The Bucket

In honor of hate week, I wanted to make sure you all know every single thing about the Old Oaken Bucket - because it's only courteous to know a little about your house guests before they come stay for a year. 

Danny Hope is 1-0 on the road against IU

Purdue University first played Indiana University in a little game called Football in 1891. Purdue began the domination of the series with 6 straight victories. The two teams didn't play in 1895 or 96 because Purdue President James Smart had begun a campaign to organize what would become the Big Ten and after leaving the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Indiana was no longer a required option. Indiana University fans should be thankful for this delay in the whoopin' considering IU didn't score until 1897 and they were outscored 160  to 6 in the first 6 meetings.

After IU had began to make a move on the series in 1899 (6-3), Purdue won again in 1902. In 1903, the rivalry had gained enough notoriety that the two teams agreed to play at Washington Park in Indianapolis. The game would be played on October 31st, John Purdue's Birthday - who had just died a few years prior. Because of this and the nature of the times, Purdue chartered two trains to travel down to Indy. The team, some boosters and staff rode in the first train and the second was filled with supporters and additional fans.

Because of the busy day around the rail offices, a message to switch tracks never got to the right people and the head train collided with numerous parked coal cars. 13 football players were killed on site and a 14th passed away within a month. President Stone was actually on the train as well, but he survived without injury; Stone began to organize an effort to find and console survivors while others ran back to stop the second train. The incident was later known as the Purdue Wreck.

Because of this the 1903 game was left blank in the record books and our Arch-Rivals Notre Dame and Indiana University played a charity event to help fund Memorial Hall - the original on site home of Purdue Basketball.

In 1925, Purdue lead the series 14-10-2, yet the two schools held a joint meeting to discuss the possibility of working together on academic ventures. The two schools formed two committees of individuals from both schools to determine the trophy and then to track it down. The decision of the determination committee was:

'The Bucket of P's just didn't
test well in focus groups'

"an old oaken bucket as the most typical Hoosier form of trophy, that the bucket should be taken from some well in Indiana, and that a chain to be made of bronze block "I" and "P" letters should be provided for the bucket. The school winning the traditional football game each year should have possession of the "Old Oaken Bucket" until the next game and should attach the block letter representing the winning school to the bail with the score engraved on the latter link."

The tracking team discovered a bucket on The Bruner Farm. The family believes it possibly comes from the Civil War, but this hasn't been proven.

Bucket Fact Fondue:

• 0-0: the score of the first meeting in 1925 - the teams met in Bloomington
• IP - The first link on the trophy
• 6 - The number of ties in the series
• 70-37 Purdue's record overall
• 56-27 during the trophy era
• 33-19 Purdue's road record
• 932 - Purdue has scored 932 more points than IU
• Purdue has won by 1 5 times
• 64 - most points scored by a Purdue team
• Tied for the 9th longest running rivalry

Fact Fondue - The Hawkeyes

The final game in gold and black for the seniors in front of the R-A faithful. Purdue ends the season at home with a chance to make a bowl game and a chance to take their rivals behind the shed to get to a better location and time.

For once, no embarrassing picture, this is just too awesome.

For now, the other farm boys are getting the 'Can-o-Kerosene' under their hides.

• The two teams haven't met since 2008; three years ago this week  Iowa won by 5
• Purdue hasn't won a senior day since IU in 2008 - The 62 to 10
• Official colors are Black and Old Gold...
• Established in 1847, no source found for when they adopted colors
• We did not copy their colors, we stole the idea of Princeton's orange and black, but the trustees thought orange was hideous.
• Established less than 2 months after Iowa was made a state
• called State University of Iowa, not called University of Iowa until 1964
• First state university to recognize GLBTQ individuals and admit women at an equal rate as men
• I feel bad including this, but I have never heard this fact and I don't think many of you have either - highlight to read if you would like
• Lesser known victim of a campus shooting in 1991, shooter felt his doctorate dissertation should have been praised higher
• In 2009 - tied with Purdue and UConn for 66th best school in the US
• The Iowa river flows through campus
• In 2010 - Princeton's Review rated Iowa the 4th best party school in the nation
• The mascot is Herky the Hawk
• '97 - Tossed water on a Minnesota band member during below freezing temperatures; was rewarded by getting in a fist fight with another band member and breaking the 40 year old mascot head which the Minnesota band took pieces of as trophies
• 2010 - the Captain America picture from above debuted against MSU
• Hawkeyes name comes from the book Last of the Mohicans 
• Kinnick football stadium is named for Iowa's lone Heisman winner who died in a training flight during WWII
• In 1970, the university asked the Steelers for permission to model their uniforms after the Pittsburgh Steelers unis

• The Fondue - Butterscotch Fondue 

Fact Fondue - Notre Dame

Alright lady and gentlemen, the big leagues. Our first real opponent to put in the old red painted pot and poke with really long forks as they melt over a potable flame.

• Founded in 1842; current enrollment approaches around 12,000 students with a 12:1 student to teacher ratio
• Originally was founded as an all male school - Yes the University of 'Our Lady' was an all male school
• All residence halls are single gender; there are 29 residence halls
• Originally began as a Elementary and High School 
• 62 former players are in the College Football Hall of Fame; 7 Heisman Trophies - one to an offensive lineman
• South Bend is only 6 Miles away from the Michigan state line - We almost didn't have to deal with them..
• Alumni Facts
• Notre Dame has 3 astronaut alumni - just sayin'
• The FORMER (Thanks to Ben C) Purdue Dean of Science Jeffery Vitter graduated from ND
• Jennifer Robbins, one of the pioneers in web design, graduated in 87
• Dick Vitale's two daughters went to ND and played Volleyball for them
• Steve Bartman - the fan that interfered with a catch in the 2003 NLCS (and the topic of ESPN's 30 for 30 - Catching Hell) graduated in 99 - Side note, he was wearing a bright green shirt under his cubs jersey. I would be willing to wager that it was a Notre Dame shirt; Upon further research - 'The Shirt' for 03 was bright green.
• From the comments: A few minor corrections about Steve Bartman. ESPN's documentary started out as a 30 for 30, but was not released as such as they realized it was good enough to be a stand alone ESPN documentary.
  Also, he was wearing a dark blue renegades sweatshirt over his green turtleneck, not a Cubs jersey.
• Notre Dame has a Rose Bowl Win - 1925, against Stanford
• The legendary Four Horsemen (the 1924 Irish's legendary backfield) and their O-Line both have beers named after them
• Each season the official football shirt gets a ceremony like it was the pope visiting campus - here is the archive of past shirts and more information.
• The most points scored against ND in South Bend was by Purdue (1960); the most points scored against Purdue in Ross Ade was by ND (1983)
• In 1902 is the last time the series was tied.
• Purdue won the first game in 1896 in South Bend; Purdue victories (26) - 13 at Home, 12 on the Road, 1 at a neutral site (Hoosier Dome, 1984)
• Until 2004, Purdue had a 30 year losing streak in South Bend (15 games)
• Notre Dame versus the B1G
• 2006 - The only time the B1G has faced Notre Dame outside the regular season ( Fiesta Bowl - O$U won)
• Played all teams
• Winning record against: Indiana (23-5-1), Illinois (11-0), Iowa (13-8), Michigan State (45-28), Minnesota (4-0), Northwestern (37-8), Purdue (54-26-2), Wisconsin (8-6-2)
• Losing record against:: Michigan (15-22), Ohio State (2-3), Nebraska (7-8-1)
• Penn State series is tied (9-9-1)

• Purdue hasn't held the Shillelagh Trophy since 2007
• Fondue - Aged Cheddar and Guinness

Fact Fondue - Southeast Missouri

He smiles on the outside, but he's dead on the inside.

• 2010 Ohio Valley Champions, they suffered at the hands of Ball State before winning the next 9 straight games.
• Handled two weeks ago by Southern Illinois - who in turn was handled by Ole Miss last week.
• Coming off a bye week, but haven't won after a bye since 2006
• Founded in 1873, Football joined the FCS in 1991
• The team had a strong showing in 2002, earning the #23 spot in the 1-AA polls; they also had their first win over a 1-A team that year: Middle Tennessee State
• Typically schedule one major conference game each year, has been stomped by the SEC (Arkansas) and Big East (Cinci) on an annual basis. They are 1-15 against the FBS
• In fact, the Ohio State Valley conference is 0-11 against the Big Ten all time
• The head coach was our DE Coach under Tiller for a year
• Used to be the 'Indians' until 2005
• Rush Limbaugh's grandfather used to edit the school newspaper as a student there
• Cedric the Entertainer studied Mass Comm there
• They have 1 astronaut
• The Golden Eagles marching band was invited to play in Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland
• There is a tree on campus that students cover in chewed gum as a tradition...
• Total student body of approx. 12,000

• The Fondue - Blood Fondue - Desert, not cheese; I'm gonna try to make them loosely related to the school we are playing from now on

Fact Fondue - Rice University

And they wanted to change Pete?

Edited to include a few more awesome facts

• Established in 1912 - the year the Titanic sank
• Official Colors are Union Blue and Confederate Grey
• Purdue is 1-0 against Conference USA ('01 defeated Cinci)
• 1-2-0 against the Black and Gold. Their only victory? In 1934.
• 5-16 against the Big 10; haven't beat a B1G team since 1997 (Northwestern)
• Have a historic study area officially named the Weenie Loft..
• Students are held to an honor code for exams - students take unproctored exams at home.
• Rice football was mentioned by JFK in his Man to the Moon speech; He used Rice playing Texas annually as an example of something challenging and hard (That's what she said?)
• Their Punter, Kyle Martins was an All American last year. We have something in common I see.
• 5 Miles away from University of Houston 
• Purdue Alumni Association is doing a breakfast club at the Coach's Pub this week
• Rice has an official drinking event - The Beer Bike Rice
• Sammy the Owl was ejected from a game in 2009 for bumping an official.
• Rice has 14 astronauts 
• Bob Greise won the 1974 Superbowl (VIII) at Rice Stadium
• Rice uses the same field technology - FieldTurf - as Nebraska, Illinois, U of M, O$U

• The Fondue of the week - Southwestern Spicy Fondue

Fact Fondue - Middle Tennessee State

You like facts? I like facts. Boilerdowd, in his infinite wisdom, had given me the title of 'Associate Professor of BS' - this was somewhere between my 5 direct tweet comment about Oregon State football and my giant list of NBA draft facts (This is the third time we've had an NBA and an NFL first round pick in school history!).

Because of this, I'll chime in now and then with the Fact Fondue: a shotgun barrel full of facts that you can share around the water cooler or while talking to yourself over a luke warm tv dinner.

This week, we're melting down the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennesee State.

Come at me Bro

• MTSU is from the Sunbelt conference, Purdue has never played a Sunbelt Opponent.
• 0-4 against the Big 10
• Opened the season against Minnesota last year at home and were handed a come from behind loss - which would remain Minnesota's only win until November.
• Ranked 112/120 last year by M3, this is their second lowest rank - the lowest was the year they went D-1 ('99)
• Went to the 2010 Go Daddy Bowl where they were handled by Miami (of Ohio).
• Logan Kilgore will be their starter at QB; only played in 3 games for the Raiders
• The team will have a radio show Monday night online about Purdue, their team's condition
• This is the school's 100th year

And I'll include a recipe for a real fondue, if I must.

Got a fun fact that I forgot? You can tweet me @thuff or you can leave a comment here.