrown missles with fire coming off them). Purdue 51, Eastern Illinois 17.

By the way, did somebody mention boobies? That's right, it's Sideboob Friday. Buckle up.



Today's first picture is this week's reader submission. Submitted to us by our friend Doug who has submitted in the past, this is Joanna Krupa and this photo shows her girls are just longing to stretch out and enjoy the day, unfettered by fabric of any kind. Thanks for the submission, Doug. Good find.

Picture two is Vanessa Marcil, just because there are few things better than flesh-colored dresses. It kind of makes her look naked, which allows us a better visual of what she might indeed look like naked without all the fuss of an arrest for public lewdness and indecency. Not that any of us would turn Vanessa in if she decided to walk around naked.

Hey, it's U.S. Open time and so why not throw some more haphazard theming into this post with a picture of everybody's current favorite female tennis hottie, Maria Sharapova. Oh, Maria, you're just toying with us now, aren't you? Bending over, showing off your hooters while grabbing two balls in your hand.... wait, I'm getting lightheaded writing that sentence...

Today's final pic is again all part of a carefully (or half-assed) theme for today's Friday boob extravaganza. This is Carrie Underwood, who, unless I'm misinformed, is dating one of the more overrated QBs in the NFL, Eastern Illinois' own Tony Romo. See how I bring everything full-circle? It's kind of a meandering, aimless-seeming route, but by the end of our walk together, we're holding hands, gazing at each other in love and you're wearing my varsity jacket.

No, I don't know what I'm saying, either. Have a good weekend, boys.

Sideboob Friday is a production of Boiled Sports and runs every Friday in this space. During the football season, it may also contain our picks for that weekend's Purdue matchup and more nonsense than usual. If you'd like to share boobie goodness or just say something that you can't say to anyone else, we're always listening at BoiledSports@gmail.com.

A Great Start

Our boilers started the '07 campaign with a convincing and solid road win in a trap game versus Toledo, Saturday night.

Hundreds tuned into ESPN U to watch ESPN football's "F" team produce and call the Boilers' first victory of this season. I am fortunate enough to have ESPN U at this time...so I got to see it. Here are my thoughts:

First- The Bad
>Frank Halliburton, of whom I am a big fan, was given a couple opportunities to contribute on this multi-faceted offense, and fumbled on his lone carry and dropped an easy pass late in the game.
>Not to be outdone, Kory Sheets, while having a pretty good game, had an inexplicable fumble in the first half. These two plays kept the game interesting for Toledo fans. Hopefully, the running backs will get rid of the dropsies in the coming weeks.
>Chris Summers missed his first field goal attempt of the season, which I wasn't too happy to see.
>The Spack-led defense started very slow and allowed Toledo to pick up too much yardage and too many points in the first quarter and a half.
>Painter's accuracy and touch were less-than-stellar at times.
>Dustin Keller received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for pointing to Purdue Pete as he scored a TD. Huh. Darius Walker pointed every fricking time he scored in his over-rated UND career and didn't get penalized once.

Alright, enough negativity- The Good
>Dorien Bryant battled through a not-so-great offensive game and shined on kickoff returns having a 91 yard return for a touchdown. This return included Bryant breaking a tackle (which I didn't think he could do) and showing a bit of the speed by beating two players who had the angle on him.
>Painter threw for four touchdowns, got a lot of receivers involved in the game and had ZERO interceptions. For those of you just tuning in, Painter led the nation in INTs last season. Painter also heeded one of my requests and overcame a slow start to end in a very solid manner.
>Greg Orton had an acrobatic catch for a TD and was solid all day. Selwyn Lymon also contributed well with a TD, a few catches and some EXCELLENT blocking.
>Purdue ran for 244 yards in a workman-like effort. Even true-freshman, Dan Dierking had a chance to carry the ball three times, averaging right around 12 yards/carry and scoring a TD. Sheets averaged around 8 (and had a tough TD run) and Taylor was his usual self averaging around 9/carry while carrying the lunch pail.
>Chris Summers recovered nicely on his second field goal and split the uprights with a 45-yarder. That was truly a great thing for me to see.
>Torri Williams continued his comeback with a few tackles and an interception.
>Jason Werner looked good and healthy having quite a few special teams tackles and a few at LB.
>Brock Spack's defense adjusted very well in the second quarter and all but completely stopped Toledo's offense for a quarter and a half.
>Purdue scored more points on Toledo at home than any other has during the Amstutz era.
>No Purdue players, coaches or personnel were eaten or bitten by Amstutz.
>Amstutz did not vomit during the game (he looked like he was going to a few times).

It's Time To Get Amped Up!

It's college football time and so I thought maybe today was a good day to get all the Boiler faithful charged up for this Saturday's opener against Toledo. Sure, many of these are from the good old days, but try to remember how when each of these happened -- no matter how good we were -- it still felt surreal to be on the winning side of these kinds of matchups. Good things could happen to the Boilers and we all began to believe again.

Enjoy.

Up first, one Drew Brees' earliest shining moments... the comeback in the 1998 Alamo Bowl:



Next, a terrific home win against Notre Dame as they lose in a painful way -- mismanaging the clock. Oh, Bob Davie, we miss you.



During the 2003 season, one of those great plays that just makes a quality opponent look overmatched -- #14 Purdue makes it 20-0 over #10 Iowa:



PSU at Purdue, 2003 -- Purdue tells JoPa to get off our lawn!



Still one of our favorite moments ever -- Taylor Stubblefield begins celebrating at our own 40. Classic and one of the only teams it's always okay to rub it in on:



And one of the best, one that never seems to get old... Brees to Morales, "Holy Toledo," Mike Doss blows coverage on a walk-on WR who almost drops the pass... I always point out to Boilerdowd when we reminisce about these days that Brees threw for well over 400 yards in this game and had 3 TDs and 4 -- FOUR! -- interceptions. Truly the essence of Drew the gunslinger:



Two days to go.

Happy Days Are Here Again

This coming weekend marks the return of college football to the sports landscape and, damn, I just feel like a giddy little boy about it. The next dozen-plus Saturdays will be filled with College GameDay, Kirk Herbstreit spouting haughty nonsense, Lee Corso spouting good-natured nonsense (like your grandpa telling a drunken story), and cheerleader crotches flying over the set.

Our Boilermakers open the season on the road against a MAC team. Solid job, athletic department! Opening with a MAC team is dumb in and of itself when everyone else is opening with complete patsies... but to do it in their building is just annoying. The official company line is that Purdue is going to Toledo to open this season in order to get them to come to West Lafayette twice -- a 2-for-1 deal. While I'm not usually arrogant enough to act like we're superior to other teams/conferences, I actually do think we are superior enough that we shouldn't have to be a MAC team's home opener, especially after that perennially good MAC team had a down season and will be looking to repeat their feat from 10 years ago in Tiller's first game at Purdue, when we went into Toledo and lost 36-22.

If you're looking for a Toledo football breakdown, check out Vandelay Sports' opinion. Interestingly, they feel there are holes in this team after a 5-7 record in 2006 and a revolving door at quarterback, but they see Purdue as a victory.

Really.

I hope some of the Boilers see this and take some pride in the idea of walking into an excited atmosphere and laying the smack down, showing some Big Ten pride. I definitely think this is a scary game for the Boilers but it's the kind of game a good team wins and we all seem to think the Boilers are poised to be a "good" team this season.

Look for some more opining from our Boiled Sports staff, specifically from our one writer who attends all Purdue home games, as the weekend draws closer.

My initial feeling is 35-31, Boilers.

The Original A-Train

With all the making fun of Notre Dame and various other hating we've been doing around here, we've barely had time to talk about one of our all-time favorites, Mike Alstott.

During the Boiled Sports staffs time at Purdue, the Boilermaker football program was...well...less than what they are now. Our lone bright spot among the wreckage and 4-7 seasons was Mike "A-Train" Alstott. He barrelled through everyone, despite the fact that everyone knew he was our only option.

Earlier this month, Alstott was put on IR by the Bucs and his career may indeed be over. Alstott is 33 years old (which in and of itself makes us feel old) and has had a terrific NFL career, making the Pro Bowl six times as a fullback and holding the Bucs all-time rushing TD record.

In 1999, Mike rushed for 949 yards and caught 27 passes for another 239 yards for 1188 total yards -- not bad for a fullback.

But Mike's more incredible stats -- at least to me -- are how he ground up the Big Ten during his time at Purdue. As this article lays out, Alstott is the Boilermakers all-time leader in the following categories:

Career Rushing Yards: 3,635
Career Rushing TDs: 39
Career Points: 256
Career 100-Yard Games: 16
Single-Season Rushing TDs: 14
Consecutive 100-Yard Games: 8
Single-Season Rushing Yards: 1,436

Alstott also had a five-TD game against Minnesota in 1993 and 264 yards rushing against IU in his final game for Purdue. The biggest crime in recent Purdue history is that Mike Alstott never played in a bowl game or for a winning team. The fact that he won a Super Bowl in Tampa definitely made us all feel a little better for this good soldier.

If this is indeed the end of Mike's NFL career, we salute him and we will certainly not forget how much fun he was to watch in West Lafayette during some of the darkest years for the football program.

Heal up, Mike.

"Pro" Football At Ross-Ade?

Why am I always the last one to know about these things? It appears that the All American Football League, an upstart league wishing to capitalize on the football void left for those people for whom the Arena League just isn't enough, has signed an agreement to put one of their franchises in Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, IN.

According to the site, "the League will employ all players and coaches and will establish a system of allocating talent among the Teams, striving to match players with their alma mater."

Does this mean we could see Billy Dicken or Rick Trefzger throwing short-hops again, or Travis Dorsch booming punts and wickedly shanking field goal attempts? Only time will tell.

The AAFL is also holding national tryouts at Ford Field in Detroit on September 13 -- no word yet on how many of the Lions have already been cut.

Myles Brand thinks the AAFL is a "fascinating idea." Brand also thinks his belly button is "fascinating," though.

An interesting thing about this league is that each team needs an "Advisory Board" and, apparently, anybody can apply to sit on such a board. The site says that the league "will consider all qualified individuals." What qualifies someone to sit on an Advisory Board for a semi-professional football team? I don't know but I'll do my best to keep you posted. I've submitted my application to be on the Board for the franchise currently labeled "Purdue" (one assumes a team name will eventually be attached to this franchise should the league actually get off the ground). The photo they show in the above link just makes it look like such a happy bunch. Maybe it's the old-school football lithograph in the background. Who knows?

Self-Deprication Is Always Funny

Here at Boiled Sports (and simply by being Purdue fans) we often get criticized for being whiners or always feeling like we get screwed somehow. I think in general we would agree that we always get screwed somehow, but you have to hear us out; usually, it's by our own coaching staff, like anytime Brock Spack is allowed to drink an entire container of maple syrup and then go draw up a defensive game plan. He just gets antsy in his pantsy.

Anyway, with college football season coming up sooner than you think, I thought it'd be fun to poke fun at our own brethren because, really, when you're a blindly loyal fan, you really can be ridiculous sometimes. Hell, some clowns are even predicting a 10-win season for the Boilers this season.

Below is a video cobbled together by someone who then put it on YouTube. It's from a rant by Colin Cowherd, noted ESPN radio douchebag who intentionally took down The Big Lead for no apparent reason a couple of months ago. Anyway, I have to admit that this bit is kind of funny. And to whoever the Purdue fan is who called in and tried his best to get his wacky-ass scenario heard: kudos, my good man, and way to Boiler Up.

Only 30 days until the season opener.

Great Players on Less-Than-Great Teams (& other notes)

As the doldrums of summer continue, the Boiled Sports staff has been busy personally, but had little to report on the front of our favorite topic, Purdue sports. That said, both the NFL & NBA drafts occurred during this season and these drafts were noteworthy for Purdue fans.

First off, Anthony Spencer made the Purdue family proud by following up his stellar Senior campaign by being drafted in the first round (#26) by the Dallas Cowboys. Early word out of Dallas is that there's a good chance the NFL rookie will play a significant role this coming season and will possibly start, depending on their injury situation. Spencer was the first Purdue player picked in the first round of the NFL draft in 20 seasons.

Spencer's play was really the only thing to write home about in Purdue's sub-par 2006 defense. Our Boilers ranked 114th in total defense despite Spencer's efforts. Many games he was double or triple-teamed. And when he wasn't out-manned, the opposition would simply run away from him. Spencer's dominant play made him the first All-American Boiler D-Lineman since 1975. While his motor, athleticism and toughness will be missed by fans, I look for the '07 Boiler defense to improve greatly (could it really get any worse?).

More recently, power forward Carl Landry was picked first in the second round (#31 overall) of the NBA draft by the Seattle Supersonics. The rights to Landry were soon-after traded to the Houston Rockets. Landry became the first Boiler picked in the NBA's draft since Brian Cardinal in 2000. The situation for Landry in Houston should be pretty good as his strong, hard-nosed style of play is greatly needed in the Yao Ming-led Houston frontcourt.

Landry exceeded many expectations with his play for our Boilers in his first season in a Purdue uniform ('04-'05). The next year, his injured knee kept him off the court. But in '06-07, Landry fully recovered and carried the under-sized Boilers, leading the team in both scoring and rebounding. His efforts earned him the Big Ten's player of the week for a record three weeks in-a-row, at one point. Carl was named to the All-Big Ten team for 2007.

Who's Next?

On the gridiron, many pre-season magazines believe that Purdue's offense will be nearly unstoppable. While I don't know if I would go that far, I would have to say that I believe the '07 offense has no excuses not to have a great deal of success. I look for OG Jordan Grimes to be an All-American and follow up the season by being drafted highly. Grimes' size and experience should prove to be a tough impedance for opposing pass-rushers. I believe QB Curtis Painter will be first-team All Big Ten as will WR/KR Dorien Bryant. RB Cory Sheets might surprise a few people by being named to the BT's second team. He could be joined on that honorary squad by TE Dustin Keller, WR Greg Orton, P Jared Armstrong and DE Cliff Avril. The BT Honorable Mention squad might include CB Terrell Vinson, LB Anthony Heygood and OL Elliott Hood.

My hope is that DE Eugene Bright is suspended in the coming days for being convicted of resisting arrest...but that looks doubtful. Tiller needs to keep Purdue players from filling the W. Lafayette holding cells...if only for a season.

On the hardwood, I think Freshman point guard E'Twan Moore will have an instant impact and may be starting within the first five-to-ten games. Outside of Moore, I think SF Scott Martin might be ready "out of the box". I believe the two other incoming true Freshman, Johnson and Hummel will need a bit of bulk to become contributors...Maybe one can be red-shirted. I have a sneaking suspicion that Gordon Watt now thinks this is his team and will prepare himself well to be "the man". I look for Watt to have a breakout year and be on the Big Ten's Honorable Mention team. Kramer might also flirt with making one of the All-Big Ten teams. But, the sum of the parts will prove to be much more effective and productive than the individuals next season...Look for the Boilers to get better each month and end the season with around 23 wins.

Hopefully, Greg Hill's most recent ACT scores will make him eligible in the very near future. A true shooter is definitely needed on this squad. Also, look for Nemanja Calasan to become the most recent Boiler signee in the coming weeks. The 6 ft. 9 in. Calasan was the number two-ranked JuCo player in 2006 and should be an instant-impact player at forward for the Boilers.

In Good Hands With Morgan Burke

It’s been officially decided – Purdue’s plan to build a new basketball arena in 2025 has been put on hold. Wait, what? Yes, you read that right – the school had a plan in place to use Mackey Arena until that time and then build a new $300 million arena, at a time when arenas could cost who-knows-what amount. Perhaps the idea was to generate excitement and make Mackey tickets a must-have, sort of like seeing a game at Yankee Stadium before they move out.

Anyway, that plan has been scrapped and instead Mackey will undergo more than $80 million worth of renovations. Presumably these renovations might include seats with backs to them and a video board. You know, to get up to 1980s standards, at least.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Mackey. But it’s definitely time to spruce the place up.

Morgan Burke, Purdue’s athletic director may have overstated Mackey’s historical significance a bit when he said, "To build a brand new facility you lose the history and the tradition of this building. You have a 40-year brand that is known all over the globe. It added up to us."

Yes, when children in Nepal heard of the planned new arena in 18 years, they went on a hunger strike. Known all over the globe indeed.

Burke went on to compare the facelifted Mackey to Camden Yards in Baltimore, saying that Mackey “could become the Camden Yards of college basketball arenas.” Except, presumably, that it wouldn’t be an open-air stadium and would continue to have hardwood and not grass. But otherwise, just like Camden Yards.

Interestingly, the expected seating capacity of the revised Mackey will drop, from 14,123 to roughly 13,300.

The only downside to this project, which is expected to take place over the next five years, is that it puts an indefinite hold on the Ross-Ade Stadium renovations going on across the street. Phase 2, as its known, would entail putting a second level over the East stands of the Stadium. And it’s on hold because of the arena renovations.

"You're not going to do the deck during this five-year period. You just can't," athletic director Morgan Burke said.

I don’t really understand why he’s speaking in the second person like that, but it’s neither here nor there, I guess.

Burke has consistently said he would prefer the football team's season ticket base reach 50,000 before adding the deck.

Yes, Morgan, well, we’d like a football team with national significance and a few ten-win seasons. Tell you what, I’m sure if you provide that, your season ticket goal will be easily reached.

What I don’t quite get is the point of this desired deck to go over the East stands. According to the article, it would seat about 8,500. Then they’d remove the bleachers from the South end zone, which seat 7,000, leaving a net increase of 1,500 seats. Really? Our goal is to go from 62,500 capacity to 64,000?

In the meantime, the Mackey Arena project will benefit the football program.

The Boilermakers currently have two outdoor practice fields adjacent to the Mollenkopf Athletic Center, one that's 100 yards long and another that stretches only 70 yards.

To make room for parts of the arena project, two side-by-side 100-yard practice fields will be built just south of the current Grand Prix track, which eventually will be moved to the west campus.

Well, this could explain some of the Boilers problems with getting into the end zone. Perhaps the week they were shut out by Penn State 12-0 they had been practicing on the 70-yard field and just weren’t accustomed to having to go a full 100 yards.

Blog-hating Joe Tiller provides some amusing copy:

"We thought we could survive on 70 yards, but the reality is it's very difficult to do that because, for instance, at no time can you practice your two-minute game," Tiller said. "And we have to kick off from the 10-yard line to simulate where the kickoff is.”

Yes, and you have to leave somebody’s hat and shoe at one end to mark where the end zone is and you have to hope nobody throws the ball into Mr. Furley’s yard or else we’ll never get it back.

When the arena project is completed, Burke believes the next major goal should be to add the deck to the stadium.

"I don't want people to think we've lost sight of doing it," he said. "I think we need to do it, it's when you should do it. (The arena) project will take priority over the next four or five years. It probably eliminates your remaining obvious deficiencies in your facilities.”

My facilities? Are you talking about my bathroom, Morgan?

I do like that Burke doesn’t want people to think they’ve lost sight of doing Phase 2 to the stadium. Especially given that he says the following things in the same article:

"I think at that point in time, if all the stars line up, the university needs to think long and hard about if that's the right time to finish Phase 2.”

“…strategically, I do think that deck is the way you finish the stadium, and I think it needs to be done. But I don't have a timeline for it.”

“Whether you ever get to Phase 3 (adding a deck on the north end of the stadium), I don't know."

Thanks for clearing all that up, Morgan. Glad you’re our athletic director. And people wonder why Boilermaker fans are a cranky bunch.

Boiler Football!

Hey, it's about time we posted something relating to Purdue sports around here. Sure, we're not exclusively a Purdue site but we do like to delve into the Boilers as much as possible. But, hey, it's May...what do you want us to post about? The baseball team?

Recently, Scout.com released their season preview for the 2007 Boilermaker football team. Now, we can't really get much comment on this from the team since Joe Tiller has declared war on pseudo-media types like those golsh-darn blogs.

However, we can take a look at what Scout.com says and of course encourage you to read it for yourself and let us know what you think.

I was hoping boilerdowd would weigh in with a post about this and hopefully he still will. But in the meantime, you get me, analyzing Purdue football from 800 miles away. And really, maybe that's a good thing. b-dowd is too close. It's like he and Purdue football are lovers -- he can't be objective.

As he pointed out, however, this preview reads like Dorien Bryant's mom wrote it.

...now the offense should be unstoppable with everyone back, led by underappreciated star receiver Dorien Bryant.

Really? He's underappreciated? I think we appreciate his skinny, fumble-prone ass plenty. But I am digressing.

On the list of Purdue's "ten best players," which is stupid in itself because it's hard to rank the value of a good WR against a good OL but whatever. Bryant is listed first there. Fine.

Later there's this:

Best Offensive Player: Senior WR Dorien Bryant. Over the last two seasons, just one player in America has caught more passes than Bryant, a sure-handed gnat of a route runner who’s got the speed to go the distance on short hitch routes. A lethal all-purpose threat, he’s also scored six rushing touchdowns in his Boilermaker career and is very dangerous on kickoff returns.

Wow, get a room, you two! And... "a sure-handed gnat of a route runner..." Wha? He's a "lethal" gnat anyway. Shall we start calling him "The Lethal Gnat"? I think we should.

Anyway, the writer of this article, Pete Fiutak, starts out with this:

There was a time when Purdue was the Big Ten’s rising star. Thanks to Drew Brees and a thrilling passing attack, the Boilermakers went to the Rose Bowl and had Big Ten folks worried about trying to keep pace with the high-octane offense. Somewhere along the way, however, the idea of generating more balance and more of a running game kicked in, right about the time when the Purdue defense went completely into the tank.

Wow, man, very topical. Drew Brees? Do you realize his last season was 2000? Seven years ago. And yes, yes, high-octane offense... let's just call it basketball on grass, you know you want to.

I also wouldn't say our defense "went into the tank" -- I'd say our defense has never lived up to its potential under Brock Spack. And I'd leave it at that.

The team didn’t take advantage of all the experience it had over the last two years, and it really didn’t make the most of the monster scheduling break, missing Michigan and Ohio State.

Oh, holy hell. I am so glad we're playing Michigan and Ohio State this season because I am SO TIRED of hearing about how we didn't have to play them last year and it was our chance at a great season. Fine, we get it, they're good. Of course, the last time Purdue played them both, in 2004, they lost by two on the road at Michigan and beat OSU. So, there's that.

What I kind of don't get is how his overall thoughts are that this might be the year that Tiller has to break through and that with the overall experience coming back, that just might be possible. So that would lead one to believe that Purdue football is at a critical time and perhaps needs a 10-win season to climb the ladder to a bit more relevancy... would you agree? Let's see what Pete Fuitak says:

The season will be a success if ... Purdue wins eight games. That might be setting the bar way too low for a team with an offense like this, but the defense is still extremely suspect, and the schedule is potentially too nasty to expect any sort of flirtation with double-digit wins without a few big upsets.

Alright, his points after his prediction are valid but then how could this be a "successful season"? I'd say this is more "A likely season," or "What Pete Fiutak expects from Purdue this season." I think we can all agree Purdue has been in the 7-9 win range for a while and needs to bust through. Will it happen? Probably not. But with Curtis Painter a junior and The Lethal Gnat a senior you just never know.

I took the liberty of looking at the 2006 Purdue Preview as well -- also written by Pete -- and noticed that he said last year that it would be a successful season if Purdue could win eight games. Which they did. And then this year he talks about how Purdue's been a disappointment recently. I agree that they have been, but then why keep saying eight wins is a "success"?

I do also like that with Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU and Penn State on the schedule, the key game is.... Sept 22 at Minnesota. Hmm, yes, that will be critical. But I think the next three (ND, OSU, Michigan) are FAR more critical. If Purdue has lost before them, then whatever, we just hope for some fun this year. But if they're 4-0 and can plow through those three games and only lose one, well, then we might have a special season on our hands.

What do I think? Well, I'm glad you asked. Even though you didn't. Let's look at the schedule:

Sept. 1 at Toledo -- Win. It's on the road and they could lose focus but you simply can't lose to this kind of team at this point in the season with this kind of upperclassmen leadership.

Sept. 8 vs Eastern Illinois -- Win. If we lose this game... I don't know what I'll do.

Sept. 15 vs Central Michigan -- Win. Not a pushover but should be a win.

Sept. 22 at Minnesota -- Win. It's going to be tough now that Tubby Smith is coaching.

Sept. 29 vs Notre Dame -- Win. If we don't beat Fat Charlie's team this year, we don't deserve to ever beat them. I also want to see gay blade Jimmy Claussen face down as much as possible. And not in the way he likes to be face down. (Thanks to Every Day Should Be Saturday for the pic.)

Oct. 6 vs Ohio State -- Win. This is where I don't know what to say. I don't think OSU will be as solid this year, obviously, without their own Lethal Gnat, Troy Smith. But beating OSU is always an albatross for the Boilers. However, as I pointed out earlier, they did beat OSU at home in 2004. I'll say win because I'm an optimist.

Oct. 13 at Michigan -- Loss. Almost no chance we win this game. Lloyd Carr could prove me wrong and give us the game but Tiller wets his pants whenever he even sees a picture of the Big House. Of course, if Purdue is really 6-0 at this point, who knows? GameDay could be there.

Oct. 20 vs Iowa -- Loss. Should be a win but the Boilers always manage one complete stinker at home. This will probably be it.

Oct. 27 vs Northwestern -- Win. Come on, it's Northwestern.

Nov. 3 at Penn State -- Loss. Another place where the Boilers just don't seem to be able to get past a mental block. The Nittany Kittens will be marginal this year but it's still a tough road game in the hicksville fields of Nappy Valley.

Nov. 10 vs Michigan State -- Win. The Boilers seem to simply have MSU's number. Sure, they won't have John L. Smith to kick around anymore but this game is in West Lafayette, so there will be less thug MSU fans in the house than if this were up in E. Lansing.

Nov. 17 at Indiana -- Win. Purdue will have more fans there than IU and if we want to take your lame-ass rock, we will.

So that brings us to 9-3, which sounds about right to me. I mean, doesn't this just sound like a Purdue season that starts with high hopes? A blazing start only to lose a couple tough games and perhaps at least one that they shouldn't lose? With this schedule, ten wins would indeed be a fantastic season and, truthfully, I think 9-3 would be excellent as well and I would not be disappointed. I mean, unless we were 9-1 heading into the MSU game. Then I'll be pissed if we wind up 9-3.

Truth is, I am being optimistic about our start. The liklihood is the Boilers will cough up one of those early games so I'd say my official prediction is 8-4, with 9-3 being a good season and 10-2 (or better) being outstanding.

I welcome your thoughts on this subject, gentlemen.

Joe Is Mad At Us

Well, maybe not at us, exactly, but Joe is pissed off about bloggers, it appears. You may have seen this on Deadspin today, but Joe has closed practice -- permanently -- because he's tired of...bloggers.

I don't quite understand why he's upset. I mean, is it our fault (or any other blog's fault) that Selwyn Lymon was stabbed in the upper chest while he was at a nightclub? Hey, coach, maybe you should focus on keeping your 20-year-old players out of nightclubs and away from motor vehicles when they've been drinking. Maybe you should close some of their access to the party hotbed that is West Lafayette, Indiana. Just a thought. I'm fairly certain it's not the fact that a few members of the press and the interested public (largely, you know, fans, in all liklihood) being in Mollenkopf that is causing the problems on your team.

"And you better get used to it, because we're closed the rest of the spring. And we'll also be closed all fall. I'm tired of blogging and guys talking about our practices, and postings, and all that bullsh-t. All's it is is more problems than it is value."

The quote is kind of funny because it sounds like Coach Tiller himself is tired of blogging. And, hell, I'd like to read that blog:

"We lost again today. I don't understand why Brock can't make the players pretend we're at home. I'm hungry. I'm sleepy. I think I'll take a nap. After my sandwich, of course. -- Joe T"

But seriously, Coach, none of these here Websites were ever intended to provide any so-called "value" to your football squad. No, that's actually your job, believe it or not. We exist to entertain readers who aren't close to the team or the players and who might want to read about sports from the slanted angle we provide. Again, I fail to see how sites such as ours could possibly be detrimental to the team. Are there secrets going on during practice that you don't want getting out there? Like a secret play to be used against Notre Dame in September? I sure hope so, because your attitude is kind of crappy and I'd like to hope that's going to lead to a more focused team. However, ten seasons of evidence to the contrary don't bode well.