Giants Keep On Winning

When you've had to watch your college team go through the motions and become a complete embarrassment, especially on offense, as we have recently, it makes watching your favorite pro team (if they're good) quite satisfying. Even if they're not world-beaters, or even if they have a mediocre game... they often find ways to still move the ball, capitalize on mistakes by the other team, etc. Good teams do those sorts of things. Even average teams do it sometimes.

I was somehow lucky enough to see the fourth quarter of the Giants-Steelers game yesterday because the Texans game here in Houston had ended and for some reason the NYG-PIT game was running long, so Fox -- in an uncharacteristically intelligent move for broadcast television -- put the rest of this game on.

The Giants had been anemic in the red zone, coming away with just four field goals through 4 minutes into the fourth quarter. Eli wasn't looking sharp and the Steelers defense looked positively stout.

However, the Steelers emergency long snapper, James Harrison, snapped the ball about ten feet over the punters head and out of the end zone for a safety, tying the score and giving the Giants life.

Side note: I love this quote from Harrison after the game:

"I was nervous about snapping for the first time in a game," Harrison said. "But my feeling was that even if I shot it over his head, we still had a chance to stop them."

Isn't that awesome? I'm sure it wasn't said as cavalierly as it appears in print, but that just makes me laugh. You know, he figured, even though it's a close game where points are at a premium, snapping it out of the end zone and blowing our lead -- and then having to kick the ball to the Giants -- would be okay.

Anyway, the Giants took the ball and went down the field, with Eli hitting TE Kevin Boss for the go-ahead TD and, after Ben Roethlisberger (who I'm sorry, is as overrated a QB as there is in football) failed to move the Steelers at all in two more possessions, wound up winning and moving to 6-1.

Quietly moving to 6-1, I might add. On The Sports Reporters Sunday morning, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe said that if the Giants didn't win this game, people were going to start saying, "See, they did get lucky for three weeks last year."

How do you figure, Bob? That's among the most idiotic things I've heard yet about the Giants. Sure, people don't think they were the best team last year... that's true, and I'm fine with it. But they were 5-1, heading into a tough place to win -- against another 5-1 team! And if they don't win that, then they're.... a fraud? Hard to follow, Bob.

Anyway, yes, here they are -- the Giants, in the widely-agreed toughest division in the NFL, leading with a 6-1 record. And yet nobody seems to think they're real good. And I guess that's fine. Truth is, when I looked at this season, I decided that a 10-6 record was possible and that I'd actually be really happy with that because it should get them into the playoffs where, as they showed, anything can happen. And despite being 6-1, I still think I'd be happy with 10-6. Sure, the New York papers will blast them if they go 4-5 the rest of the way, but with the brutal schedule they have, that wouldn't be so bad.

I'm just totally rambling now, but it's better than focusing on Purdue football.

Anquan Boldin Hit

If you're like me, you've already seen all of yesterday's sports highlights five separate times, but if you didn't see this hit on Arizona's Anquan Boldin late in the Jets destruction of the Cards yesterday, it's worth seeing.



As Harold Reynolds would say, "Mercy!"

And hey, well-done, Kurt Warner. Nothing like leading your team's best receiver right into a head-on collision with a locomotive.

Ouch.

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.

NJ Very Excited About Big Ten Possibilities; Like, Really Excited

As anyone who follows the Big Ten closely knows, there is always talk about the 11-team league expanding to twelve teams. Penn State joined in the early 90s and Notre Dame has often been cited as a perfect fit, both geographically and because of its natural rivalries within the conference (Purdue, Michigan, MSU, etc.). However, ND continues to stay independent, since joining a challenging league where they can't schedule the armed forces and Vanderbilt in the middle of the season (when the Big Ten teams are in grueling stretches beating each other up) is just simply not acceptable. How can they be expected to win nine games and get to an undeserved BCS bowl game in which they will invariably be torched if they join a solid league and are forced to play a league schedule?

So it continues to remain unlikely that Notre Dame would join the Big Ten. The second-most likely candidate, according to multiple sources? That's right, the State University of New Jersey, also known as Rutgers.

The new Big Ten television network would LOVE to have a team from NJ that could help pull in the NY/NJ television audience. I would love it because it would mean Purdue would play in my home state every other year. But I don't think anybody is as excited as Steve Politi of NJ.com. Take it away, Steve...

In the early '90s, soon after Penn State became the 11th member of the Big Ten, its longtime football coach and athletic director tried lobbying for another eastern school to join the conference. "(Joe) Paterno and I would tell them, 'If we can't get Notre Dame, Rutgers should be our first choice,'" said Jim Tarman, the since-retired athletic director. Other league officials would look at the two men as if they had not only added Pennsylvanians to their ranks but Martians, too.

Yeah, what are you guys, MARTIANS?? (Are we an on eighth-grade playground?)

Tarman couldn't remember why his colleagues were resistant to the idea, but it could have something to do with the fact that Rutgers had been very bad at football for a very long time. Just a guess.

Bingo. Good guess. Penn State likes playing patsies, too.

The Scarlet Knights are winning now, and still, the idea of them joining the Midwest league feels a little like Menudo in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Menudo. Topical, dude.

It makes sense for Rutgers, because the Big Ten is college football. Say no to the Big Ten? To all the money, prestige, tradition and excitement? Unless you're have Touchdown Jesus overlooking your stadium, you do not say no to the Big Ten.

Flattering. Also tells you how much people here think of the Big (L)East, whose defenders always point out their basketball prowess.

Penn State as a Thanksgiving Day rival ... Northwestern as the one gimme win on the schedule ... Ohio State bringing the No. 1 ranking into Piscataway ... Hurry, somebody book a flight to Ann Arbor!

Whoa, dude, calm down. You're going to burst a blood vessel. Also, isn't a bit presumptious to be circling your "gimme wins" already? No? Okay. And Ohio State is #1? Dude, these things change from year to year, I hope you know that. And yeah, you're cute. Book your flight to Ann Arbor. You have no idea how much fun THAT visit will be. Yikes.

I also love a little further along in the article, this jab:

The conference must decide Rutgers, which in its current league -- what was that called again? -- has never finished better than third place, is the most logical choice.

Ha! Steve Politi wants to make sweet love to the Big Ten. Hey, Big East! I don't even remember your damn NAME!! You whore!

Stanley Ikenberry, the former University of Illinois president who was instrumental in the expansion talks back [when PSU joined] listed the requirements when Penn State was added. The league would only take a new member if it made sense geographically, if it was compatible as an institution, and if it fielded a strong athletic program. Plug Rutgers into the formula, and you can see why it's not so silly.

It's not silly geographically? I would have to differ with you there, kind sir. While I'd love to see this happen, it would definitely suck for the Rutgers athletics programs to have to travel to exotic locales like Minneapolis, Minnesota, Madison, Wisconsin and Aimes, Iowa. But okay.

Rutgers would allow the Big Ten to move further east, finally giving Penn State a natural rival it has lacked since joining the conference.

Really? Rutgers main campus and Penn State's main campus are separated by 236 miles and about four hours of driving. Oh, and they're in different states. But sure. I guess they'd be natural rivals. Not so much as, say, Pitt and PSU, but I can get on board.

Athletically, the Scarlet Knights are coming off the finest season in school history, winning their first-ever bowl game in football and advancing to the national title game in women's basketball.

I guess you gotta start somewhere.

Would it make sense for Rutgers? Again, it would be an offer the Scarlet Knights could not refuse. The football team's victory total would take a step back, but that would be the trade-off for the athletic program taking a step forward in virtually everything else, and having the Michigan fight song playing in Piscataway.

Goodness, this guy has a real boner for Michigan, doesn't he?

Really, you can only sit back and marvel at the fact we're even discussing this. Has any program gone from zero to the big-time quicker?

Do you want a real answer? How about Northwestern, circa 1994. Perennial dormat to the Rose Bowl. Do you know what has happened since then? Oops.

Maybe someday in the distant future, we'll be breaking down the Ohio State two-deeps.

Or listening to the Michigan fight song while Lloyd Carr crades your head in his bosom.

Then onto the NFC East!

Calm down, Steve.

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.

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.

Colts 38 Patriots 34

Ding Dong, the witch is dead!





I know, I know, the Colts haven't won a Super Bowl yet, but all of the whispers that have followed Peyton Manning & Tony Dungy alike have been silenced. They really needed to play the Patriots to stop people (like me) from doubting that they were even capable of winning the "big game" let alone beating teams from the Boston area during the month of January.

Here's the thing- I find Manning, Dungy, Wayne, Addai, Irsay and many others in the Colts organization likable. It's nice, for me at least, to see "the good guy" win. Conversely, I find Belicheck unlikable...even moreso, I find Mark Hurley and Chris Bois & most other chowdah heads detestable...So it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys.


For those of you who didn't catch this- the Colts had Jim Harbaugh out at midfield for the coin toss...Right away, I was pretty angry. Real great, I thought, Harbaugh, the patron saint of the almost-win in the AFC championship is representing the Colts. That mentality reminds me of another team that I root passionately for. Unlike the Boilers, I don't think the Colts will have the Lombardi trophy on their helmet going through the horseshoe. (ref. the Rose through the "P" during Purdue's Rose Bowl appearance of 2001).

In fact, the whole game reminded me of a Purdue bowl game...with the exception of the fact that the team that I was rooting for actually won the contest.

In other news, another "good guy", Drew Brees was battered, beaten and made to look pretty lousy by the over-rated Bears defense. I really believe that the Saints offensive line played as poorly as any offensive line at that level that I have seen in a while; let alone a Championship-caliber team...Much of the credit should go to the Bears defense, but come on now. I'm pretty excited for Brees & company's future. Oh yeah, and Bush is pretty OK, if you're into that sort of thing.

Emotionless

Coach Tiller, Coach Spack, Coach Legg & Coach Z, thanks for nothing.

After nearly two seasons of talking about changes and potential changes that needed to be made to make Purdue successful in a bowl once again, we get the effort that was put fourth in Orlando? Maybe Morgan Burke can hire Drew Brees as Purdue's next head coach because clearly, he made the program go.

My favorite moment of the game was when Tiller got a "technical foul" by coming too far onto the field...Seriously? The ACC officiating crew had never seen such emotion or unsportsmanlike activity out of the choir boys that usually stalk the sidelines on a typical Saturday on the in their conference. That moment along with Dorien "I'm going pro" Bryant's fumble gave me clear indication that Purdue had spent the entire week looking at killer whales and giant stuffed mice instead of practicing.

Anthony Spencer & Mike Otto deserved to go out much better...but they'll be making money playing this game next year, so I don't feel too sorry for either.

My only consolation is, at least we're not Minnesota fans.