Embarrassed in Sleepy Valley: Boilers Lose 65-45

Each time I watch a game that takes place in Happy Valley, it's either break or there's a blizzard outside; at least that's what it looks like. Tonight was no different as Purdue made the trip to the most-quiet, least-attended venue in the league...and pooped the bed.

Shooting 32% from the field while allowing an opponent to shoot 43% is a recipe for disaster. Getting out-rebounded by 10 is playing with fire. Hitting a quarter of your threes and allowing an opponent to hit half of theirs? Craziness.  Purdue did all of this tonight...but at least their freethrows (high five?).

Hummel, Jackson and TJohn looked listless in this one for much of the contest. Lawson and Carroll looked overmatched.  Purdue has lost big under Painter before, but never can I remember a game in which a team that is not good simply dominated his Purdue team from start to finish. After the Butler game I said this team might struggle to make the tournament if things didn't change...the team that drew that comment due to poor play in the second half at Conseco was at the Bryce Jordan Center tonight for 36 minutes.

We all know Purdue struggles against teams that play really disciplined, hard-nosed zone.  Tonight, they struggled against a team that played an OK zone.  No one looked to drive, no big men carved out space while bodying up PSU's forwards and Purdue hardly ever pushed the ball to thwart PSU's effort to set up the zone...and on the other end, simple high screens created chasms in Purdue's defense and gave PSU open look after open look.

Predictable...for some

I guess the next time when I'm faced with choosing should I go with logic or my gut, I should choose logic. I was pretty sure Purdue would lose, but thought for some reason they'd pull out the victory. I was wrong...

I'm pretty angry about this loss, so I'm not going to post a whole bunch. But here are some thoughts:

-Bryant played very well and was vocally-leading the offense on the sidelines as well. He's a great kickoff returner...but either PSU's kicker is ridiculously fast, or Bryant doesn't run a 4.35 as it's claimed that he does.
-Summers looked great- He kept Purdue in the game.
-Taylor's arm seemed to have made a difference in his play today (he had a fumble and dropped an easy pass).
-While Painter holds onto the ball to long on many occasions, this O-line looked pretty shabby again. The pocket was collapsing all afternoon.
-Greg Orton, who I thought was sure-handed had a couple of costly drops again...and Lymon, conversely had some big catches (even a TD that he didn't get credit for).
-This Big Ten officiating crew needs to either be investigated or at minimum get sent back to officiating school for a refresher. They flat-out missed a lot of calls and didn't seem to understand the rules during important situations.
-Players make plays...not enough plays were made by Purdue to win. That said, Purdue competed and should have gotten their eighth win of this season. Shoulda, coulda, didn't. Purdue was a seven-point dog and lost by seven...Surprise, surprise.

This quote by Dustin Keller sums it up:
"Three of the biggest games on the schedule, and we folded in each of them."

The program and more specifically, the guys coming back next year need to win three in a row now. When facing criticism and concern, nothing silences like winning.

More Bad Officiating
The officials in Notre Dame stadium did their best to keep their Irish in the game, but the Middies dug down to beat UND in triple-OT. Not even the decided Xs & Os advantage of the Manatee could lead the more-talented, bigger and stronger Irish team to a victory at home. My favorite call of the game by the genius was going for it on 4th & long when a 45-yd. field goal would have won it for the Irish in regulation.

Up yours, Lou Holtz! Not even your cursed pep talk could with its reverse-psychology-riddled tone could help your Irish to a victory.

Hey Domers, wasn't this one of your guaranteed victories?

UND's magical season dances on to 1-8 (one more and it'll be a UND record...Dig deep, fellas, I have complete faith that you can do it).