week 14 blogpoll ballot

I wanted to be the first, so here I am. Oklahoma just finished off Oklahoma State, so my first day of the season not affect by watching a Purdue game allows me to have my most rational blogpoll ballot. Here is my draft ballot as of now, with explanation afterward.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Florida	--
3	Texas	--
4	Oklahoma	--
5	Utah	3
6	Penn State	1
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Texas Tech	1
9	Boise State	--
10	Ohio State	--
11	Ball State	3
12	TCU	3
13	Cincinnati	3
14	Oregon	5
15	Brigham Young	3
16	Michigan State	4
17	Oklahoma State	5
18	Missouri	7
19	Georgia	6
20	Tulsa	1
21	Boston College	1
22	Mississippi	3
23	Oregon State	6
24	Iowa	--
25	Kansas	1

Dropped Out: Western Michigan (#23).

Alabama is #1 because they are the only unbeaten BCS conference team in the country. (this was easy)

Florida is #2 because they are a blocked extra point from also being unbeaten. The SEC title game next week is a national semifinal, and you can begin the speculation of a rematch should Florida barely beat Alabama and Missouri upsets the Big 12 south champ. The Miami win in the non-conference lost some luster with the stumbles of the last two weeks.

I went with Texas at #3 because they beat Oklahoma. Texas Tech has an argument, but got drilled by the Sooners and were two miracle plays (a dropped INT and Crabtree's TD) from losing to Texas.

Oklahoma is #4. They are a great team, but if they really wanted to play for the title they should have beaten Texas.

Utah is #5. The Mountain West went 6-1 this year against the Pac 10. They beat the team (oregon State) that knocked off USC in Pac 10 play. They have done all that is asked of them, yet still won a deep conference with two other top 15 teams (TCU and BYU). Why not give them a shot?

Penn State #6. They pounded Oregon State, who beat USC. Enough said. Their loss to Iowa is better than Florida's loss to Missisippi (Perfect weather at home for Florida, bad weather on the road at Iowa), but the rest of the competition isn't as good.

USC at #7. The Oregon State loss hurts more now that they got destroyed by the same Oregon team that struggled with Purdue.

Texas Tech at #8. Got drilled by Oklahoma, then struggled with lowly Baylor on the Radiers' home field. Not the way to impress the voters. Enjoy the Cotton Bowl.

Boise State at #9. Great team, but a weak conference.

Ohio State at #10. They are the only team with two losses in the top 10, but both are to top 10 teams.

Ball State at #11. Great team. In any other year they would be in the BCS with this reanking, but they can't help that Utah and Boise State had a better year. They did all they could but they have the weakest schedule of the four unbeatens by far. Unfortunately, if you give them the schedule of any of the top 10 teams they would struggle to make a bowl.

Any other comments?

Slipped Away

I just took a moment to read the GBI boards. There are several threads crying out about the injustice of the foul discrepancy. They generally go along the theme that we got beat because it was 8 on 5, they mention the 46-5 free throw difference, and even one creative post called a 3rd foul on Bobby Riddell despite the fact that he only moved from the bench on timeouts.

It is a shame that the fouls and resulting free throws will be the story of this game. It was a classic, hard fought college basketball contest between two very good teams. If we played them in a seven game series it could easily go all seven games. The fans over at Crimson and Cream Machine were very gracious in victory, as was I in defeat as I spent the afternoon between this site and theirs. The Sooners are a very good team. Though the fouls were a big difference, we still had plenty of chances to win that we let slip away.

Positives:

Nemanja Calasan – Chally nearly pulled us out of this one with his big 3-point play after an offensive rebound at the end of regulation. We certainly don’t count on 20 points per night from him. All eight rebounds, especially the four of the offensive variety, were huge. He played some of the big minutes that JJ will need to play later on. As it was, he and JJ each had four fouls most of the second half and we still did a good job of containing Blake Griffin. This was simply a fantastic game from Chally.

E’Twaun Moore – We will never know what would have happened if Moore had gotten hat shot off at the end of regulation. The fact a foul wasn’t called there, but was called any time there was a loose ball is ridiculous. That final play of regulation took me back to my days as a grade-schooler in Basil Mawbey’s summer basketball camp. They always taught us that if you’re going to know the ball away, go from under the ball because if you go over the top they will almost always call a foul. The Oklahoma player went over the top and got it away cleanly. With the way Moore was shooting who didn’t think his shot there would go down?

3-point shooting – This is what kept us in the game. Oklahoma was fighting with paper cuts getting a point at a time from the line while we were going nuclear with the threes. Before missing our final five attempts we were actually shooting 50% from long range at one point in the second half.

Lewis Jackson – One of his few mistakes was the biggest one of the game when he simply threw the ball away at the end of overtime. It tarnished a big game where he had 10 points, six dimes, and two absolutely huge 3-pointers.

Defense on Blake Griffin – I could read the frustration on his face in the second half. He got his numbers on the glass, but he only had 18 points and was held to almost half of his season average in shooting from the field. You could tell he didn't quite know how to handle what we were throwing at him. The fact that he still got his numbers shows just how good he is. We made sure that he was not going to beat us single-handedly, but he got some big help from his brother and from Willie Warren.

Negatives:

Officiating – I do not normally complain about officials, but something needs to be said here. There is no way that two evenly matched teams like this should have a 41 attempt difference in the free throw department. It was especially bad late, when somehow an inadvertent whistle and timeout was awarded on a lose ball. These guys didn’t understand that when the ball is loose there is sometimes some contact. It’s okay not to call a foul then. I felt good when we grabbed a four point lead early in the OT, but all we did was foul the rest of the way.

Dumb mistakes – This was the real story of the loss. We had a lot of just plain stupid turnovers and rushed shots. If we cut out half of those, which is what we normally do, we win by 10 points despite the free throw difference. Once we started hitting threes I think everyone felt like they needed to shoot them. That led to some very ill-advised attempts in the final minutes. I feel like Oklahoma outplayed us in the first five minutes and last five minutes, but that was enough even though we outplayed them the rest of the time. Those losses are the most frustrating kind.

JaJuan Johnson – He took a bit of a step back tonight. He was saddled with foul trouble and never really got into the offense. To be fair, we kept fumbling away the perfect entry pass to him in the first half.

Final Thoughts:

In my opinion, the Duke game is now a must win game. We’re not going to get any national respect unless we take it and the Davidson game. If we lose both, we’re going to go into the conference season with just three losses, but they were in the three biggest games. We need to beat Duke to have a great win on our resume for tournament seeding.

I am not going to place this loss totally on the officials like everyone on the GBI board is. We played our own large role with the turnovers and rushed shot. Oklahoma is a good enough team that this loss will not reflect poorly on us in anyway. Where it hurts is the fact that we let a chance at a quality win slip away. Everything that went wrong is correctable. We’re also not going to have this big of a difference in fouls again.

Tuesday night the fans need to do their part. If you plan on sitting, stay home. Give your ticket to someone else. I will be there, and I want 14,122 other screaming fools who won’t sit down or shut up until the game is over. If there is a student that can smuggle my wife and I into the Paint Crew I promise you we will be as loud and crazy as you want us to be. Just contact me ahead of time and we will be there. I want everyone on their feet for 40 minutes to let the Dukies know that the Mackey maniacs are better than the Cameron Crazies by sheer strength of numbers.

Who is with me?

#13 Oklahoma vs. #9 Purdue open thread

I'll be home this afternoon watching the game before heading to a Pacer game tonight, so why not do an open thread. Feel free to comment in the comments, and I'll go along with you all. BOILER UP!

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Bring on the Sooners!

I was covering a high school game here in Indy last night, but I was able to avoid a score and watch the tape once I got home. The Boilers did well in their first serious test of the season. As always, there are positives and negatives, but we looked every bit like a ranked team in this contest. Sure we essentially bled the clock dry with a big lead in the final seven minutes, but it lead to a win. At some points it looked like we were a football team taking a knee every down to keep the clock running. Boston College helped us by having a pair of critical turnovers once the lead got down to six.

It was also the first true test of the solid 8 man rotation. Ryne Smith didn't find his way off the bench, nor did anyone else. It looks like it is going to be a sound strategy. Smith and Riddell can be emergency shooters off the bench in time of need. Both should get some PT in other upcoming games anyway.

Positives:

E'Twaun Moore - The commentators were raving about E'Twaun's game last night with good reason. He set the tone with 11 quick points and shined on one of the biggest stages you can shine on in basketball: Madison Square Garden. I like the 19 points almost as much as I like the six assists.

Chris Kramer - He did what captains do by icing the game in the final minute with some big free throws. He was the only starter not in double figures, but he missed it by just a point. The breakaway dunk came at a big moment too as we were building the lead. I hear he can play a little defense as well.

Nemanja Calsan - Larry Clisby has taken to calling him Chally on the radio broadcasts, and I kind of like it. What do you readers think? It doesn't have the cachet of Ostrich, Smooge, and the Secretary of Defense, but it is still good. Chally weas a fighter on the offensive glass. He only grabbed two, but he was more of a force inside than in the past. We will definitely need that tomorrow night.

Dime droppin' - We had more dimes than Jay and Silent Bob last night. 16 assists on 24 made field goals is a very good ratio. We must continue to share the ball this way.

Rebounding - We still got out rebounded, but there was more effort there. I think the biggest thing right now is finishing rebounds. We're getting to the ball, but we're just not securing it. I counted at least five times where we should have had it easily, but it caromed away off of hands to a BC player. There must be dramatic improvement here before we face the rebounding machine that is Blake Griffin.

Defense - 38% shooting from the field. 21% from 3-point land. 15 turnovers. These were well below BC's average for the year. You're going to win a lot of game when you make teams have these numbers.

JaJuan Johnson - He is getting better every game, but still showed some room for improvement. 12 points, 6 boards, and 3 blocks were his final line. It's obvious at this point that Chally is his only help in the paint. Reid is not going to be a factor except in blowouts. That is why JaJuan needs to continue showing improvement every night.

Negatives:

Complacency - I think we got a little too comfortable with a 17 point lead and under 7 minutes to go. We got one field goal in that time and would have been in trouble had we not bled the clock dry on every possession. Even then, we didn't get high percentage looks after draining the clock.

13 offensive rebounds given up - And this is not a great rebounding team. Again, we must learn to secure the ball once we get to it.

Final Thoughts:

This was a great test to pass, but Oklahoma is even bigger. The next two games against Oklahoma and Duke will tell if we're a true Final Four contender this year. We can win both. If we do, watch out!

I also wanted to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving out there. I'll be headed home to Kokomo for the day, so everyone travel safe!

NIT Final Preview: #13 Oklahoma Sooners or UAB Blazers

File this one under putting the cart before the horse. Regardless of tonight's outcome against Boston College, we will be playing one of these teams Friday night. Both present unique challenges. UAB is a team loaded with speed and shooting. Oklahoma is a grind-it-out type of team that will try to pound us into submission inside. This is a great test for the NCAA Tournament. In both cases we will have just 48 hours to prepare for a team. Here is a quick look at each opponent.

Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (4-0) 2008 Postseason: 2nd round NIT loss vs. Virginia Tech 75-49. 23-11 final record.
Blog representation: None

The Blazers had a good year in a weak conference last season. They were 12-4 in conference USA, but two of losses came in games that could have made a difference between an NCAA and NIT berth. Their game-winning shot against Memphis at home was just barely past the final buzzer in a 79-78 loss. That one win could have put the Blazers into the NCAA as an at large team. A loss to Tulsa in the first round of the Conference USA tournament sealed their fate.

UAB is the surprise team in New York. They were the only team here that didn’t get to play the opening rounds on its home floor. The Blazers traveled out to Tucson and squeezed out a pair of close wins over Santa Clara (64-61) and host Arizona (72-71). The Arizona game was decided by an absolutely stupid foul committed by the Wildcats that allowed a couple of free throw attempts with less than a second to go. Those wins were the meat in a sandwich of success that featured n 87-66 win at Troy and a 77-62 win at Old Dominion as the bread. Unlike the other three teams in the field, UAB has yet to play a game at home.

The Blazers are a dangerous team. They play in a conference dominated by Memphis and full of mediocre teams. They are searching for wins that will improve their postseason profile, and beating Oklahoma then the Purdue-Boston College winner would suit them quite nicely. They lacked such a win last year and it landed them in the NIT. UAB has already proven they can win on the road too. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by getting a pair of games against a couple of the nation’s best teams. They also know how to win close ballgames as shown in Tucson.

They are led by the aforementioned Robert Vaden, who followed Mike Davis from IU down to UAB and has made a nice name for himself there. While I am hurt by the way he spurned us years ago, I wouldn’t go as far as to echo the sentiments of a fellow writer. This fellow Purdue alum, after Vaden switched his commitment, stated jokingly, “He’s dead to me, and I am not voting for him for Mr. Basketball.” Vaden is a very dangerous scorer. He’s averaging almost 19 points per game, he shoots 89% from the free throw line, and he hits almost 45% of his 3-pointers. The scoring battle between him and Blake Griffin should be fun to watch.

Vaden is far from the only scorer UAB has. Paul Delaney III is averaging 17.3 per game while Lawrence Kinnard is over 15 points per game too. Delaney had 10 points and hte game winning free throw against Arizona. Kinnard is an imposing presence in the paint as well with a team high 9.3 rebounds per game. The Blazers love the 3-pointer even more than Boston College. They throw it up from long range 18 times per game and 40% of those tries. Kinnard does not limit himself to the paint either. He is a versatile that can step out and hit the 3-pointer with 41% accuracy. Should we play the Blazers they will definitely test out perimeter defense.

UAB boasts an eight man rotation, but the scoring drops off significantly after the big three. Terrence Roderick is the first man off the bench with 8.3 points per game, but the remainder of the rotation averages five points or less. UAB is not a strong rebounding team, so in a potential matchup we may have a slight edge there. They are pulling down just 35.5 boards per game. They also share the ball well at 14 assists per game. Point guard Aaron Johnson leads this category with almost four dimes per contest.

Channing Toney is another player to watch out for. The 6'5" senior guard averaged more than 10 points a game last year, but has been realtively quite this season. He is another player htat is not afraid to shoot the 3-pointer, but his attempts are down this year.

Seeing Chris Kramer guard Robert Vaden would be a fascinating matchup. Kinnard and Delaney offer him more than enough help though. Beating UAB will not be as simple as shutting down a supreme talent in Vaden. The Blazers are a team full of good shooters. Delaney and Roderick hit better than 50% from the field, so forcing a poor percentage will paramount in any matchup. As always, we must rebound and defend the perimeter.

UAB is not blessed with much size. 6'10" Jeremy mayfield is by far the tallest player. The Balzers style of play is much more up-tempo to offset the lack of size in the paint. We should have a big advantage if we can make them play our halfcourt game and pound them with JaJuan inside. They are a wildcard of a team. If they are good enough to beat Oklahoma tonight htey are certainly good enough to beat us. Our trademark defense and size advantage down low should be the difference, but all bets are off is Vaden goes nuts. Purdue 70, UAB 62

Oklahoma Sooners (4-0)
2008 postseason: 2nd round NCAA loss to Louisville 78-48. 23-12 final record.
Blog representation: Crimson and Cream Machine has some excellent stuff

If we’re playing in this tournament in order to get a game that is like a Sweet 16 or Elite 8 game we want to play Oklahoma. As the #2 seed in the tournament, a Purdue-Oklahoma final is what the organizers wanted. We owe them too. Drew Lavender’s late layup started the downfall of the 2003-04 team. It was the first of many close losses that season. In the return trip the Sooners kicked us around Mackey Arena a year later. For good measure Lavender was still around to lead Xavier to our demise last year. A win would not just give us a quality non-conference win for later seeding purposes. It would also pay back a largely growing debt. And yes, I am aware we beat a #3 seeded Kelvin Sampson coached team in the 2000 NCAA’s

Oklahoma is 4-0 behind one of the best players in the nation in Blake Griffin. Griffin has been the leading scorer in all four games, topping 20 points each time. Oklahoma even had one of the more difficult paths to New York in this tournament. An 82-78 win over Davidson was mere survival, as the Sooners nearly blew a 21 point second half lead. Stephen Curry had a career high 44 points int hat game, but Griffin counters with a 25-21 night in points and rebounds. Oklahoma opened the season with wins over American (83-54) and Mississippi Valley State (94-53). Both were NCAA teams a year ago. Gardner-Webb put a scare into the Sooners this weekend before falling 80-76.

Griffin is a great talent to build around. So far he has punished smaller teams with his size. He has put up 26 points per game and has shot an astounding 74.5% from the field. I would say we need to keep him away from the basket, but he is also 2 for 2 from 3-point land to show some range. Just about the only weakness in his game is 56% free throw shooting. He is still getting to the line 11 times per game though, so if he goes there enough times yhe is going to hit something. Keeping him off the boards will be difficult as he is averaging almost 20 rebounds per game. Griffin will be a very formidable test for our interior players. If we want to be a Final Four worthy team though we have to learn how to contain dominant bigs like him.

The big man is helped in scoring by Willie Warren (15.3ppg) and Taylor Griffin (10.5). Taylor is actually the older brother of Blake Griffin and has been around long enough to be recruited by Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma. Apparently we just can't get away from Sampson this week. In addition to expert-level cell phone use after being recruited by Sampson, Taylor Griffin is having his best season in Norman as a senior.

Austin Johnson makes things go from the point while Tony Crocker is a serviceable fifth starter. Cade Davis can provide some offense off the bench. He has played in just three games but is averaging almost 9 points per contest. As a team Oklahoma shoots almost 50%, and with big bodies like the Griffins they can get plenty of second chance points if we allow them to dominate the glass. This team reminds me a lot of Wisconsin last year with Blake Griffin in the role of Brian Butch.

Granted, some of these numbers may be inflated with a pair of blowouts in the first two games. If a team like Gardner-Webb can make Oklahoma sweat we should be able to really scare them. Blake Griffin needed 35-21 game to top the Bulldogs, but everyone could have been distracted Saturday afternoon because of the football game on campus that night. The Sooners must get past a feisty UAB before facing us anyway. The Blazers are more than capable of pulling the upset.

Should we get a game with the Sooners it is clear that we must make sure Blake Griffin doesn’t go absolutely nuts. We must keep the clamps on the other four guys on the floor. If we can contain those four and dare the big man to score 55 and beat us by himself we’ll be in a good position to win. Griffin is good enough that he might just do that though. Taylor Griffin is a capable shooter as well, hitting two thirds of his shots from the field. Oklahoma goes with a nine man rotation too, so wearing them down won’t be an easy task. Regardless, this will be a nice warm up for a huge game against Duke in about a week.

This will easily be our most difficult contest on the young season, but I am encouraged that teams like Gardner-Webb and Davidson challenged them. I don't think we'll need a 44 point sing-handed effort like Curry, but we can implement a game plan like Gardner-Webb to have a chance. The Bulldogs received balanced scoring from their five starters and held their own ont he glass. They also hit some key 3-pointers from Grayson Flittner to stay close.

Unfortunately, I feel like Blake Griffin is going to have a field day agaisnt us. We're going to have a hard time denying him the ball, and Oklahoma can probably out-physical us like Xavier last year. The bench doesn't do much scoring, so if we can get Blake Griffin in foul trouble it will help. Oklahoma relies on him quite a bit. If we somehow hold his numbers down we will win easliy. If not, we're in trouble. In end the end, I think he will perform well enough to be the difference. Oklahoma 58, Purdue 56

Roundtables of both kinds of balls

I was going to throw in some Boilermakings stuff with this entry, but the Boiled Sports guys already beat me to the punch today. Most of the best news is out of the NFL anyway with Drew Brees lighting it up last night, making for the only time it is okay to beat my wife (in fantasy football). Dustin Keller continues to make the NFL draftniks look stupid in New York. Even John Standford is getting in on the action with his first NFL catches a couple weeks ago. We also should find out over the weekend where the women's volleyball team will be headed in the NCAA Tournament. They are currently ranked 18th, and have an outside chance of hosting the first and second rounds in the IAF on Belin Court.

Before getting to a double dose of roundtable, there is a good news/bad news bit to share about the sight. The good news is that I should have a lot more time soon to research and write articles as we get into the heart of basketball season. The bad news is this situation comes as a result of another temporary assignment suddenly ending for me. That means I get to go abck to substitute teaching as I continue my four year search for permanent employment. YAY

The first roundtable this week is the final football roundtable of the season. As everyone waits around for the bowl games (or in our case, spring practice) we have one final regular season roundtable hosted by... Off the Tracks! It's time to get schizo as I answer my own questions.

1. Minnesota, Michigan, and Indiana got absolutely torched in rivalry games this weekend. please feel free to diagram your revenge scenario/taunting celebration as appropriate for when you stomp a rival/get stomped by a rival in such fashion.

I think that Saturday’s 62-10 win was enough revenge after losing the bucket last year. I wasn’t even that embarrassed to lose to Indiana a season ago. The Hoosiers were the better team that day and I was happy they were able to come together and honor their coach. If there is an acceptable way to lose a rivalry game, that was it.

As far as a taunting scenario, we had that as well. We won the game 62-10 and had our only non-successful drive fail because we didn’t even try. We thoroughly embarrassed a team to the point that its own blogger called it the worst loss in the history of Indiana football. That’s a tall order considering the number of losses Indiana has had. Many Purdue fans are living the dream this week with what the Indiana basketball and football programs are suffering. That's before you even consider Notre Dame's situation. I think the Hoosiers have honestly had enough.

2. The results are in and the Big Ten didn't do well this year. What does the conference need to do in the bowl season and next year to regain esteem?

First of all, the Big Ten must win the Outback and Capitol One Bowls. That is the only thing that might shut up the SEC fans who think their conference is God’s gift to college football. Should Penn State get USC in the Rose Bowl or a trip to Miami, they must win it. They are carrying the banner for everyone else. Third, we have to win some marquee non-conference games next year. This means Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue have to beat Notre Dame and games like Purdue’s trip to Oregon or Ohio State’s home date with USC have to be wins.

3. For Penn State fans, what is your plan to defend the title. For everyone else, how will you topple the Nittany Lions next year?

We’re not going to challenge Penn State for the title next year. I think there will be improvement under coach Hope, but I am also a realist. The schedule is much too tough to expect a championship unless Justin Siller makes dramatic improvement or Joey Elliott sets the world on fire. Getting to 6-7 wins and getting back to the postseason is a much more reasonable goal. Still, there is no Penn State or Iowa and Ohio State and Michigan State must come to West Lafayette… Nah!

4. Of the 109 other teams in Division 1A, pick one you absolutely would love to face in the postseason and pick which bowl game (other than BCS championship) you would play them in.

The obvious answer would be a game against Miami, but I want to go off the board here. I would love to play Nebraska in the Las Vegas bowl. Why? It's probably our best chance to beat a traditionally strong "name" program. As far as the game being in Vegas, that needs to be a bigger bowl game. If you don't want to go to Vegas you're crazy.

Basketball roundtable:

The second roundtable this week is the first basketball roundtable of the year. At Purdue we have soft spot for Bruce Weber, that is why host Paint the Town Orange is well respected by the Off the Tracks community.

1. Its special tournament week, tell us what tourney your school is playing in and how well you think you will do. For Michigan fans, please feel free to dump all over UCLA, because we all know how yours turned out.

We're in the preseason NIT as the #1 seed already in New York. I honestly expect to beat Boston College in the semifinals, but Blake Griffin and Oklahoma is looming in the final. That is the type of game that will help decide if we're a legitimate Final Four threat. Oklahoma is going to be one of the better teams in the Big 12, just as we are one of the better teams in the Big Ten. With Duke next week, that could be back-to-back conference pride games.

2. We are about 3 to for games into the season, who in the preseason schedule do you see as being the best test to see how well your team will be this year.

This one is easy. We get Duke in Mackey Arena next Tuesday night. I will be there, and it is anticipated as the biggest game in Mackey Arena since some guy named Lew Alcindor and UCLA opened the building in 1967. I wonder how that guy's career turned out.

3. Give us your Big Ten top 5 teams, and pick to win the conference.

I don't want to be the homer, so I think Michigan State and Purdue will tie. I think the best two teams int he conference and will split their series with each winning at home. For third I like Ohio State, followed by Wisconsin. As a fifth team, I'm throwing Michigan in there. I wouldn't have until last week, but beating UCLA was damn impressive. They also get a second chance at Duke, so who knows what will happen. If they can get that game it will give them two healthy non-conference wins on their NCAA resume.

4. Because we are all insecure about conference power rankings, where do you think the B10 falls this year?

The top is very, very good. Michigan State and Purdue are threats for the Final Four. Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and possibly Minnesota are expected to be threats for the NCAA's. The rest, well, it's pretty bad. Indiana is going to be about a step below awful. Iowa struggled with Texas-San Antonio. Northwestern is Northwestern. Penn State and Illinois might be fiesty, but they have a long way to go.

5. How bad will Indiana be? A.Pretty lousy? B.Conference embarrassment bad? C.Rooting for Notre Dame and Purdue instead bad? or D. I miss Mike Davis bad?

I'll choose D. I miss Mike Davis bad. I don't get why IU fans hate him. He damn near won a championship for crying out loud. People act like he has never seen a basketball before. His greatest crime was not being Bob Knight. It is bordering on B. though. These guys nearly lost to the IUPUI Hoosiermakers. Last year wouldn't have bad with NBA first rounder George Hill, but he is now plying his trade for San Antonio. That win means they won't finish dead last... in the state of Indiana. no word on what IPFW will do.

I do respect Tom Crean though. He went in there and cleaned house of some guys that deserved it. I took some flack for my position on Eli Holman, but he deserved. He committed the egregious sin of quitting on his team. I am definitely in the camp that Indiana will suffer this year because Crean cleaned house, but they will be better in the long run for it. When it comes to basketball I respect tradition. Indiana has it and they deserved better than last year's finish. That coach and those players essentially pissed on IU's tradition, and that's wrong no matter who you are.

NIT Semi-final Preview: Boston College Eagles

Purdue’s real basketball begins Wednesday night when the Boilers face Boston College in the semifinals of the preseason NIT. The Eagles are our first major conference opponent. To this point Purdue, has played four mid to low majors and has won each game by 20 points. Each game was a business-like “nothing to see here” performance that went exactly as expected. Top 10 teams shouldn’t be challenged in four games at home like we have played, and we haven’t been. There have been a couple of issues such as rebounding and spells of cold shooting, but those are not major surprises. The key strength of this team, versatility, has shined in four blowouts.

Wednesday night is a different animal. We face a Boston College team that represents one of the top conferences in college basketball. The ACC is definitely a power conference. Boston College is often among one of the better teams in that conference, but had a down year after a hot start a season ago. Before that, they were often one of the better teams in the Big East.

We have the Eagles to thank for one of the few bright spots of the end of the Gene Keady era. Many Boiler fans will remember Willie Deane’s slashing style from earlier this decade. Deane led us to the final NCAA appearance of Keady’s tenure, and I remember him as one of the bright spots of the 2001-02 season when I was a senior and the Gene Pool had five people in it. We also got Gordon Watt from them after a year, but he then transferred to Houston Baptist.

Friday night faces an even more interesting test. We will either see one of the nation’s best players in Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin or a couple of familiar faces in Mike Davis and Robert Vaden of UAB. Yes, Vaden is still playing college basketball nearly a decade after he announced as an eighth grader he would be attending Purdue. We’ll be playing one or the other in the championship or third place game, but first up is Boston College.

Boston College Eagles (3-1) 2008 record and Postseason: 14-17 (10-2 start) finish, loss in second round of ACC Tournament
Blog information: Eagle in Atlanta is the best I have found

Boston College found its way to New York with a couple of easy home games, but stumbled in an odd road test this weekend. The Eagles opened the season with an 80-65 win over Central Connecticut, then won both games over Loyola-Maryland (90-57) and St. John’s (82-70) in the first and second rounds here in the NIT to advance to New York. St. Louis proved to be a trap game on the road this past weekend. The Billikens surprised Boston College 53-50 in St. Louis as the Eagles shot a pitiful 33% from the field and 58% from the line.

They like to shoot the 3-pointer, putting it up more than 16 times per game from beyond the arc. Joe Trapani and Tyrese Rice are the two most dangerous threats from long range. Consequently, they are also the two leading scorers. Rice missed the season opener against Central Connecticut, but he is averaging 16.7 ppg. He dropped 28 points on St. John’s, but like the rest of the team he struggled against St. Louis. Rice does a little bit of everything. He can distribute the ball (6 assists per game), shoot the three (37.5% from long range) and can get to the basket. He’s not afraid to draw contact, having made 84% (16 of 19) free throws. If he is on his game Boston College can be a very difficult team to beat.

Trapani is averaging 14.5 points per game with a high of 20 against Loyola. On the year he is hitting almost 43% of his 3-pointers. That is good for second on the team behind Biko Paris (4 for 9). Rice, Trapani, and Paris will have to be guarded closely on the perimeter. They are by far the biggest 3-point shooting threats. Fortunately, we have a habit of harassing teams into bad shots. Paris’ best game came in the opener when he started in place of Rice. Since then he has just nine points. Trapani is also another guy we cannot put on the free throw line. He hits nearly 86% of his shots from the charity stripe.

In the paint we will have to deal with Corey Raji and Rakim Sanders. Both have started all four games and are dangerous rebounders. Raji is especially good on the offensive glass, generating second chance points with 16 offensive rebounds so far. Raji is the team’s leading rebounder overall with 6.8 per game in addition to 13.3 points per game. He’s the team’s best shooter from the field at 56%, but most of his work is exclusively in the paint. Sanders averages 11 points per game and 6.5 rebounds. It will be critical to crash the glass and prevent any second chance points from these two.

Fortunately, there isn't an overwhelming amount of size to deal with here. Trapani is 6'8" and plays more like Robbie Hummell as an inside-outside player. Josh Southern is the tallest at 6'10" and is the ffifth starter, but his numbers are not as good as Raji, Trapani, Sanders, and Rice. He had a 12 point, 9 rebound game against Loyola but has done little else. He is putting up four points per game in just 14.5 minutes per night. Paris, Reggie Jackson, and Evan Ravenel have played more off of the bench. Jackson leads that group with almost 6 points per game.

This is also a very young team. Rice is the lone senior, and the little used Tyler Roche is the lone junior the rest of this team is made up of sophomores and freshmen. I would say this means the Eagles are about a year away, but we all know what our freshmen and sophomores did last year. This makes Rice the unquestioned senior statesman of this team. He has NCAA tournament experience from BC last appearance in 2007.

Boston College has enough depth to match our own, and anyone can be the scorer on any given night. All five starters have been in double figures once. Jackson had a 10 point game against St. Louis when Trapani and Rice struggled. Ravenel gives some pretty consistent minutes in terms of points and rebounds as well. They have shown a tendency to pick up the slack in other places. Though St. Louis was a loss, Rice and Trapani combined for just 12 points while Raji had a season high of 22.

This will be a very good test because we’ll be playing a potential NCAA team from a good league on a neutral floor. New York will give us a pair of chances in that regard, as will the game against Davidson at Conseco. If we’re going to make a deep tournament run we have to win these types of games. Barring an absolute disaster we’re going back to the NCAA’s. It is games like this that allow us to get a higher seed and hang around a little longer than the first weekend. I am concerned about their rebounding ability. In the three victories they have dominated the glass, but St. Louis out-rebounded them by 11. They have comparable size to us though. That means it comes down to effort and positioning on the glass. They aren’t a great free throw shooting team either at 67%.

To win we have to keep them off the offensive glass. Boston College is averaging more than 16 offensive rebounds per game. They also share the ball well with 14 assists per game. If our defense can take away these two areas we will be playing in the championship Friday night. A defensive slugfest likely favors us. Purdue 65, Boston College 60


I got a little too wordy to include the rest of the NIT preview here, so I will split it up over two entries. I do want to take this brief space at the end to speak about hte benefits of the Honda Element. I don't have a Honda Element. I do hear there are some good Honda Element reviews out there. A 2008 Honda Element would be a good vehicle to replace my Jeep Liberty. Therefore, feel free to check out some 2008 Honda Element Reviews.

Final Big Ten Wrap

Other than hosting a Big Ten Bloggers’ roundtable this week and my blogpoll ballot, this will be the final entry devoted to football. From this point on, I’ll be shifting over to basketball full-time. The basketball season has been very predictable so far with four wins over teams we should beat without breaking a sweat. That changes this week with Boston College and either Oklahoma or UAB to face in New York. I’ll get into that more later, but here are my final rankings and thoughts on the Big Ten season.

11. Indiana (3-9, 1-7) – I agree with Boilerdowd in that it was one of the ugliest performances ever in a Bucket game by either side. Come on, Hoosiers! You’ve got to at least look like you want to kept he Bucket and ruin your rival’s season even further. Indiana didn’t even look interested in playing yesterday. It’s like they went through the motions and showed up because the schedule said so. Was Greg Middleton wrapped up in carpets and thrown into the Wabash Friday night? You would think even he would want to go all out after what Tiller said about him.

As I commented on earlier this week at the Hoosier Report, I think in the long run Hep’s death was a huge step back for this program. They rode the emotion last year, especially against Purdue. You cannot deny that fact when his widow was on the sidelines as an honorary captain against the Boilers. Without him though, they have lost all the positive momentum the program as a whole had going. At least the stadium will look nice next year. That many more Ohio State fans can come on October 3rd now.

10. Michigan (3-9, 2-6) – Michigan was only slightly better than Indiana with a pair of conference wins (in upsets) and three total wins over 1-A programs. Still, there has to be massive improvement next season. Will we see Michigan “turning the corner” like Notre Dame next year when they reach 6-4 only to lose to Purdue for the first time in Ann Arbor since Bob Griese was quarterback?

The honeymoon needs to be over for RichRod. There is no excuse for a team with this much talent to be 3-9 and go down as the worst team in school history. They are int he same boat as Notre Dame right now. They have more talent than 90% of teams out there, so anything less than 9 wins a season has to be considered a gross underachievement. You’re Michigan for crying out loud! At least Roy Roundtree will provide a huge offensive boost next year after his redshirt year in wait.

9. Purdue (4-8, 2-6) – Games I would like to have a second chance at this year: Oregon, Minnesota, Notre Dame, and Michigan State. With the offense we had yesterday and the defense that appeared several times this year I think all four of those games could easily become wins with a second chance. I still believe we beat Minnesota with a healthy Curtis Painter. If the defense that played in the Ohio State and Michigan State games showed up we could beat the Irish. A healthy Painter playing like he did yesterday gives us a good chance against the Spartans. Oregon was simply a game where one play of many could change the outcome.

There are enough pieces left over to believe we can get back to 6 or 7 wins and a bowl game next season. I am certainly not expecting a national title, now would 6 or 7 wins be turning a huge corner to a massive accmplishment. It would merely be a step back in the right direction. It is all up to the players and how hard they want to work in the offseason. We sent Joe off right, now it is time for coach Hope.

8. Illinois (5-7, 3-5) – Once again, Illinois followed up a shocking BCS bowl appearance with a 5-7 season. Unlike 2002, there is plenty of raw talent there, but there are a number of concerns that leave people wondering if there will be a turn around. Illinois’ five wins came against Indiana, Louisiana Lafayette, Eastern Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa. With the exception of maybe Iowa, those are all games they should have won. Western Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Wisconsin probably should have wins based on talent alone. That is way too many losses to teams you probably should beat.

This team has to stop turning the ball over and it must find an answer to at running back. It became very apparent how much Mendenhall meant to this team when he was gone for this season.

7. Minnesota (7-5, 3-5) – So much for Pasadena this year. The Gophers clearly were in over their heads for the second half of the season, culminating in last night’s abysmal performance against Iowa. The good news is that they will still go bowling. The bad news is they are likely headed to Detroit to face Western Michigan, Central Michigan, or Ball State. All three are very good teams, each with a win over a Big Ten opponent.

There were enough positive signs though to hope that the opening of TCF Bank Stadium will be a huge success next year. They must find more of a running game like most of the teams in the bottom half of the conference. Adam Weber will be better with another year’s experience as well.
6. Wisconsin (7-5, 3-5) – The Badgers are probably the most disappointing team in the Big Ten. They lost to Michigan. They needed overtime to beat a 1-AA opponent. They took a season that saw them in the top 10 at one point and barely qualified for a bowl game.

Still, they finished the season on an up note. They won their last three games even if they were against Indiana, Minnesota, and Cal Poly. Two of those three easily could have become losses and kept the Badgers home for Christmas. They have plenty of offensive talent returning. They need to fix the defense and start playing like they know they can play.

5. Iowa (8-4, 5-3) – To any Iowa fans that stopped by, I am sorry. I predicted a last place finish in the conference, and I was wrong. At least rest in the knowledge that you are not alone. You merely pulled what Michigan State did last year with my predictions. To whomever I predict to finish last next season, expect a 7-win season and bowl appearance. Of course, it is likely going to be Indiana, so scratch that.

Shonn Green is, quite simply, a stud. If he is smart he will make this his final season in Iowa City before bolting to the NFL and getting Oprah-rich. It’s okay, too. Jewel Hampton is a capable replacement. This team was 8-4 with all four losses by less than a touchdown. All four losses came to teams that spent time in the top 25 too. Illinois is the worst loss of that bunch, and it is not Indiana over Northwestern horrible. This could be a very good team next year, so I am glad they are off the schedule. They make their season debut in my blogpoll ballot.

4. Northwestern (9-3, 5-3) – I don’t know what to make of Northwestern. They did as I predicted and made good on their 1 in 4 year run to near the top of the conference. They grabbed some good wins against Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa. They flunked their two major tests against Ohio State and Michigan State, but there is no shame in losing to those two. Loss #3, however was one of those “What?” losses.

In my blogpoll ballot below, I almost put Northwestern into the bottom part of the top 25. That part has been fluid, but the Wildcats have been right on the edge for most of the season. Then I remembered loss #3 was to Indiana. This is the same Indiana team that put on one of the most uninspired displays of football in the history of the game yesterday. No team that losses to Indiana deserves to be ranked this year. Sorry, Lake the Posts. Great season, but that was inexcusable. May you cheer for the Ducks next week and play in Tampa January 1.

3. Michigan State (9-3, 6-2) – The Enlightened Spartan said it best about yesterday’s loss to Penn State. Michigan State proved it is the best of the rest of a crappy conference. Is that so bad though? They won the games they were supposed to and lost the ones they were supposed to. That formula worked for Purdue until this season. The Spartans are still a good team. I thought their fans were a little too confident, but you need confidence if you are to become a great team.

Michigan State gets a New Year’s Day Bowl and a chance to build on this for next season. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Big Ten is going to e pretty wide open next year, so they can seize the opportunity and get to Pasadena a year later.

2. Ohio State (10-2, 7-1) – I’d like to question if Ohio State is really that much better than everyone else. They did the same as Michigan State, (beating the Spartans convincingly in the process) but lost the two most important games on the schedule. They are one of the few teams this year that can say their only losses were to teams going to BCS Bowls, and as a result they will likely get a shot at Georgia (if Oregon State beats Oregon) in the Capitol One Bowl. Georgia is in the same boat as them, so it should be a good game.

I know the Buckeyes will be disappointed though. They are going to be among the favorites for next year, but this was their big chance. They will get other chances because of the schedule they play (they always have a marquee non-conference opponent). The talent isn’t going to dry up any time soon either.

1. Penn State (11-1, 7-1) – Ladies and gentlemen, your winner and new champion: the Penn State Nittany Lions! Like 2005, Penn State was one last second play away from perfection. They got a little bit of help last night in getting to the national title game, but now they need crazy stuff to happen. They need stuff like Auburn over Alabama, Florida State over Florida, Oklahoma State over Oklahoma, Missouri over the Big 12 South champion, and UCLA over USC for them to go to Miami.

It will be interesting to see who the Nittany Lions face. Oregon State beating Oregon means a rematch with a much improved Beaver team. Among the four Pac 10-Big Ten games this year, that was probably the least likely to produce a rematch in Pasadena. If Oregon wins, USC is the opponent unless a decided schematic advantage, UCLA, or a Trojan trip to Miami gets in the way. Penn State should have a fun time the next two weeks

Blogpoll ballot:

As usual, the bottom part of the ballot is in mass chaos as I struggle to put together a final five. Number one was easy, but 2-7 were much harder. I even considered moving Utah up. Being undefeated at this point, especially in the Mountain West which is tougher than the Big East and maybe ACC. has to be worth something. If all hell breaks loose the next two weeks why shouldn’t we consider Utah?

Texas Tech had to take a huge hit simply because true #2 teams don’t crap the bed in big games like that. I put Texas ahead of Oklahoma because they did beat the Sooners. Oklahoma State can simplify things by beating Oklahoma next week, but it is possible that the whole Big 12 South mess could be thrown away if Missouri wins the Big 12 title game. In that case, all three in the South should forget about Miami because if you can’t win your conference you don’t deserve to go to the championship. Florida is an interesting case. The Mississippi loss isn’t as bad as originally thought, but it is worse than Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Texas’ loss. It’s on par with Penn State’s loss to Iowa. In reality, you have to consider 2-7 as almost one giant #2.

Speaking of Penn State, how can you argue them above USC? It’s simple: they pounded the crap out of the team that beat USC.

One team you won't have to worry about being ranked is Notre Dame. Their classless fans came through for them again yesterday. I know many Notre Dame fans. Most of them are pretty well grounded too. I would be embarrassed to represent a team that its own fans throw stuff at them. As a result, the Irish will never be ranked in my blog poll ballot. Ever. That was the last straw as far as me giving them any kind of respect.

As usual, feel free to comment in the comments.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Florida	1
3	Texas	1
4	Oklahoma	1
5	Penn State	2
6	Southern Cal	--
7	Texas Tech	5
8	Utah	--
9	Boise State	--
10	Ohio State	--
11	Missouri	--
12	Oklahoma State	--
13	Georgia	--
14	Ball State	--
15	TCU	2
16	Cincinnati	5
17	LSU	2
18	Oregon State	2
19	Brigham Young	4
20	Oregon	3
21	Michigan State	5
22	Tulsa	4
23	Boston College	3
24	Western Michigan	2
25	Iowa	1

Dropped Out: Miami (Florida) (#18), Pittsburgh (#22), Maryland (#24), Central Michigan (#25).

It's not a gay thing, it's a dominance thing

I had figured that Purdue would win today. With the emotion of coach Tiller’s final game and everything else I thought the Boilers would win, and win comfortably.

62-10.

We took the bucket back by force. I thank my friend Greg (ironically, an IU grad) for the title of this entry. He came up with that phrase to put prison rape in a better light. Personally, I don't think there is a good light for prison rape. It is essentially what we did to the Indiana University football team today.

This was probably more dominating than the 63-24 effort four years ago that cost Gerry DiNardo his job. In that game we still had mistakes. We dropped at least two sure touchdowns and had a couple of turnovers, one a fumble returned for a score. DiNardo was fired after that game, mostly as a direct result of it. With that precedent set, Bill Lynch may want to polish his resume.

Today was essentially a perfect game. Only a big return that set up a field goal and a meaningless late touchdown was the second of two very slight blemishes. I am giving the offense an 11 for 11 for the day. The final drive of the game would have been a score if we were even interested in scoring.

The Hoosier Report wasted no time today in calling this the worst loss in the history of Indiana football. That is saying something. As you see in John’s entry, the Hoosiers have a number of losses by 50 or more, but today was the only time one has come to a team that finished with a losing record. While I do think we ran the score up a bit (we had no business throwing even once in the fourth quarter), Indiana fans should be embarrassed by the effort the Hoosiers put forth. They simply rolled over and died. They never even showed interest in stopping our offense, and their offensive game plan seemed to consist of letting Kellen Lewis run for his life and hope someone got open to throw to. They were awful even by Indiana’s standards.

There is no need to even break this game down into positives and negatives. Everything was a positive. The only slight negative was the kick coverage on the big return by Thigpen. Even then, the defense quashed the small ray of hope it set up and surrendered just a field goal. Everyone played well, but here are the standouts:

Curtis Painter – Allow me to say this: WHERE IN THE HELL WAS THAT ALL YEAR! This is the Curtis Painter that everyone expected. If this is the Curtis Painter we could have gotten all year we’d probably be sitting at 8-4 tight now instead of the opposite. It was refreshing to see Curtis end his career on a very positive note. Injuries obviously hampered him, but most of the year he simply didn't perform. Without injury, I think we beat Minnesota (who has showed no interest in playing the second half of the year) and a completely healthy Painter might give us a chance at Michigan State. I hope he can shake this year off and have a successful pro career now if given the chance. He even threw the deep ball very well.

Keith Smith – Is anyone else excited about getting this guy back for two more years? He has found a home in the slot. He is strong too, and gives us a Dustin Keller-like presence at the slot receiver position. He’s only going to get better too. I wasn’t so much impressed by his catches today, but by the number of yards he gained after the catch and after contact. When he was tackled, he was moving the pyle forward. That’s the sign of a physical receiver.

Desmond Tardy – Dez was just one of many seniors that shined today. He even did a great job on the throw back to Painter. I love how everyone saw that pay developing when Dierking went in motion except for the Indiana defense. It was our predictable offense, but IU's putrid defense still fell for it.

Aaron Valentin – Like Smith, I am glad that Valentin is coming back next year. He gave us a big play threat today, and nearly broke Indiana’s spirit with a kickoff return for a score. He ended up finishing just a yard short of being our third receiver with 100 yards today, joining Smith and Tardy.

Kory Sheets – I think I will miss this guy the most of all. He has been a pleasure to watch for four years. Some questioned whether he could handle being the sole featured back this year with his fumbling problems. He responded by having just one fumble all year. That’s amazing. He leaves Purdue with 54 career touchdowns. That leaves him second on the all-time scoring least behind Travis Dorsch. He easily owns the career touchdowns mark, which will probably stay there for awhile. For good measure, he broke the single season rushing touchdown mark today too with 16. For some more numbers, Kory passed Otis Armstrong for the second most rushing yards in school history. This season was also the fourth best season yardage-wise by a Purdue back ever. As a result, I may be forced to retire my well-loved #24 jersey from the rotation. Let the debate officially begin between him and Mike Alstott

For the record, I give Alstott a slight edge. He was handicapped by having Jim Colletto as a coach, 11 game seasons, no bowls, and he only played extensively for three years.

Torri Williams – I heard chants of, “One more year” for Torri in the stands today. If this was his last game, I am glad it was a good one. First off, he completed a season without missing any time due to injury. Second, he had a pick and topped us with seven tackles. He damn near recovered a fumble too.

Ryan Baker – I have to mention Baker for coming into the stands not on the student side, but on the west side and shouting thank you to all in attendance. Mr. Baker, thank you for wearing black and gold. Thank you for your dedication and determination in defining the spirit of the Boilermakers. He was an appropriate voice for the players today in saying goodbye.

Brandon Whittington – I wanted to single out Brandon because it was nice to see him finally catch a touchdown pass. He did a great job of getting the foot down on a difficult catch too.

The Fans – Much was made about the team not quitting late in the season, but the crowd was into it today despite two 3-8 teams playing. We saw three “inflatable” sightings and with the offense rolling the fans hid their discontent well. There was no booing of Tiller or the players. Many fans also stayed around for the ceremony on the field honoring coach Tiller. Hopefully their patience will be rewarded next season. We avoided acting like classy Notre Dame fans too. It seems like the program that has "the richest tradition in college football" could learn from an inferior 4-8 team about how to handle a loss.

Coach Tiller – I thanked coach Tiller earlier this week, but it seemed like he really had some fun today. He tried some new things and went out guns blazing like the Cowboy Joe of old. I think if I ever am in Buffalo, Wyoming I may just look him up in the phone book and stop by for some coffee.

Where do we go from here:

Regardless of how the rest of the season turned out, this was the perfect ending. Joe got a final win at Ross-Ade in convincing fashion. The seniors got the Bucket back and all performed well in a woodshed beating of a rival. Notre Dame also suffered an embarassing loss, though it makes me even more ashamed we lost to that team.

I can’t help but ask where this was all year. Is Indiana really that bad that our worst team in years is 52 points better than them? I know the Hoosiers were awful today, but can they be so awful as to make us look that good? I think it was a little of both. We were a better team than we showed most of the year, and that manifested itself today. I think injuries were the biggest factor. Our front line guys were plenty good, but we simply didn't have the developed depth to recover against a tough schedule. As a result, things really could have been better this season if today’s team had showed up at other times.

If today’s team shows up I think Oregon, Iowa, Michigan State and Minnesota become wins. If the offense specifically shows up, Penn State and Ohio State can become wins too. Notre Dame and Northwestern were also two of our worst efforts, so those could have changed as well. Right now I am embarrassed that we lost in South Bend after a godawful Syracuse team waltzed in there today and won. It’s nice to see Notre Dame has turned a corner and run right into a wall.

There is also plenty to build on next year. Justin Siller will get better if he wants to put the work in during this offseason. The defense actually played quite well for most of the season and only some particularly ugly efforts in games like Notre Dame and Iowa offset the stats. Most of those starters come back and should get better. There are some offensive playmakers to build around in Jaycen Taylor, Keith Smith, and Aaron Valentin.

The biggest key will be avoiding injuries. Since most of the offensive line was hurt from spring practice on we never had a chance to build anything there. If the line struggles, the team will struggle. Our new head coach specializes in building offensive lines though. A quick turnaround and return to a bowl game can happen if that offensive line can come together.

A quick look at the schedule shows the potential for six wins. Toledo, Northern Illinois and Indiana have to be three of them. At least a split between Oregon and Notre Dame is a reasonable goal, and that would give us four. Northwestern might take a step back, and both Illinois and Michigan State haven’t convinced me they will be world beaters despite having good recruiting classes. Wisconsin is an enigma coming off a season in which they were lucky to get seven wins. Michigan needs drastic improvement too. I think it will be a season much like this one (at least when we saw it in the future) in that we won’t be totally out of a lot of games, but there aren’t many guaranteed wins.

In the mean time though, I am glad we have a positive note after such a bad year. The Bucket is back where it belongs, and I was back where I belong after the game as shown. At Harry's I toasted a Long Island to getting the Bucket back, to Joe Tiller's career, and to the fact it is absolutely impossible not to smile in Harry's.

Rivalry week Big Ten preview

The final week of Big Ten play has almost turned into a youth soccer league. I say that because it seems like everybody gets a trophy, including the winner of 3-8 Purdue vs. 3-8 Indiana. For the first time in a couple of years, there is no rivalry trophy at stake in the Michigan-Ohio State game as the Big Ten title is not at stake there (unless Michigan State beats Penn State). That Penn State-Michigan State contest offers the rare double trophy game, as they play for the Land Grant trophy. I know that trophy was created mostly to get Penn State involved in a rivalry once they joined the Big Ten, but it is still trophy.

The Big Ten gets center stage this week on all the networks since we are the only conference that will be finished after Saturday. That will end next season, as the Big Ten will finally be allowed to play after Thanksgiving. I don’t know how much this will help in the bowls by shortening the layoff, but I am not looking forward to freezing in the snow of an early December Bucket game somewhere down the line.

(All rankings are official blogpoll rankings)

Indiana (3-8, 1-6) at Purdue (3-8, 1-6) Noon, ESPN2
Trophy: The Old Oaken Bucket (Purdue leads overall series 68-36-6 and Bucket series 54-26-3)
Current trophy holder: Indiana

The numbers in this rivalry are reflected In the way it changes hands. In 1997 and 2002, the most recent time Purdue has won the Bucket back, the Boilers have patiently waited at midfield for an IU manager to deliver the Bucket before the seniors take it out and celebrate with the fans. In 2001 and 2007 Indiana raced across the field and seized it from the Purdue bench. Each time we get the Bucket we know we’re going to have it for awhile, so we’re patient and savor it. Indiana has to practically steal it from us because they know they won’t have it long.

Around 3:30 Saturday afternoon I expect another solemn ceremony where the Bucket changes hands. As much as I want the seniors to lead this respectful transition, I hope that Joe Tiller gets his hands on the Bucket first. In the nine previous times he has won the Bucket I don’t think I have ever seen him parade it around the field. This season has been rough on all of us. It’s not what we have expected, but there can be at least a small bright spot if Joe hoists the Bucket Saturday afternoon. Of the soon to be 55 P links on that chain he will have been responsible for 10 of them. Only three of the links (two P’s and one I) have a Rose Bowl mention on them, and he is responsible for one of those as well. No coach in the series except for maybe Jack Mollenkopf has left such a mark on this series. Joe Tiller will end this dismal season on a positive note. Thank you, Joe, for everything you have done. You will be missed. Please enjoy Wyoming, as I can’t blame you for wanting to enjoy such gorgeous country. Purdue 31, Indiana 17

Michigan (3-8, 2-5) at #11 Ohio State (9-2, 6-1) Noon, ABC
Trophy: The Big Ten Championship (on hiatus) (Michigan leads 57-41-6, 46 games have affected the Big Ten championship.)
Current trophy holder: Ohio State

Can we please remove the ridiculous free pass Rich Rodriguez has? Why is it suddenly acceptable for him to have the worst season in Michigan’s long history? This is Michigan. They are the winningest program in college football. They can recruit 4 and 5 star talent without even trying. A trained farm animal should be able to coach them to a 6-6 record and bowl appearance. Rodriguez comes in with great fanfare and he immediate has the worst season in school history. Now players like Sam McGuffie are leaving the program. Michigan fans are even talking themselves into accepting another rebuilding year next year in the hopes of a big 2010. Are you serious? THIS IS MICHIGAN!!!! I have seen this before. It was called Nebraska at the end of Tom Osbourne’s tenure. They went from the top to the middle in a hurry and are just now one of college football’s creamy middle teams.

Ohio State will likely be the latest team to tee off on the Wolverines this year. Only Wisconsin and Minnesota whiffed in their chances. The Buckeyes need a win then will wait to see if the Rose Bowl will come calling. Michigan State fans must bite the bullet and hope for a Wolverine upset if they want to go Pasadena. At least Michigan can cost the Buckeyes about $14 million with a win, because Ohio State is probably going somewhere in the BCS regardless. Personally, I like the possibility of a Miami-Ohio State Orange Bowl. Mrs. T-Mill would probably try an invoke some kind of voodoo curse with penalty flags if that was the case. Unfortunately, that possibility took a major hit last night. Ohio State 38, Michigan 10

Cal Poly (8-1) at Wisconsin (6-5, 3-5) 3:30 Big Ten Network

I’m not saying we have another Appy State on our hands, but Cal Poly is one of the better 1-AA teams in the land. They have a punchers chance of beating a disappointing Wisconsin team that has little to play for. If Illinois beats Northwestern and the Big Ten doesn’t get a second team into the BCS The Motor City Bowl will have a choice to make. Should Wisconsin finish the season by losing at home to a 1-AA team they may find themselves joining Michigan, Purdue, and Indiana at home for the holidays in that situation. I don’t think it will happen, but Wisconsin had better win just to be safe. Wisconsin 31, Cal Poly 21

#14 Michigan State (9-2, 6-1) at #7 Penn State (10-1, 6-1) 3:30pm, ABC
Trophy: the Land Grant Trophy (Penn State leads 11-4)
Current trophy holder: Michigan State

By kickoff Michigan state will know if they are playing for Roses or not. Should they beat the Nittany Lions they will have at least an outside chance at going to a BCS bowl anyway. A number college football sites have pointed out that while an unwanted Ohio state-USC Rose Bowl rematch is in play, another ugly rematch is more likely. A Penn State win sends them to Pasadena unless all hell breaks lose in front of them. Their opponent could be Oregon State (again) if the Beavers win their final two games. That would also likely hurt Ohio State because USC will go somewhere in the BCS as an at large selection. The Big 12 and SEC will each be getting two bids, leaving one left. That is likely going to Utah, Boise State, or Ball State if one finishes unbeaten.

The real question to ask is can Michigan State get an at large BCS bid with a win? They would be 10-2 with a loss to the Big Ten BCS representative and a good Pac-10 team on the road. An Oregon State loss along the way would certainly help by taking USC out of the at large pool. Unfortunately, I think Penn State is too good and has too much to play for. Their defense is more than good enough to contain Ringer, and I don’t think Hoyer can beat them with his arm. He struggled too much against Purdue to give me confidence in his ability to pull an upset on the road. Penn State 24, Michigan State 17

Illinois (5-6, 3-4) at Northwestern (8-3, 4-3) 3:30pm, Big Ten Network
Trophy: Sweet Sioux tomahawk (Illinois leads overall series 52-44-5 and Tomahawk series 33-28-2)
Current trophy holder: Illinois

Of the teams that have much to gain on Saturday in their rivalry contest Northwestern may have the most on the line. If the conference can get a second team in the BCS, the Wildcats can do the most damage as a result. They can knock their in-state rival out of a bowl game and position themselves for a New Year’s Day date in Tampa if things fall right. Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State will clearly go ahead of them, but if two of them go to the big money games the third will go to the Capitol One Bowl in Orlando. That would leave the Outback to choose between Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota. A 9-3 Northwestern team with wins over both would be an attractive option even though they have an ugly loss to Indiana.

Illinois is another team that needs its free pass revoked. The Illini are loaded with talent. There is no reason they should be 5-6 and needing a win over a good rival to get to the Motor City Bowl in Detroit. I won’t buy the tough schedule argument either. Good teams beat other good teams. See Purdue football 2004-present for an example of that. This series has come a long way from two years ago when it was the battle for last place. That battle has moved down I-65 to West Lafayette. Northwestern doesn’t have a real home field advantage, but it does have the better coached team. According to ESPN, this will be the final time that the teams will play for the Sweet Sioux. Northwestern 23, Illinois 20

Iowa (7-4, 4-3) at Minnesota (7-4, 3-4) 7pm Big Ten Network
Trophy: Floyd of Rosedale (Minnesota leads 39-32-2)
Current trophy holder: Iowa

Of all the things to play for, a giant bronze pig is right at the top of the list. It has a most interesting backstory though. Apparently the Floyd of Rosedale averted an inter-state war not seen since the Civil War in 1861. Minnesota has had a rough go of it lately, losing consecutive trophy games. They will try to use a surely emotional Metrodome finale in order to get at least one of them back. A few weeks ago the Gophers looks like they were going to possibly take all three trophies to Pasadena. A fourth straight loss may send them empty handed to the worst bowl destination of all: Detroit. At least they are going somewhere.

The running joke about Iowa in the bowl season is that they travel well, so they should be chosen ahead of teams. You had better believe that is what Northwestern is thinking. The Wildcats can finish a full game ahead of them in the standing and have a head to head win over them on Iowa’s home field. Still, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Hawkeyes taken ahead of the Wildcats based on the travel factor. The Floyd game boils down to the fact that Iowa is playing well and Shonn Greene is the real deal. Minnesota has hit a wall, and may still yet be a year way. Iowa 21, Minnesota 20

National game picks:

#1 Texas Tech 27, #5 Oklahoma 24 – It feels like a year of destiny for Texas Tech.

#17 Bringham Young 24, #8 Utah 23 – And cheers are heard in Muncie, IN as the MAC searches for a liquor to cash a phat BCS check.

The Tiller Era - T-Mill's perspective

I wrote a good portion of this earlier this week, but my friends over at Boiled Sports have been weighing in with their opinions of the Tiller Era since Tuesday. J Money, Tim, and Boilerdowd all spent their time in West Lafayette before me, but I was there during the best years of the Tiller Era. I was there, sitting in row five of the student section, when Drew made the greatest play in Purdue football history. I was in Pasadena as a student. I sat through Drew Brees' entire West Lafayette tenure, ready to follow him to the riverbank when he chose to walk across the Wabash. Drew Brees defined much of Joe Tiller's carer during my tenure as a student at Purdue, and because of that I owe him a debt of gratitude for completing my collegiate experience.

Drew Brees and Joe Tiller are forever linked. As a result, I am a Drew Brees disciple. For years he has been on my NFL fantasy team, but it was Joe Tiller that made him one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. When I think of my four years in West Lafayette, one of my favorite memories is what Joe and Drew did for three of those four years. November 18, 2000 may have been the pinnacle of Purdue football. That as the day Joe and Drew took us officially to a place few believed was possible. I was there, running onto the field in sheer joy.

It honestly goes back before that for me though. I want to go back to September 13, 1997. I was a senior in high school, just under a month before my 18th birthday. I wasn't sure what choice I was going to make for college. I had many offers on the table. As a National Merit Semifinalist, I had a half-tuition scholarship to Bradley University, while the University of Dayton and Butler University were in my final choices. I didn't know shit about shit. I had a dream of being a sports broadcaster, but I was toying with athletic training as a major. On that day, I walked into Ross-Ade Stadium with my brother-in-law and his brother unsure of what I was going to do. My thoughts of that game a reflected here, but what happened that day is a major reason I became a Boilermaker.

A football game isn't the smartest reason to choose a university. I admit now I could have done better as far as what my life goals are, but I also recognize that I cannot imagine my life without being a Purdue alumnus. I do not regret a thing. Being a Boilermaker is a large part of who I am. It was before I came to Purdue since my father is also an alumnus (School of Pharmacy '75), and I hope it will be when the day comes that Mrs. T-Mill and I have a child. Since I base my Boilermaker status largely on Joe Tiller's tenure as a football coach, he has a large hand in what I hope will someday be a third generation Purdue alumnus.

The Joe Tiller era will end this Saturday. It will end with a whimper of a win over an Indiana team that is poor even by its own standards. Though his time on the sidelines began with an embarrassing loss to a pretty good Toledo team, Tiller shocked everyone by immediately getting the Boilers to a bowl game in his first season. Nine other bowl games followed, tripling the total number of postseason trips made in the 110 years of football that Purdue played before he became coach. His 86 wins tops the school list, but this season alone is enough to question what his final legacy will be.

I, like many of you readers, have seen the entire thing. I was there at the Notre Dame game in 1997 when we shocked the Irish for win #1. I will be there this Saturday when he gets win #86 and the 10th P link goes on the Bucket. I was there for the high, watching from the end zone of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I was there for the low two weeks ago when we put the finishing touches on the first season with at least seven losses at Michigan State. The fact I was there is reason enough to look at Joe Tiller’s final legacy in a positive light.

Before Tiller came, Purdue was less than an afterthought in college football. We made some very brief noise with Mike Alstott, but other than a bi-annual sellout against Notre Dame the fans stayed away in droves. There was no reason to come to games. As my dad, a season ticket holder for almost 30 years now, once said, “We get to see a lot of good football, but none of it is Purdue. We get to see Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State…” Our opinion of a good season was to beat a couple of MAC teams, win another conference game, and beat Indiana for the Bucket. Even that last part didn’t happen with regularity. The Hoosiers had Bill Mallory and Heisman candidate Anthony Thompson while I was growing up. They were respectable while we were awful. To us, a 4-7 season with the Bucket was a good year.

Tiller changed all that by beating Notre Dame, something Fred Akers and Jim “A tie is as good as a win in the Big Ten” Colletto never did. They rarely even came close. Those that were in the stadium that day saw not just a win that easily made the top five in the “Best wins of the Tiller Era” poll, they saw hope. With that one win, Purdue fans young and old began to believe that maybe, just maybe, we could win more games than we lost. Joe did just that by going 9-3 his first year. He made us believe that we could do it with regularity the next year by going 9-4 and shocking #4 Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl.

What followed that is what will be remembered as the high points. From 1998-2004 Purdue was a legitimate threat to win the Big Ten conference each season. Bowl games were no longer just a treat. Suddenly the Sun Bowl was a disappointment because it wasn’t played a day later. In that span we played on New Year’s Day three times. We had never played on New Year's Day before that (the 1967 Rose Bowl was on January 2). Even though all three games were losses, we stood toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in the country. One or two plays could have made all three wins as well. It was a peak that would last until a chilly fall day in October of 2004.

We call it, “The Fumble”. With Gameday in town, a #5 national ranking, all the tough remaining games at home, and a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback we were right there in the rarified territory of being a candidate for something more than the Big Ten title. We were on the short list for the National Title (something even vaunted Notre Dame can't claim the past 15 years). With eight minutes left against Wisconsin it looked even more likely to happen. What happened next was nothing short of one of the worst stomach punches a college football program can get. Scott Starks’ fumble return of Kyle Orton’s drop, literally inches away from being ruled down, happened so fast no one had time to even cheer the blocked extra point that followed. That one play seemed to have crushed not just the fans, but the collective spirit of the program.

We are 26-30 since that moment. This is after going 60-32 before that. Quite a turning point.

Was this Joe’s fault? As the one ultimately in charge of the program, the answer is yes. Still, there were other factors beyond his control. It is clear that the program has faded from the top down, but we still owe thanks to Joe for getting us to the point where we can believe in more. The stadium itself bears an indelible mark to his legacy in the state of the art pavilion and press box. The fact that he put butts in the seats for 12 years meant the University had more revenue to embark on projects that benefitted other sports like the Mackey Arena renovation. Though things look dark right now, it certainly does not look like it will be another 13 years before we reach another bowl game. More likely it will be another 1-3 years.

This is not the ending we all envisioned. Few people saw the 2008 team as this bad. Injuries and poor performance have hurt us more. There wasn’t a dream of a national title like in 2004 or 2005, but we certainly hoped for more. We’re not going to get it, so Saturday must be Joe’s final send off. This is truly a win at any cost game. I had the joy of walking into Ross-Ade Stadium in late November of 2000 knowing there was no way in hell Indiana was beating us to knock us from the Rose Bowl. Everyone else felt it too. Though only pride is on the line this time, we need to have that attitude again.

Thank you, Joe, for making us believe we can be more. Thank you for 12 years of work and dedication. Thank you for shaping the life of this life-long Boilermaker. I have screwed up many things in my life. Graduating from Purdue University is one of the few things I am unashamedly proud of. Joe Tiller is a major reason that I am a Purdue alumnus, and I thank him for that. I know he doesn't have a lot of respect for bloggers, but I thank him from the bottom of my heart for having the role he did in shaping my life.

Indiana preview

Before getting into the Indiana preview I wanted to have a brief word on basketball again. Purdue has been very impressive, blowing out three overmatched teams at home by an average of more than 30 points per game. Like Boilerdowd, I am reserving myself a little bit because we haven’t played a team of note yet, but they have still been very dominant. Last season’s non-conference season presented some struggles against lesser opponents in Lipscomb, Indiana State, and the infamous Wofford game. This year’s Purdue team appears to be totally focused already. They are taking care of business and not giving these inferior teams even a whiff of an upset. Even fellow top 10 member UCLA has already struggled this year against Miami (OH).

I’m really impressed with JuJuan Johnson so far. He’s moving with confidence when he has the ball and seems to have the two-handed thunderdunk down pat. When JJ gets a chance to through one of those down it’s a sign everything is running smoothly. He had so many last night that we may need to reinforce the rims before Saturday’s game.

This teams appears to have exceptional balance among the top 8 in the rotation. Even Ryne Smith and Bobby Buckets can provide some additional shooting off the bench when needed. My only concern so far is still rebounding. We haven’t done well so far and from what I have seen there have been several chances where we’ve been in position, but haven’t pulled down the ball in traffic. I had hoped Chris Reid would be able to contribute here a little, but it looks like he is once again a 20/20/4 player (that is, he only plays when we’re up 20 or down 20 in the last four minutes). At least one added benefit of beginning the season with multiple blowouts is that players like Reid, Wohlford, and Riddell get some actual playing time. This will help down the line if we need them.

Two other basketball notes: First, I was approached by AOL FanHouse to do a preview on Purdue basketball. It went live today. Second, Tim Cary, who was the author of the Oregon fire-up message, is doing some Purdue basketball work over at BleacherReport. Go over and check it out if you have a chance.

Indiana preview

Saturday presents the chance to avoid the final, ultimate insult. Should the Boilers lose to an Indiana team that is bad even by IU’s dismal standards it will provide the ugliest ending possible to Tiller’s career. As it is, we’re two long touchdowns in the final two minutes of our last two victories away from being 1-10 and one of the worst teams in the country. On paper, a win Saturday gives us the Bucket back and makes us look not as bad as we probably are. It really means more though.

A loss would be absolute rock bottom in my opinion. As bad as we have been this year, we’re still better than Indiana. The Hoosiers have long been the worst team in the conference. It is a benchmark for suckitude when you finish behind them. Even in the two years we have lost to the Hoosiers under Tiller we have still finished tied with them conference-wise. Both times it took extraordinary circumstances (an absolute monsoon and a coach’s death providing motivation) for Indiana to beat us. This time the circumstances and motivation are in our favor while Indiana is back at the bottom of the conference. How can you not call a loss rock bottom in that case?

Indiana offense:

This proves how much I don’t know. I have lambasted Indiana’s perceived lack of a running game all season long. When looking at the statistics I was actually surprised to see their running game has produced nearly 1900 yards on the season. Our own is exactly 500 yards less (1,881 to 1,381). They don’t have a 1,000 yard rusher like we do in Kory Sheets, but the running game has been spread around enough that the team numbers are actually quite high. As we learned last year, it can be a productive game in the right circumstances.

Last year “the right circumstances” were “facing the Purdue defense”. In Bloomington we acted like we had never seen a simple halfback draw, let alone believed it was a legal play. We turned Marcus Thigpen into Emmett Smith for a day as he kept gashing us on the simplest of running plays. He finished with 140 yards on 19 carries, which was higher than his previous five games combined. His numbers this year (578 yards, 7 TD’s) are similar to what he had before last year’s game. He didn't find the end zone against us, but he did open the field up for two Kellen Lewis TD runs. Lewis himself has 452 yards and three scores this year. His numbers are down, but he has been hampered by injuries especially since the Iowa game. He re-injured his ankle at Penn State, so he may not be very effective still. Bryan Payton has rushed for 339 yards and a pair of scores, making him a threat in the running game as well.

The Indiana passing game has been significantly less effective than our own, which is saying something because ours has been pretty bad. I’m looking at the numbers in my copy of GBI and it says we rank 47th in the nation passing at 228.7 yards per game. I’m surprised our numbers are even that high, but Indiana is much worse at 82nd and 189.4. Like us, Indiana has played musical quarterbacks this year between Lewis (97 completions, 1039 yards, 5 TD, 6 INT) and Ben Chappell (80-1001-4-3). Indiana has tried to go no huddle for most of the year, but has failed at it. We have done the same, but only because we have gone no huddle when we shouldn’t have and vice versa. Neither QB has been overly effective, and the offense itself has scored more than 21 points only once in conference play.

It is amazing to see just how much James Hardy meant to this offense. If you combine this year’s top four receivers they don’t even come close to the numbers that Hardy put up by himself (75-1,125-16) a year ago. Ray Fisher (40-359-4) and Andrew means (32-424-1) are the top two guys, but their numbers reflect support roles, not top banana stats. If we can cover these guys like we should be able to, we will force Indiana to beat us with its ground game. That’s what everyone else has done to this point, and our defense should have a field day against them If it continues to cover receivers.

Part of Indiana’s struggles come from an offensive line that has been, well, offensive. John from the Hoosier Report had a great comparison earlier this year when he called “the Seven Blocks of Limestone” (their name when they were recruited), “the Seven Bags of Mulch.” They have allowed 27 sacks on the year and have not opened lanes for Lewis (when healthy) and Thigpen to run. Good offensive lines make everyone look better. Indiana has a bad one, so they look awful.

Indiana defense:

We should have our choice between running and passing against the Hoosiers. I would love nothing more than to see Kory Sheets have a record setting day given his historical performance against Indiana. The Hoosier run defense is barely better than our own, giving up 176 yards on the ground. We’re slightly skewed too, since I think Shonn Greene just had another 7 yard gain. Kory will have room to run, and a 200 yard, 3 score day would be very nice to cap his Purdue career. Just give him the ball and let him run like Montrell Lowe in 2000.

The pass defense isn’t much better. Indiana lost two of the nation’s best cornerbacks in Tracy Porter and Leslie Majors. Both are playing on Sundays now, and the Hoosier defense is giving up 240 yards per game through the air. As a team the Hoosiers only have six interceptions on the year, but they have recovered an impressive 16 fumbles. Austin Thomas leads the team with two of those interceptions, but he has only played in six games and is out for the season iwth a knee injury.

A big reason Indiana has struggled is the neutralization of All-American defensive end Greg Middleton. With just 18 tackles and four sacks Middleton will not have to worry about being on any All-American lists this year. Line-mate Jammie Kirlew has taken advantage of the extra attention Middleton has received by collecting 10.5 sacks and 69 tackles. He is second on the team in tackles behind Matt Mayberry’s 78. Mayberry also has five sacks from his linebacker position, so we must watch for him on the blitz (check this).

Most of what we do will probably come from the ground game. Indiana has given up 27 rushing scores on the year vs. 15 passing TD’s. They aren’t limiting teams to the end zone either, as opponents have kicked 18 field goals on 21 attempts. That makes for 63 drives this season in which Indiana’s opponents have been close enough to score points, or about five and a half times per game. The scoring opportunities will be there, so we have to take them. By comparison we only have 53 such drives.

Indiana Special Teams:

Since Austin Starr kicked the Bucket from West Lafayette to Bloomington he has been awful. The Hoosier Report noted that he has joined Middleton as another player that doesn’t have to worry about All-American status this season. He’s just 9 of 16 on field goals this year after being a preseason favorite for the Groza Award. He has also missed on a pair of extra point attempts, but does have 17 touchbacks on kickoffs. When teams do return kicks against the Hoosiers they are averaging 20 yards per return.

Chris Hagerup was expected to be a liability in the punting game but he has performed admirably. He is averaging a good 42.3 yards per boot and 14 of his 58 punts have pinned opponents inside the 20. He has had a punt blocked and one returned for a touchdown, but opponents aren’t breaking huge returns with regularity.

Indiana’s own return game is very dangerous because of Thigpen. He is speedy as a Big Ten 100 meter champion and has 757 yards in the kick return game. He hasn’t broken one for a score… yet. I say that because calling our kick return game bad would be a compliment. The same is true for our punt return game. We’ve given up a pair of punt returns for scores and had two blocked. Ray Fisher will be returning punts and he has a 9.6 yard return average. The Jesus Christ of the IU defense in Jerimy Finch also has four returns for a 10.2 average. He may only have six tackles as the savior of the defense, but he can be dangerous when he gets a punt. Finch has been battling an ankle injury and has only played in five games.

Final Thoughts:

Both teams finished with identical regular season records a year ago and were separated by a field goal. This year injuries, erratic quarterback play, and poor run defense have led to identical records once again. Indiana’s schedule was not as easy as it originally appeared. Central Michigan and Ball State are playing in one of the best MAC games of the season tonight. Both will be bowling this year and Purdue is lucky to have beaten the Chips as one of the Big Ten’s best non-conference wins. At least Indiana has beaten a ranked team in Northwestern, though if the Chips beat the Cardinals this week and crack the top 25 I am declaring our streak over.

This looks like a game where both teams are so bad it might be entertaining. This year has been so disappointing for both teams that we can’t even do the battle for last place in our conference right. Washington and Washington State have cornered the market on that as they have one win period between them going into Saturday’s Apple Cup. At least to this point both teams have managed a pair of non-conference wins and a conference win. The Apple Cup boasts of only a single win over 1-AA Portland State.

Last year Indiana rode the motivation of “Play 13” and a potential bowl game to a dramatic win. This year we have the emotion in our favor with it being Joe Tiller’s final game. Later this week I’ll post my full thoughts on Joe, but it is still hard to believe it is almost over. Despite everything, it is clear that this team is still playing hard. We just haven’t been good enough against better opponents. Indiana is not a better opponent, so I like our chances. As mentioned above, Tiller has only lost twice to Indiana under extraordinary circumstances each time. The Hoosiers also haven’t won in West Lafayette since Jim Colletto’s final game in 1996. This year is eerily similar to 1996 in that Colletto’s last win during a 3-win campaign came in the penultimate home game against Michigan, but we’re far better than that team.

This game is also on our seniors. There is no way they want to go down as the first team to lose consecutive Bucket games since the 1993 and 94. We have the best offensive player on the field in a healthy Kory Sheets. I think he will be motivated for a big show in his final game. Curtis Painter is getting the start too. He was much improved against Iowa, and he is well overdue for a great game this year. If those two are on and the defense can keep playing as well as it has I have a hard time seeing us lose.

OTT salutes the 2008 Football seniors

A quick basketball note: I made it up to the Eastern Michigan game tonight since my tickets didn't sell. Lewis Jackson certainly looks like the real deal. JaJuan looks so much more confident with the basketball and could be a beast for us. Rebounding is still an issue, but this team is even more balanced in scoring than I thought. All eight players in the main rotation are capable of starting and dropping 10-15 at any time. They turned it on after a slow start and simply blew an inferior team out of the gym. All-in-all, a very nice game.

Saturday will be the final time that we see 19 seniors play for the Old Gold and Black. It will be a bittersweet day. While these guys will leave Purdue scattered among the record books, they will unfortunately leave as a group that missed out on two bowl games in their four years. It’s hard to explain why too. Both years in which bowl games were missed had expectations much higher than the two seasons that did end in bowl games. Individually these seniors were very impressive throughout their careers, but their final legacy will sadly be left with a poor record on the field. Still, we must honor these guys. They have played hard and no one has to be more frustrated than them.

What follows is my tribute to each senior, with a top highlight or two for each. Feel free to add your own memories in the comments section.

#2 Torri Williams – safety – No one has had a harder time seeing the field than Williams. He technically could apply for a medical redshirt and possibly return next season, but signs indicate he may not. Injuries ended his 2005 (broken leg), 2006 (shredded knee), and 2007 (torn Achilles) seasons before they really got started. It was great to see him finally have a full season this year. Torri was long expected to be one of our better players in the secondary, but injuries constantly got in the way. He is still this team’s second leading tackler and he added an interception at Michigan State as well. His off-the-field issues clouded his tenure almost as much as his injuries, but he has still been one of my favorite players to watch when he has played. For a career highlight, I remember Torri having an interception and long return against Toledo last year. It stands out because of the smile and relief he felt at having returned from a devastating knee injury in the 2006 opener.

#3 Frank Duong – safety – Frank Duong is a fan favorite. He’s a 5th year walk-on that was barely recruited, yet put in the time and toil behind the scenes to earn a starting job this year. He made his mark early as a special teams maniac. I love this guy because he plays with absolute reckless abandon. He’s not the biggest, fastest, or strongest guy out there, but he more than makes up for it in heart. His career highlight definitely had to be his interception return for a touchdown against Central Michigan this year.

#4 Fabian Martin – cornerback – It’s hard for me to have a highlight for Martin because he’s seen spotty playing time in a crowded defensive backfield the past few seasons. Still, I appreciate his contributions to this team. He’s actually played, which is more than I’ll ever be able to say.

#6 Desmond Tardy –wide receiver – Des has done a little bit of everything for us. This year is the first year he was a starter, but he has been on and off the field for four years. Against Hawaii two seasons ago, he had a big touchdown pass to Selwyn Lymon that nearly won us the game. He’ll be remembered mostly for his big plays, like last year’s TD return to open the Minnesota game and this year’s hook and ladder. Some would say he should have been on the field more before this year, but that is open to discussion. Overall, his career deserved more PT.

#12 Curtis Painter – quarterback – His struggles this season have been well documented, but I wanted to focus on his positives. Curtis will leave Purdue as the #2 passer statistically in Big Ten history. He’s thrown for more than 10,000 yards and has topped everyone except Drew Brees in both the Purdue and Big Ten record books. Last season’s Motor City Bowl was not just one of the best games ever by a Purdue quarterback, it was one of the best bowl games ever by any college signal caller. Curtis got the starting job under tough circumstances when he was a last minute replacement for Brandon Kirsch against Wisconsin in 2005. He handled himself well and started every game until a shoulder injury against Minnesota this year. While his senior season wasn’t quite what it was supposed to be, he has still done a lot right to be where he is in the cradle of quarterbacks.

#18 Roberto McBean – wide receiver – He only has one career reception, but this senior has been on the field and contributed in practice. Unfortunately, he’ll likely be remembered more for his drops this year more than anything.

#19 Brandon Whittington – wide receiver – What stands out to me about Brandon is that he has one of the biggest smiles in the program every Saturday. He’s a guy that has done a little bit of everything at Purdue. He probably has the most receptions of anyone who has never gotten into the end zone, either. In 2005, as one of the readers below pointed out, he even filled in as an emergency DB. Hopefully he will be rewarded on Saturday by finding the end zone after so long. He has filled in nicely as a possession receiver this year.

#21 Greg Orton – wide receiver – This was supposed to be the big year for Greg, but it didn’t pan out as the offense struggled. When he came to Purdue he was supposed to tag team with Selwyn Lymon and help us dominate the Big Ten. He and Lymon were the highest rated receivers we’ve ever gotten. Lymon obviously didn’t wok out. Orton, meanwhile, put up solid numbers behind guys like Dustin Keller and Dorien Bryant before being the number 1 guy this year. As our only deep threat, he has done well. His Motor City Bowl performance a year ago was probably his best game as a Boiler. I only wish this season had not been so frustrating for him. He deserved better.

#24 Kory Sheets – running back – My wife will actually miss Kory more than I will, if it is possible. She started coming to games with me full-time during the 2004 season, so she has seen his entire career. In that time, he became her favorite Boiler, so much so that she bought his jersey last year. She had a small chance to show her appreciation during the Michigan game when she spoke to Kory’s mom in the restroom before the game. She knows running backs, having seen the likes of Edgerrin James, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, Clinton Portis, and Najeh Davenport, among others, in her time as a student at the U. She believes Kory could be as good as them. I will miss Kory as well. He has given us twice of everything he has this year. Having just an 11 game schedule as a freshman and missing bowl games twice has cost him three games. Because of that, he will finish just short of Mike Alstott on the career rushing list. No one found the end zone more than Kory though, and that record could stand for a long time. Of his numerous highlights, I like a very early one. His first career touchdown came in his first game when he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against Akron in 2005. Kory has always done well against Indiana, so Alstott may not be out of the woods yet. I would love to see his final game be similar to Mike’s performance against the Hoosiers in 1995.

#42 Anthony Heygood – linebacker – Originally a running back, Heygood will be cashing NFL checks next season as a pretty good linebacker. Against Michigan State, he crossed the 100 tackle threshold for the season. He is the first Boilermaker to do so since Niko Koutouvides in 2002. He’s been our best linebacker the past two years when we have needed good linebackers the most. This year he has been one of the best in the Big Ten. That is saying something, especially in a conference known to produce great players at the position every single year. If he does not receive some all-Big Ten recognition, they need to stop making such lists. Ironically, I will remember him for one of his few rushing plays, as his 62 yard fake punt run against Michigan paved the way for one of the few bright spots this year.

#45 Jermaine Guynn – defensive tackle – Like Duong above, Guynn represents all that is right with the game in terms of heart and hustle. He is another walk-on that has earned his way to being a valuable contributor. Guynn has played extensively the past three seasons mostly because our defensive woes have forced him to. Still, his energy and enthusiasm will be sorely missed.

#51 Garret Miller – offensive tackle – Garret is a player that, sadly, will not be participating on Saturday. He will limp through the pregame festivities as a foot injury at Ohio State ended his career much too soon. Injuries are a big reason we have struggled so much this year, but that is not his fault. Miller has the size to get a look from some NFL scouts, so hopefully he’ll be healthy enough for scout day before the draft.

#62 Andy Huffman – long snapper - Andy Huffman has been the perfect long snapper. I say that simply because very few people know his name. If we had issues in this area everyone would know his name. Huffman has battled some injuries this year like so many others, leading to others seeing playing time (and struggling) in this spot. Still, he has given us everything we needed here for many years. That makes him very difficult to replace in a position where they only know you if you screw up.

#71 Alex Magee – defensive end – One of Magee’s most memorable plays came from being in the right place at the right time. As we were freezing in the cold and wind at Illinois in 2006, Magee fell on a fumble caused by Anthony Spencer on a sack of Juice Williams. That fumble happened to be in the end zone, so we got to see a big guy spike the ball and everything. That play set up a win that gave us bowl eligibility in a season after we had missed the postseason for the first time under Tiller, so it was a pretty big play. This year Magee has been a big presence on the end we have sorely needed at times. He easily could be playing on Sundays this time next year.

#74 Sean Sester – offensive tackle – Sean is another player that has seen his final year cut short due to injury. Because we were relying on him for much, that has hurt the team as a whole. He has shown versatility in playing both tackle positions. He’ll likely play some against Indiana, and he has a decent chance of being drafted as well. Still, this is not the way he expected to end a long career at Purdue.

#78 Cory Benton – center – Cory is the fourth former walk-on now playing in a starting role during his final season. He has been all over the place, starting on the defensive line before switching sides and being named the starting center this season. I loved the story he had in the season preview this year of hiking the ball to a spot on the wall in practicing his shotgun snaps. He’s been banged up a bit this year, but he has still been a solid contributor and is currently the only healthy remaining offensive line starter.

#80 Jerry Wasikowski – tight end – Jerry has been a blocking tight end for most of his career, but has come on in recent weeks as a pass catcher since Siller has looked to other options. He saw more playing time this year since Kyle Adams got hurt on the season’s opening kickoff, so he has made the most of his opportunity. When has gotten he ball, he has made some big plays. He had a huge 3rd down catch where he lunged for a first down after contact against Michigan this year. It was a big play at the time, as it kept a scoring drive alive.

#83 Joe Whitest – wide receiver – This is another wide receiver that has had a case of the drops, but his first career catch along the sidelines at Illinois in 2006 was a highlight-worthy play. It was one of the best catches I have ever seen a Purdue player make. He hasn’t contributed much this year, but he was named a team captain before a suspension stripped him of that. He missed the Ohio State game because of it, but he’ll have one more chance to make an impact Saturday.

#90 Ryan Baker – defensive tackle – He's last on the numerical list, but he may be the senior who is missed the most because of the way he contributes on and off the field. This is one of the guys that you really have to feel for because of how he invests himself in this team. It physically pains him to lose because he puts 100% effort into every play. He is the epitome of a student athlete, making the Academic All-Big Ten team in each of the past three years. He’s also a contributor off the field through charity work. I love this year’s story of how someone placed a giant #90 jersey on the Boilermaker statue to honor him. He reminds me of Drew Brees in that he makes Purdue look good in every possible light. We were lucky to get him over Notre Dame, as he openly admits to agonizing long and hard over that decision. I am glad he chose us, because he is a treasure. His leadership and tenacity will be missed.

To the group as a whole, I thank you for your time and contributions to Purdue. You have been a large part of this blog from the beginning. You have helped make it into something larger than I could have ever dreamed of. I will be there Saturday when you go out and bring the Bucket home where it belongs.

Week 12 blogpoll ballot

I didn't get back from Miami until 11pm tonight, so there will be no full-fledged Big Ten wrap up. I didn't get to watch a single second of Big Ten football anyway, so it's not big deal. Only Illinois is on the fence in terms of bowl eligibility. Northwestern can eliminate them and possibly get a New Year's Day Bowl if Penn State beats Michigan State and Ohio State gets a second BCS bid.

Event he blogpoll didn't have a ton of change. Seeing Miami's defense in person confirmed my suspicions that this team will be scary good in a year or two. The Canes now control their own destiny for the Orange Bowl, and it would be in their new home stadium. Dolphin Stadium came off surprisingly well as a college football venue, but it is still not the Orange Bowl. There will be mroe changes to the blogpoll next week as rivalry games start and we have a big Texas Tech-Oklahoma game this week.

Absent is Notre Dame obviuously, though if you talk to anyone at ESPN according tot he college football wrap show last night I can begin voting for them any day. We were at the Tavern in Coconut Grove last night during the show. Though the sound was off, the staff of GameDay Extra was discussing how Notre Dame was now bowleligible. The graphic asked the question if they had turned the corner finally. This led to the following diatribe from me. Bear in mind, I was on about my fourth beer of the evening, but Mrs. T-Mill and her best friend though it was hilarious:

"Ladies, please pardon me. I can see on ESPN it is finally time for me to service of myself because Notre Dame is bowl eligible. This is ridculous. They just beat Navy, a team that until last year they had beaten more than 40 years in a row. This is far from a huge win, but you can tell the ESPN guys were just waiting and waiting to say they have turned the corner. They don't even have a good win this year and they nearly blew this one in the end. This is like me checking every day and confirming there isn't blood in my stool, so I should celebrate that I don't have colon cancer."

It was a lot funnier at the time, trust me. Anyway, It's time for the full blog poll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Texas Tech	--
3	Florida	--
4	Texas	--
5	Oklahoma	--
6	Southern Cal	--
7	Penn State	--
8	Utah	--
9	Boise State	--
10	Ohio State	--
11	Missouri	--
12	Oklahoma State	--
13	Georgia	1
14	Ball State	1
15	Brigham Young	--
16	Michigan State	1
17	TCU	1
18	Miami (Florida)	4
19	LSU	--
20	Oregon State	4
21	Cincinnati	4
22	Pittsburgh	4
23	Oregon	3
24	Maryland	2
25	Central Michigan	1

Dropped Out: North Carolina (#16), Tulsa (#20), Florida State (#21), South Carolina (#23).

Iowa 22, Purdue 17, T-Mill 85 degrees...

Today’s weather in Iowa City, according to my phone game tracker, was 37 degrees with a stiff wind and snow flurries. I saw this as I was sitting in brilliant sunshine and 85 degree weather on Miami Beach. In the end I didn’t have the heart to find a place to watch it. I settled for watching the gametracker on the phone and checking out the highlights later online.

It was a much better use of my time.

This loss was like much of our season. We did a few things well, but one major thing led to our defeat. Today we saw glimpses of the Curtis Painter we have needed all along, but the run defense was finally gashed by one of the good backs it faced. A pair of touchdowns were called back due to mental mistakes, and those four points lost on that drive would have been huge in the end if you add a two point conversion. Iowa made some mistakes, but we made bigger ones.
Now the ignominious Bucket game is here. The loser will finish all alone in the basement of the Big Ten. We have to win in order to avoid this fate, but honestly a loss wouldn’t surprise me at this point. It would be the final insult in what has been a dismal season.

Positives from the Iowa game:

Curtis Painter – For what it’s worth at this point, Painter may have won the starting job back if he’s healthy. Siller is obviously the future. It is sad that his numbers were still not that great and he overthrew the end zone on the final play, but we have to think it was one of his better efforts on the season. The present isn’t very bright, but I really hope Painter can have a solid game against the Hoosiers next week. He’s taken a lot of flack this year. Much of it was deserved, but he was still hurt for a good portion of the year too. I’m sure he is as disappointed as anyone. I want him to have a solid final game just so he can end his career on a somewhat positive note. He found the end zone a couple of times with a pair of seniors that also had much-needed good games. He ran the two minute offense well and earned himself more PT in the second half.

Let’s face it, there isn’t a whole lot else to play for this year. If Curtis Painter can give us the best shot against the Hoosiers he should play. If Justin Siller is that player, he should play. We’ll probably see both at least a little, but since we have only one game to play for now I would go with Painter. He deserves a shot at some minor redemption and I think he will get it. The interception as bad at a bad time again, but we’re used to that. Painter moved the offense and produced points for the first time in months. He was far from the reason we lost.

Joe Tiller – Joe sure played like he wanted to win. He channeled his inner Charlie Weis and went for it on fourth down four times, getting all four. I was shocked to see him go for it on 4th and 3 from the eight early on. Even though that was the drive that had a pair of scores called back it was still gutsy. Watching the gametracker allowed little chance to know situations, so I initially thought he was going for it there because of the assumed swirling winds. At least he played for the win. You get the sense that next week will be a kitchen sink game. We have nothing to lose, so throw everything into making it a big party of a win.

Desmond Tardy – It’s another solid day for a guy that some say should have been playing more all along. Desmond Tardy will be missed. He has shown this year that he can be a special player when we get the ball in his hands. Unfortunately, we haven’t done it enough. I will go on record as saying that Desmond will be missed sorely next season. We have some solid guys in Smith and Valentin that look to be the leading receivers for next season, but neither one of them has shown the ability to separate from defenders after the catch like Dez has.

Anthony Heygood – This is another guy that is having a solid year and has a good chance to be our highest drafted player in April. Hey good always seems to be where the ball is and is there for the tackle. The defense got absolutely gashed on the ground today, but Heygood was still good. It is my hope that he is teaching the younger guys how to play by example because we need linebackers desperately next season. That’s even more true since Jason Werner has “A couple of weeks”-ed his way into not playing at all this year.

Negatives from the Iowa game:

Run defense – This is the first time this year we have made a great running back look even better. Last week’s numbers against Ringer were skewed a bit because we generally did a good job of containing him until he broke a big run late. Greene had no such containment. He ran early, ran often, and could have run for more if we had threatened to score more points. I think Frank Duong is still wondering what hit him.

Another clutch Painter interception – As mentioned, it is sad that this was one of Curtis’ better games. The interception came when my phone gametracker decided to stop working. I didn’t see it until the highlights online, but the throw was just retarded. It cost us a chance at three points there, and three there would have meant at least a field goal attempt for the win. I’ve never even played quarterback and I know not to throw into a crowd of people to a not open running back. At least we only have another week of this.

Dumb penalties – They cost us a touchdown twice. Enough said.

Final thoughts:

I didn’t want to say too much because I honestly didn’t watch the game. I have only stats, a two minute highlight package, and the gamtracker to go on. It sounds like this was yet another game we could have won, but we ended up shooting ourselves in the foot again. It is the story of the season and there is no sense in rehashing it. I had a “meh” attitude about this game, and that’s exactly the way it turned out.

We now have to win the Bucket. This season has been awful, but if we lose to an Indiana team that is lucky to have three wins against a crap schedule it will be a stinging insult. We’ve at least been close in a couple of games. The offense has let us down but for the most part the defense has been solid. Indiana has looked awful on both sides of the ball against nearly everyone from Ball State to Minnesota. They can’t run the ball, they can stop the run or the pass, and the passing game has been touch and go. If we cannot beat them in Tiller’s final game (and the final game for one of our best running backs ever) Tiller’s entire legacy will be tarnished.

Some would say it has already been wrecked beyond repair. I say it can be salvaged, but only a little. A lot of what has happened this year has not been totally his fault. He hasn’t forgotten to read other receivers. He hasn’t gotten hurt. He hasn’t quit in the second half of the Notre Dame game. He is not making dumb mistakes that cost us touchdowns like today. It was a perfect storm of suck this year, though ironically we could be a week away from saying we at least beat a ranked team. Should Central Michigan upset Ball State this week they might crack the top 25, making it our best win in four years.

It is terribly sad it has come to that and beating IU for the Bucket for benchmarks in a season. Danny Hope will have to rebuild just as much as Tiller did his first season.

Iowa Preview

What is left to play for? Pride? If we had played for pride we wouldn’t be in this situation. The seniors? It’s hard to play for the seniors when one in particular, be it fairly or unfairly, is a main reason we are in this situation. The future? Because of recent failures in recruiting even the immediate future doesn’t look bright. The bucket game in a week is obviously much more important, so why should we even bother making the trip to Iowa City this week?

On paper this game looks ugly. The defense is due to get gashed by one of the great running backs in the Big Ten after doing a great job on Chris Wells and Javon Ringer. The offense regressed has regressed again. Iowa is coming off an upset of the #3 team in the country. They aren’t ranked, but they may deserve it. We haven’t beaten a ranked team in 19 tries and if you take away the neutral site of the Motor City Bowl we have lost seven straight games away from Ross-Ade stadium dating back to last year’s win at Minnesota. Kinnick Stadium has also been a house of horrors for us with no victory since 1992.

Why then, am I going to go out of my way to find a place near the beach with the Big Ten Network on satellite? Am I a masochist? Am I insane? Possibly, on both accounts. We now face two choices: we can go out and fight to the end for our seniors and our coach who has done more for the university than many give him credit for, or we can roll over and die. Saturday is the first step toward 2009. Let’s make it a good one.

Iowa Offense:

Iowa engineered its upset of Penn State last week with a simple formula Shonn Greene provided a bruising running game that made the hard yards. Ricky Stanzi made few mistakes while directing a clutch game-winning drive. Finally, the Iowa defense held one of the most powerful offenses in the country to field goals instead of touchdowns. Unlike Purdue against Oregon, Iowa’s offense gave their kicker much better position for the game-winning attempt and he was able to bang it home.

The fourth quarter has been Iowa’s all season long. The Hawkeyes have scored 286 points on the season, and 101 have come in the final period. Even in losses to Michigan State, Northwestern, and Pittsburgh the Hawkeyes made a furious comeback that fell just short. In reality, they aren’t hat far from being 10-0 right now, as all four losses were by less than a touchdown. We might be able to get a lead against them if the offense is moving, but this team will make it a fight at the end regardless of the score.

Last week we knew we were facing a great running back in Javon Ringer that responsible for the bulk of the Spartan offense. That will help for this week because Shonn Greene means the same to Iowa. Greene has been over 100 yards in all ten games this season. His total yardage is 1,374 with 13 touchdowns. He isn’t quite the scoring machine that Ringer is, but he is just as dangerous everywhere else. Unlike Ringer, Greene has significant help in the form of former Warren Central running back Jewel Hampton. The freshman certainly likes playing in his home state since the bulk of his 329 yards and five touchdowns came earlier in the season against the Hoosiers.

At quarterback Stanzi hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t put up playstation numbers either. With a completion percentage just above 59% he is efficient, but he has only thrown for 1,482 yards and 10 touchdowns against seven interceptions. Former starter Jake Christensen has a pair of starts on the year while appearing in four more games. He has added another 390 yards and two touchdowns to the passing game. We will see Stanzi start. He is more of a threat to run than Brian Hoyer last week, but not by much. Iowa clearly relies on its passing game to compliment Greene.

Iowa doesn’t necessarily have a go-to receiver the likes of Minnesota’s Eric Decker, but Stanzi does have three reliable options to throw to. Derrell Johnson-Koilianos (33-414-2), Andy Brodell (28-460-4), and Brandon Myers (26-346-3) all have very similar numbers. This makes Iowa’s passing game even more dangerous because we don’t have just one guy to shut down. They aren’t as bad as Penn state’s very good trio, but they are still pretty good. If they are getting their normal work it will open up the field even more for Greene to run.

One area where we can make a difference is by creating pressure on Stanzi when he does throw. The Iowa offensive line isn’t the brick wall of protection it has been in the past. Teams have gotten to the Iowa quarterback for 23 sacks. In addition to nine interceptions the Hawkeyes have lost 10 fumbles on the year. They have been somewhat generous with the ball, but that means nothing unless we can do something with it. Michigan State handed us four turnovers last week and we did nothing with any of them save the final interception. Even then it took 9 minutes to score.

Iowa Defense:

Two years ago the Iowa defensive line had its way with us in our last visit to Iowa City. With the outside chance of a New Year’s Day Bowl on the line I expect the same to happen again. Iowa gives up little more than 100 yards per game on the ground. The defense as a whole is pretty good, having only given up 13 touchdowns on the year. Penn State found this out the hard way last week when it had to settle for three field goals on some pretty deep penetrations into Hawkeye territory.

The pass defense is especially good, having spread 17 interceptions around to nine different players. Part of these numbers may be slanted some by opening season blowouts against Maine and Florida International, but the numbers haven’t exactly skewed dramatically by playing better competition. Iowa’s defense as a whole has kept it in many games waiting for that fourth quarter offense to show up, as was the case Saturday night in the Penn State upset. This is not a good sign for our own struggling offense.

Pan Angerer has put up solid all-around numbers in leading this defense. He leads the team in tackles (83) and interceptions (4) as the next great Iowa linebacker. I don’t know if he is necessarily channeling Chad Greenway, but the dude is still pretty good. Ten players on the Iowa defense have notched 40 or more tackles. In addition to the widespread interception bug, nine players have notched at least one quarterback sack. This defense seems to swarm by committee. It’s job is to keep teams form scoring points, and they do it very well. Statistically they are one of the better defenses in the Big Ten. Very few teams have scored at will against them.

Mitch King loves to cause disruptions in the backfield as the team’s leader in sacks with three and tackles for loss with 11.5. Amari Spivey has also done a little bit of everything with 52 tackles, a sack, and three interceptions. Bradley Fletcher, Spivey mate in the defensive backfield, is very effective against the pass with 18 pass break ups and two interceptions. This backfield will be very hard to throw against and Siller will be facing pressure. It will be a good test in his learning process, but it could also be a painful one.

Essentially, this defense is pretty good against the run, but somewhat weaker against the pass. This is not good since we have only been able to move the ball on the ground lately and our passing game has been awful except against Michigan. I am having trouble seeing how we can consistently move the ball, especially after the high number of dropped passes a week ago. Five over the course of a game is not bad, but they are especially dangerous when they happen on key plays when the game is still close.

Iowa Special Teams:

The Hawkeyes are a bit odd in that they like to employ a dual kicker attack. Freshman Trent Mossbrucker from nearby Mooresville has performed most of the duties admirably. He’s 13 of 15 on the season with a long of 39 yards. He has also handled most of the PAT’s in going 24 for 24 in that area. Daniel Murray isn’t used as much, but he is 9 for 9 on PAT’s and 2 for 4 on field goals. One of those two made field goals was last week’s 31 yard game winner. Murray has also attempted both attempts beyond 40 yards that Iowa has tried.

Ryan Donahue handles the punting duties at a 41.6 yard per kick average. Opponents are only averaging 5.5 yards per return against him, so we can forget about a long return here. We must guard against a long return though, as Andy Brodell is one of the conference’s more dangerous punt returners. He averages nearly 11 yards per return and already has an 81 yard scoring run in the return game. It remains frustrating how we continue to get nothing from our own punt return game, yet give up returns with ease.

Jewel Hampton handles most of the kickoff return duties, but if we don’t score much we won’t be kicking off anyway. He and Johnson-Koulianos average more than 20 yards per return.

Final Thoughts:

This game boils down to how we approach it. If we come in merely wanting to end the season as quickly as possible we are going to get annihilated by a very motivated Iowa team. If we come in wanting to build momentum for the future we may have a small chance at getting a pretty good win. It won’t mean anything this year, but in the long run the program can be helped by going on the road and knocking off a good team. The last good road win we had was probably Penn State in 2004, and even that Nittany Lion team finished with a losing record.

Many of the keys from last week’s win remain the same. We have to at least contain Greene and force Stanzi to throw. We also must get something going on offense early. We can’t afford to fall behind, but Iowa’s defense on paper looks to be much tougher. Our offensive line must turn in a better performance and give Siller time to throw or time to scramble. He had neither last week.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much confidence that the offense will be able to do anything against a good defense. Even I am not too excited about this game. Mentally, I have already moved on to basketball season and I am merely waiting to get the Bucket back next week before putting the ugly 2008 season away. I’ave actually thought more this week about what kind of Tribute I will write next week for the seniors and coach Tiller. I think this team may be focused on the Bucket game right now as well, which isn’t a bad thing. It is far, far more important for us to beat the Hoosiers than to grab what is a meaningless win over the Hawkeyes. This game is critical for the development of players like Justin Siller, Chris Carlino, Ken Plue, and other freshman who have played important minutes for us this year. They will be the ones playing in future bowl games. They still have a lot to learn, but they can learn in a hurry this week. Iowa 27, Purdue 10

Other Big Ten picks:

In lieu of a full Big Ten preview this week I'll just do some quick picks on the other four games. Most of them aren't that exciting as we wait for the big Michigan State-Penn State game.
The Spartans are off this week, so they have planty of time to prepare. Penn State is just virtually off this week.

Penn State 45, Indiana 7 - Welcome to a no way in hell game. Of course, I'm just a blogger, not a real journalist. What do I know?

Michigan 24, Northwestern 23 - That looked like a mojo-turning game int he dome last week.

Wisconsin 17, Minnesota 13 - Minnesota's offense is awful right now. The only wint hey have int he last three weeks was because our offense is worse.

Ohio State 23, Illinois 7 - Ohio State had "the look" last week. Where was it against USC and Penn State?

Detroit and Eastern Michigan: First Look

I was originally going to publish the Iowa preview tonight, but basketball is much more exciting at the moment. That will have to wait until before going to the Miami-Virginia Tech game tomorrow night. Live from the Detroit Airport, Off the Tracks would like to officially welcome new Boilermakers D.J. Byrd, Jeff Robinson, Kelsey Barlow, and Patrick Bade. My name is T-Mill and I will be writing about the National Championship you're going to help bring to West Lafayette.

Boilerdowd already beat me to the punch today, but Purdue's incoming class for the 2009-10 season officially signed their letters of intent yesterday. Robinson and Bade appear ready to help JuJuan Johnson be a beast in the paint, while Barlow is the type of versatile do-everything player that reminds me of Marcus Green. Those three should fill in quite nicely when Green, Chris Reid, and Nemanja Calasan depart after this season. Byrd is the only player I have seen in person, but even the two games I saw him as a freshman and sophomore impressed me with his poise and ability to get to the basket. He is a hard-nosed guy that will fit in very well with our current core group. This group as a whole looks as if it will mesh well, and with what we have coming after them we can begin to dream big.

They are still year away though, and there is plenty to get excited about right now. With the regular season tipping off Friday night in Mackey Arena and the football season winding down it is time to being the transition from football to basketball. Can you blame me? The basketball team is ranked in the top 10 and the football team is in the middle of its worst season since Jim Colletto was here. It's amazing I didn't do this weeks ago. Life has tempered my excitement a bit because I have been so busy, but my favorite time of year is still now with basketball season tipping off for Purdue and my beloved Kokomo Wildkats. Game 1 is Friday night with the Detroit Mercy Titans coming to town, so I'll be taking a brief look at them. I'll also be taking a look at our second game of the year, which is the NIT Preseason Tip-Off opener Monday night.

Detroit Mercy Titans

The Titans are everything you want in the opener. It is a game that might provide a brief test, but in the end it shouldn't even be close. On paper, Detroit looks like a big slowpitch softball served up perfectly we should just crush. They were 7-23 last year with a 3-21 finishing kick, good for a dead last finish in the Horizon League. It is hard to see how they will be able to immediately compete with one of the best teams in the country. Should they compete, this game will only serve to set off numerous alarms. Wofford was a similar type of team a year ago that shocked us on Keady Court, but the Terriers were a much better foe than the Titans appear to be.

Among Detroit's seven wins a season ago was a non-Division 1 win over Rochester College. Only three wins came in conference play against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Illinois-Chicago, and Loyola-Chicago. All of these were home games, but at least two were against Big Ten little brothers. Detroit won just one time all season away from home. On November 28^th they traveled to Ypsilanti and topped Eastern Michigan 72-68 to cap a 4-2 start. They then lost 21 of their final 24 games. The best win of the year came in the season opener when they topped Kent State 61-60. The Golden Flashes went on to win the MAC and have a pretty good season finishing in the NCAA Tournament with a loss to UNLV and 28-7 record.

Ray McCallum may be familiar to some Boilermaker fans as the former head coach of Ball State. He is now in his first year of a massive rebuilding project at Detroit. Detroit is far from the salad days of a decade ago when they made the NCAA tournament as an at large team before losing to the Boilermakers in round 2 80-65. This year's edition of the Titans graduated last year's leading scorer, but the next top four in scoring return. Their lineup presents some very interesting challenges that could provide a good opening test of our improved rebounding skills.

Another familiar face that we won't see on the floor is former IU player Eli Holman. Holman transferred to Detroit in the aftermath of the Samson scandal. We won't see him because of transfer rules, but that is probably a good thing. Holman represents all that is wrong with the game of basketball. He is an insult to the game by quitting on his team last year. You could see at the end of the season he had one of the worst attitudes on the court for the Hoosiers. I don't like Indiana, but their tradition and history deserved better than this guy. He was getting a free education to play the game, and he pissed and moaned because things didn't go his way instead of toughing it out and playing the game. This makes him a disgrace to the game. If I had my way, he would never be allowed on the court again due to his poor attitude.

McCallum appears to still be working on a definite rotation as everyone on the roster played at least 8 minutes in the exhibition opener against Tiffin. 6'9" forward Chris Hayes' led them in that game with 20 points and 11 rebounds. He is the leading returning scorer at almost 11 points per game. 10 of those points came from the free throw line, so Hayes clearly knows how to handle some contact down low. Junior guard Eulis Stephens had 18 points in the exhibition, while junior forward Thomas Kennedy had 18 points off the bench.

Detroit got to the free throw line quite a bit against Tiffin, hitting 32 of 41 free throw attempts as a team. Often that is how lesser teams find a way to compete against better ones. This allows them to slow down the tempo and not allow the more talented team to assert its will or get in any kind of a flow. With 39 rebounds we should also have a good test to see if this area of our game has improved any. Detroit has a surprising amount of size for a lower division Horizon League team. The Titans feature seven players at 6'7" or taller all the way up to reserve center Jason Bennett at 7'3". Bennett, a junior from Jacksonville, FL only had a point and three rebounds against Alma, so something tells me he won't be particularly effective in this large step up in competition.

Stephens and Hayes were listed as starters against Alma, while 6'7" junior forward Xavier Keeling, 6'8" senior center Michael Harrington, and 5'10" junior guard Woody Payne were the other starters. Keeling added 12 points in that game, but Payne and Harrington only had three points each.

Just about my only concern coming into this game is Detroit's size advantage in the post. We will be starting our usual three guard lineup with Robbie Hummel operating more as a point forward than a power forward. JuJuan may struggle some in the post having to deal with three true post players at times, but the overall talent differential of our guards should make a big difference. Keeling and Kennedy are both junior college transfers, so their first game at the Division 1 level will come against one of the best Division 1 teams in the land. Welcome to the game, kids.

Detroit shot just 50% in the exhibition against Tiffin. They must shoot much better to have any chance against Purdue. They are capable of making a scare of this game with their size. They threw a scare into Butler last season when the Bulldogs were ranked 10th, but that game was in Detroit. In the return game Butler won by 34 points and wasn't even trying after locking up the Horizon League championship. In Mackey Arena I expect more of the same. Purdue 71, Detroit 48

Eastern Michigan Eagles

Our second opponent of the season actually met Detroit last season on November 28^th and gave the Titans their only road victory of the year. Eastern Michigan had a much better record than 7-23, but still finished just 14-17 with a second round loss in the MAC tournament. The Eagles are actually picked to improve to a second place finish in the MAC West this year. Since the MAC is normally a pretty competitive conference that never seems to get at large bids to the tournament they could be dangerous. Eastern Michigan will be looking toward this game and a potential second round game with Georgia as a chance to grab a couple of good wins in order to improve a potential at large NCAA profile.

Still, with 17 losses a season ago there were bound to be a few stinkers. Eastern lost by 19 points to Brown at home as one of them. Detroit, Oakland, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and a miserable Ball State team were losses to teams that would likely be 15 seeds at best if they made the NCAA's. For Eastern Michigan to have dramatic improvement they must turn games like that into wins. They have not had a winning season since 2000, but they did finish at .500 in MAC play.

One player that is expected to make a difference is 6'6" forward Brandon Bowdry. Bowdry sat out last season with a broken foot, but was named to the MAC's All-freshman team in 2007. Unfortunately, Ypsilanti, Michigan is to broken feet in basketball players as Eugene, Oregon is to ACL's in football players. Senior point guard Carlos Medlock, who was the leading scorer last season at 14.8 points per game, will miss this season with a broken foot as well. He already missed the 2006-07 season with the same injury.

Bowdry was impressive in Eastern's first preseason game with a 10 point, nine rebound effort off the bench. Center Kyle Dodd and guard Solomon Farris added 12 points apiece while Justin Dobbins tossed in 14 off the bench. Eastern Michigan does not shoot the 3-pointer very effectively, hitting 3 of 16 attempts in that game. They also did not get to the free throw line nearly as much as Detroit did.

It remains to be seen, but most likely the loss of Medlock will severely hamper this team. They were counting on him to be a big part of their offense both in scoring and with his distribution skills. Now that he is gone, Eastern Michigan just does not have the depth that other teams might have to replace him. The Eagles hit 33 of 67 shots from the field in its exhibition opener, so they don't exactly fill it up. Still, they can create second chance points as they had 20 offensive rebounds in that contest.

Only so much can be taken from an exhibition contest against a lower division opponent. As was the case with Detroit, Eastern Michigan was expected to win and did by a large margin. The bottom line is that this was a sub .500 team from a year ago that had numerous bad losses. They got back a promising player, but lost another one before the season even started. As the No. 1 overall seed in this tournament we're expected to roll over our first round opponent. That is exactly what I expect when we face the Eagles Monday night. Purdue 67, Eastern Michigan 50

Maize N' Blue Big Ten bloggers' roundtable

(Hey guys...before getting into the roundtable, it’s time for a desperate plea. The buyer that I had lined up for my basketball tickets to the next couple of games fell through, so I am needing to unload the next three games as quickly as possible. I’m also leaving for Miami tomorrow night, so the Detroit tickets are especially up against it. If anyone is interested in my seats for the Detroit game Friday night, or both NIT sessions next week, please feel free to contact me. Face value on the pair for each game is $40, but I am willing to entertain offers, especially on the Detroit game. If you want those tickets I will get them in the mail tomorrow before I leave and send them priority so they’ll arrive on Friday. As far as the NIT games, I’ll take the tickets with me to Miami. I’ll have e-mail access, so I can mail them priority from there to make sure you get them within two days. The seats are upper level, but at mid court so they are pretty good seats. Just drop me an e-mail at tamiller@excite.com and we’ll work something out tonight. Thank you!)


It's been a couple of weeks, but Maize N' Blue Nation steps up with this week's Big Ten bloggers' roundtable. Yours truly will be hosting in two weeks after the regular season ends, but for now it is time to hand it over to someone else.

1) With two weeks left in the season, it's safe to say that most
schools have reached the point where the year has been a success or a disappointment. How has your school fared this year in your opinion?
Or, is the jury still out?

The jury has convened and we have been found wanting. This season is an unmitigated failure. It is not as bad as 2005 when we began the season as a dark horse national title contender and finished 5-6, but it is still bad. When the season began I said that anything between 4 and 10 wins would not surprise me. Still, to be on the low end, especially since our defense has been better than expected, is disappointing.

2) Is your school heading to a bowl? If so, which one? And if not,
WTF?

The Bucket game is our bowl game again. People are saying Tiller has left the program exactly how he found it, and it is nearly true. We’re facing Indiana for the honor not to finish dead last in the conference now. The defense, though the numbers don’t show it, has actually played pretty well. It has kept us in games against Minnesota, Michigan State, Penn State, and Ohio State. Unfortunately, those were the four games our offense had just about the four worst games of the Tiller Era. In them, we scored 6, 7, 6, and 3 points respectively. For years we’ve had issues with ranked teams. In those four games all four opponents were ranked. We held all four to 21 points or fewer. A normal Purdue offense can score 21 points without trying. Instead, the offense was awful when we merely needed it to be average.

3) The Big Ten has recently had a hard time getting respect among the
national media as a top conference. Has the Big Ten taken a step
forward or a step backward in this debate this season?

I actually wrote about this today for a future entry, so I might as well place it here. Be wary, as it is is long winded, but appropriate. I mentioned several times in last week’s wrap up how the conference is top-heavy with three great teams and eight mediocre to bad ones. The jury is even still out a bit as to where Michigan State fits in there, as they are in the good group despite not having a great win on their schedule and going 0-2 against the good teams they have played. Last year 10 teams were bowl eligible, yet this season there may be no more than seven. The reason: The Big Ten played much tougher non-conference schedules and failed miserably in many of the bigger tests. Here is a list of the conference’s best non-conference wins:

Penn State over Oregon State
Michigan State over Notre Dame
Purdue over Central Michigan.
Wisconsin over Fresno State (only included because it was at Fresno State and the Bulldogs were ranked at the time)

That’s it. Assuming a Wisconsin win over Cal Poly in two weeks, the Big Ten will finish 32-12 against its non-conference foes. On paper that is pretty good. In reality, 29 over those wins were over teams in games that the Big Ten team probably should have won regardless. Nine of the wins came against 1-AA opponents, so at least the conference was perfect there unlike the past few seasons. 10 more came at the expense of the MAC. All told, the Big Ten won just six games against BCS conference teams:

Penn State over Oregon State
Northwestern over Duke
Northwestern over Syracuse
Penn state over Syracuse
Michigan State over Notre Dame
Iowa over Iowa State

Syracuse and Iowa State are awful, so we can probably throw those out right now. Duke is better, but still Duke.

Let’s look at the twelve losses now:

Central Michigan over Indiana
Toledo over Michigan
Western Michigan over Illinois
Ball State over Indiana

We can already see the MAC struck back. The 10 wins were essentially against the worst conference has to offer, while the Big Ten was 1-3 against the best three teams (Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State). Sure these came over some of the Big Ten’s worst, but it is still a black eye. Here are the other eight losses:

Oregon over Purdue (2OT)
Cal over Michigan State
USC over Ohio State
Notre Dame over Purdue
Utah over Michigan
Notre Dame over Michigan
Missouri over Illinois
Pittsburgh over Iowa

Notice anything there? If you take away Notre Dame, every single one of those teams have spent multiple weeks in this year’s top 25. Both Notre Dame wins also came in South Bend, where except for last season and against Michigan State or Boston College, the Irish normally defend their home turf very well. These were eight very nice chances for the conference to shed its reputation, and the conference whiffed in all eight. Utah is the only non-BCS foe, but considering they may be a couple wins from their second BCS berth we can’t truly consider them non-BCS now. None of these games carried the non-conference opponent as an overwhelming favorite either, therefore each one could have been a win.

If not for Oregon State cracking the top 25 this week, the Big Ten would have just a single win over a team outside of the conference that has been ranked at anytime this year, and that is Wisconsin’s win over a currently staggering Fresno State. Of the four teams that went through the non-conference schedule a perfect 4-0, three (Northwestern, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) will be relaying on that 4-0 mark heavily in order to get to a bowl. All but the Wisconsin win over Fresno and Penn State win over Oregon State were games the Big Ten should have won anyway, so its not like these are shining beacons of playing a tough out of conference schedule.

Why am I writing this? I don’t know. I am just a sucker statistical analysis I guess. I know as a Big Ten supporter I am obligated to fight against the whole perception hat the conference is down. The proof is right here though the numbers do not lie. We have failed as a whole in nearly every single game that mattered this year outside of our own bailiwick, and that perception will exist until we find some success there.

4) Would the Big Ten benefit from adding another school to create two
divisions like the SEC, Big 12, ACC and MAC? And if so, which school
should be added? Or, should we drop one school?

I think at the very least we need to do something. We don’t have a true round robin, but we don’t have enough for a conference championship game. But who would we add? The obvious answer is Notre Dame, but they honestly have no reason to join when they can string together nine win season and cash $14 million checks for getting lit up every few years. That leaves us to raid another conference. I have heard Pittsburgh thrown around as a possibility, especially as a more natural rival to Penn State. They’re also decent in football and an up and coming basketball power. If the conference is going to do something we should do that.

5) Do you agree with President-elect Obama that college football
should have an 8 school post-season playoff?

I say take it one step further and go for 16. We can find 16 good teams, plus it would give every conference a shot. Sure, you’ll have the #1 team blowing out the Sun Belt champion in round one, but what makes the NCAA basketball tournament so compelling is the potential for upsets.

6) Who is your favorite network television play-by-play announcer/
color commentator/sideline reporter?

Brent Musberger, for one reason and one reason only…

Week 11 Big Ten wrap

I am still coming to grips with the fact that my college football season will be over in 13 days. Hopefully it will be over with the Old Oaken Bucket back safely in the Mollenkopf where it belongs. The seniors deserve it and Tiller deserves it. With Iowa beating Penn State in an upset I was hoping to see the Hawkeyes at #25 this week in order to have a bonus chance at a ranked team, but we won’t be so lucky. I’d like a win in Iowa City to save a little face, but the more important game is the Bucket game now. We must take it back by force to end this poor season on a positive note. It will be a very long winter indeed if we have to leave the Bucket in Bloomington for another year.

With Indiana and Purdue now both ineligible for the postseason The Big Ten is in danger of not fulfilling its bowl obligations should it get a second team into the BCS. Illinois is in danger of joining Michigan, Purdue, and Indiana now as well. Though I’ll soon be switching over to full basketball mode, there is still some football left to be played.

11. Indiana (3-7, 1-5) Result: Wisconsin 55, Indiana 20 – I almost feel sorry for Indiana. Penn State is going to vent next week and the Hoosiers will be the victims of that venting. That will set up an epic bucket game where the loser is guaranteed of finishing dead last in the conference. This is a far departure from last year, which was the second time that both teams went bowling int eh same year. It should be noted that Indiana “Defended the Rock” against the easiest home schedule in the country to the tune of 3-5. Ironically, one of the wins came against the only ranked team the Hoosiers faced at home (Northwestern), though Michigan State, Ball State, and Wisconsin were ranked at one time.

10. Purdue (3-7, 1-5) Result: Michigan State 21, Purdue 7 – The Enlightened Spartan was pretty dead on in Purdue just being a bad football team. Still, we were a bad football team that was once again about 2-3 plays away from making it very interesting against a good one. Those plays were a terrible pick six, a long pass that set up a TD, and a shanked punt that set up another TD. The first two Michigan State scores came from our mistakes, so this game was really much closer than it looked. This game was a lot like the games against Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, and Oregon in that we were agonizingly close. The obvious question is how can we make those necessary plays next year to change things around?

9. Michigan (3-7, 2-4) Result: Michigan 29, Minnesota 6 – Week one of Michigan being the team that gets to piddle on everyone’s parade was a rousing success. Michigan State fans were already grousing about the possibility of having to cheer for Michigan in two weeks because it would help the Spartans get to Pasadena. Northwestern is a winnable game in the home finale if the Wolverines can keep play well, and you know they would be motivated to stick it to Ohio State and cost the Buckeyes a craplaod of money by knocking them from an at large BCS berth.

8. Illinois (5-5, 3-3) Result: Western Michigan 23, Illinois 17 – The MAC gets its fourth pelt from the Big Ten this year, and this one may be the most savored as it came against one of the preseason favorites. We can now officially end the “Ron Zook is the savior of Illinois football” talk. Ohio State proved yesterday it has “the look” of being the most feared team on the road in conference play, so I definitely like the Buckeyes this week. Juice Williams does possibly the least with the most passing game in the Big Ten, and people are figuring him out.

7. Minnesota (7-3, 3-3) Result: Michigan 29, Minnesota 6 – I would love to have another chance at Minnesota now that Siller has had a couple of weeks to be more familiar with the offense. The Gophers are quickly a sinking ship and both Wisconsin and Iowa are gaining enough confidence to beat them the next two weeks. If Purdue had any kind of an offense, and maybe even if Painter doesn’t get hurt, would have the Gophers on a three game losing streak right now.

6. Northwestern (7-3, 3-3) Result: Ohio State 45, Northwestern 10 – Mrs. T-Mill and I were discussing on the drive home last night how the Big Ten is a really bad league this year outside of the top three. The top three of Penn State, Ohio State, and Michigan State have exactly one loss to the rest of the conference, and that is Iowa’s last second win last night. Northwestern here is just the prime example of the rest of the conference. They are a team that bulked up in the non-conference schedule and shook out a couple of wins over a crappy rest of the league. I believe you could restart the season right now and the bottom eight would shake out in a different order simply because a couple of things would go differently in those “bad team” games.

Purdue absolutely could beat Minnesota or Northwestern if given another chance. Michigan could beat Purdue or Illinois. Illinois could beat Wisconsin or Minnesota. Minnesota could beat Northwestern or Michigan. Only Indiana, who has gotten blown out in several of these games is probably the worst of the bunch. Purdue is only suffering the most because it played one of the most difficult non-conference schedules of this bunch. It is no coincidence that of this bottom group of eight, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, and Indiana did the worst out of conference. They are the four teams that actually played teams with a pulse.

5. Wisconsin (5-5, 2-5) Result: Wisconsin 55, Indiana 20 – The Badgers are another bad team with a good record. They will get bowl eligible with a win over Cal Poly in two weeks, but there should be some kind of special bowl for a team that was in the top 10 at one point, but only finishes 2-6 in the conference and gets to bowl eligibility by beating up on a 1-AA team on senior day. Even Wisconsin’s best wins of Illinois and Fresno State are not that great.

4. Iowa (6-4, 3-3) Result: Iowa 24, Penn State 23 – Iowa staked its claim to being the best of the bottom eight with its win last night. The Hawkeyes were very impressive and showed a lot of poise in topping a team that many were already putting in the BCS title game. They did what good teams do, and that is make the Nittany Lions pay for their mistakes. Purdue did not do that at Michigan State yesterday, and that is why we lost. Now wins over two more bottom eight teams may put them in another New Year’s Day Bowl. Like many in the bottom eight, they lost their only tough non-conference test to Pittsburgh.

3. Michigan State (9-2, 6-1) Result: Michigan State 21, Purdue 7 – Here is what I saw yesterday. I saw a Michigan State team that may be a little too sure of itself. It is 9-0 against the bottom eight and its weaker non-conference opponents. What is the best win? Notre Dame? Northwestern? Iowa? Those teams are good, but not exactly top 25 caliber. The Spartans are 0-2 against the really good teams it has played and failed miserably in its one chance against the other top dogs in the conference. A team as good as many of its fans thought they were yesterday wouldn’t have struggled so much against a really bad Purdue team. The Boilers did make them work yesterday. We just shot ourselves in the foot like we have too much this year. Michigan State will impress me if they win in Happy Valley two weeks from now. Until then, they are a very good, but not great team. They simply haven’t stumbled against bad teams like the rest of the league.

2. Ohio State (8-2, 5-1) Result: Ohio State 45, Northwestern 10 – Ohio State, on the other hand, did what a great team is supposed to do when facing an inferior one. They invaded Evanston, took over the stadium, and spanked the Wildcats like it was the 70’s all over again. Illinois will be up for this week’s game, but I fully expect the same to happen. When this team is on they are among the best in the country. They weren’t on at USC and just made one costly mistake against a great Penn State team.

1. Penn State (9-1, 5-1) Result: Iowa 24, Penn State 23 – The obvious comparison is that is like 2005. Penn State blinked and though they are the best team in the Big Ten still, it will cost them a shot at the national title with one last second loss. They could still back into the title game like Ohio State last year, but as we’ll see in the blogpoll ballot below they are now in the back of the line of 1 loss teams. All hell would need to break lose, including a scenario where UTah sneaks into that title game as well. Still, how is this loss different from USC's at Oregon State.

Blogpoll ballot:

Nationally we are officially on the tightrope. The national championship game is officially settled until Texas Tech or Alabama loses. Texas Tech keeps winning playoff games, and now faces one more in two weeks against Oklahoma. Then Missouri in the Big 12 title game won’t be easy. The Alabama-Florida SEC title game may actually be an official national semifinal, but rivalry games against tough opponents the week before that game could spoil it.

The rest of the poll is widely open to interpretation at this point. Feel free to comment in the comments

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	1
2	Texas Tech	1
3	Florida	1
4	Texas	1
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Penn State	6
8	Utah	2
9	Boise State	--
10	Ohio State	1
11	Missouri	2
12	Oklahoma State	4
13	Ball State	1
14	Georgia	1
15	Brigham Young	2
16	North Carolina	2
17	Michigan State	2
18	TCU	6
19	LSU	3
20	Tulsa	--
21	Florida State	5
22	Miami (Florida)	1
23	South Carolina	3
24	Oregon State	2
25	Cincinnati	1

Dropped Out: Maryland (#21), California (#22), Georgia Tech (#24), Northwestern (#25).

Roadtrippin’ to East Lansing

I wanted to try something new with this game. While sitting at work on Friday afternoon I had an idea to journal the trip north to East Lansing. Being a veteran of seeing the Boilers on the road, I wanted to document some of the lighter moments of the weekend. Usually I don't end up staying long in the opposing town, but I wanted to put down some of my highlights for this trip. What follows is T-Mill's trip to East Lansing, complete with pictures as appropriate. I even took a notebook and pen into the stadium like a real journalist, only to freeze my hand because I write like an epileptic 12 year old when wearing gloves. We begin by reppin' the West-side, appealing to my west side of Kokomo roots in this West (Lafayette) vs. East (Lansing).

Friday 5:39pm, Downtown Indianapolis – The weather calls for cold and rainy weather this weekend, so I feel like a sherpa carrying down bags, coats, and blankets from the apartment. It's funny, but tomorrow I'll freeze my ass off, then probably sweat Thursday night at the game in Miami. It reminds me of the duality of the 2006 bucket game followed by Hawaii trip. Of course, Hurricane Paloma could have other plans in store for next week.

6:17pm, Fishers, IN – Traffic at the forever backed up I-69-465 junction on the northeast side of Indy causes delays, especially with an accident. Dinner at Moe's Southwest Grill in Fishers quickly erases any enmity from the traffic. Only "the orbiter" as named by my wife causes problems. We had one of those women in front of us that studied the menu like it was the SAT and she constantly had to walk back and forth behind us as her quesadilla was made. After three orbits it was nearly time to stab her with our chips.

6:53pm, outside Muncie, IN – The first funny billboard seen from a distance. This is for Sam Pierce Chevy in Muncie, which with the Chevy logo over the A making it look like S&M Chevy. My comment, "It doesn't just feel like you're getting f***ed in the ass, you really are when you buy a car here!"

7:58pm, rest area outside Ft. Wayne, IN – A restroom break is needed just before Ft. Wayne. Conversation includes that I would like to think if there was ever going to be a three-way between my wife and her best friend I would at least in the pole position to be the guy. It's not that I'm interested, or that it is likely to happen. I just like resting in the knowledge I'd be that #1 draft pick in the highly unlikely event it happened. At least I've been "Loud girled" as they call it. It's not as dirty as it sounds, but it is still good.

8:36pm, north of Ft. Wayne – We pass The Special on the highway, giving them a honk as they ring the bell after seeing the Purdue tire cover on our Jeep. The first Boiler up moment of the weekend!

9:06pm, Angola, IN – A stop at Speedway for gas means falling to the temptation of the Pumpkin Spice Cappucino. We are slightly delayed as the machine is so gunked up the clerk has to clean the nozzle, comment on how gross it is the whole time. "I'm trying not to think of how gross it is, but it tastes good," said Mrs. T-Mill.

9:13pm, Michigan State line – Mrs. T-Mill takes a picture of the Welcome to Michigan sign… 100 yards after we pass it. Camera FAIL.

9:24pm, near Coldwater, MI – What is it with these Lion's Den Adult Bookstores? Do they really do that good of business in the middle of nowhere along highways? Shouldn't people be concentrating on driving instead of pornography? Perhaps my standards are too high.

10:35pm, Lansing, MI – Arrival at our hotel, the Best Western on the west side of Lansing. It's a nice place, and even boasts of a Salsa Night tonight at Roxy's on the property!

10:51pm, Lansing, MI – Roxy's is not all it is cracked up to be. The Salsa is mild at best instead of picante. I don't even have swim trunks for the indoor pool and hot tub (strike two!) The debate ranges internally if it worth heading to a campus bar now or if we should hit one up tomorrow either before or after the game. Fatigue from the week gives way as the comfy king-sized bed makes me doze before I even get my shoes off.

11:55pm, Lansing, MI – Just before shutting down the laptop I get an e-mail asking if I want to write a season preview on the Boilers for the upcoming basketball season for AOL FanHouse. A chance to talk about basketball, a game I have loved since before I can remember anything, with the masses of the nation? HELL YES!!! It's a good weekend already! That is the fulfillment of a dream and a step along the greater journey.

8:10am Saturday, Lansing, MI – Thanks to the folks at Best Western we were presented with an 8 hour Audioslave concert (a.k.a. the mattress was Like a Stone).

9:00am, Lansing, MI – Woohoo for reruns of Full House on ABC Family Saturday mornings!

9:07am, Lansing, MI – Fortified with coffee and a continental breakfast that came from one of the heartier continents, it's time to shower and prep for the game. Our route today will take us through downtown Lansing and down Grand River Road as we search for parking. The coldest shower in the history of hotels before venturing out into slightly above freezing weather did not help. At least the hotel is still nicer than the infamous Villa Harding from our last visit to Miami. This one has locks on the door.

10:52am, Lansing, MI – A lunch stop of Subway brings about a humorous moment. The kid making our sandwich sees our Purdue gear and is like, "I'm going to go for Purdue today. It makes Michigan look that much worse if you beat MSU since MSU beat Michigan." I'll take the fans where I can get them

11:19am, East Lansing, MI – The Enlightened Spartan's gameday guide comes through! We find free parking north of Grand River Rd. in the neighborhood and it is a short walk to the stadium. Huzzah!

11:31am, Spartan Stadium - I love seeing the Special in different venues. Seeing it in Pasadena nearly reduced me to tears. Today, not so much, though I had to rep the U here too.

11:51am, Spartan Stadium – We get to the gate only to discover that the Nazi-esque guards will not let Mrs. T-Mill in carrying a purse. A five minute walk to another gate finds a more friendly Gestapo-type guard that merely searches the bag. "Even Yankee Stadium wasn't this bad," mutters Mrs. T-Mill. She even left her missile-like objects back home in Indy!

12:02pm, Spartan Stadium Section 122 – I get to my seats just in time for kickoff. Due to the height, steep angle, cold, and wind I need that sherpa again and some oxygen, but I made kickoff. (All notes now made in game time)

14:04 1^st Quarter – Summers' shanks the first punt. D'OH! This is not the best way to start. A dropped pass sets up the punt.

9:53 1^st Quarter – Javon Ringer takes advantage of the short field and bulls in on 4^th and goal inside the one. I begin to wonder why I drove 250 miles to sit in the cold and watch this.

7:45 1^st Quarter – Two more dropped passes lead to another punt. I check to see if I have eligibility remaining and see if I can catch the football. At least Siller keeps a drive going with a nifty first down run.

3:05 1^st Quarter – Nick Mondek recovers a fumbled pitch (not Ringer's finest hour). The guys in front of us that kept saying Rose Bowl after every good MSU play change their tune to "Motor City Bowl". They then alternate this between good and bad plays. Is this a momentum builder?

1:46 1^st Quarter – No, it is not a momentum builder. Once again there is no hole as Sheets is stuffed on 4^th and short.

13:50 2^nd Quarter – The slant was there for a first down on the last play of the first quarter as it always is for opposing teams on third and long, but the defense actually isn't playing that badly. We just got a stop on 4th down.

11:00 2^nd Quarter – TORRI WILLIAMS PICK!!!

6:39 2^nd Quarter – It leads to nothing. Once again we have good field position lead to nothing. We have another critical drop too. The guys in front of us pass a bottle of Southern Comfort discreetly to the end. The guy on the end then blatantly tips the bottle to finish it. "Don't be so discreet, man," his buddy yells.

5:05 2^nd Quarter – Chris Carlino does a really good job of running down Ringer for a short gain. He had a couple of plays like this all day and even recovered a fumble. Very impressive for the true freshman. Unfortunately we keep dropping easy passes that would lead to first downs and momentum.

0:09 2^nd Quarter – Just a godawful interception by Siller that is taken back all the way. We didn't need to be throwing, but I can understand why we are taking chances here. Still, it's a throw that shouldn't have been made. It's a shame too. The defense was playing very, very well and the offense not only wasn't helping, but now handed them 7 points. I get up to go to the restroom and the line for the men's room is the longest I have ever seen. Spartan Stadium has one men's room on the upper level west side. Mrs. T-Mill has a great comment about the line on the way home. "The only way a line to a men's room should be that long is if Beyonce and 12 Playboy Playmates are in there 'servicing' men." I nod in agreement.

Halftime – After being crammed into our seats (but warm) we decide to move to a more open section in the upper level on the other side of the stadium. Spartan Stadium seems to think the average person needs 3 cubic feet to sit in. Fewer people blocking the wind at that altitude lead to one of the coldest halves of football ever watched.

12:12 3^rd Quarter – We fail to contain a deep throw by not playing the ball. This sets up…

10:23 3^rd Quarter -- ... Ringer's second TD of the day. We've done a decent job of containing him and he still has two TD's. I write GAME OVER in the notebook.

Mid 3^rd Quarter – "Even though we're kicking your ass right now, welcome to Michigan State," say the new fans near us. "Don't worry, we're 3-6, so we're used to it this year." They are at least impressed by our quest to see Purdue play in all 11 Big Ten Stadiums.

7:36 3^rd Quarter – Siller gets knocked out of the game. The absolute disaster scenario I described in the QB season preview comes true as Chris Bennett gets his first and possibly only career action as a Boilermaker. At least the kid had a nice gain on an option keeper. Mrs. T-Mill offers to quarterback, because it couldn't be much worse.

13:36 4th Quarter – "Our bowl hopes are still technically alive, but they just asked our relatives to come in and pull the plug," I say. The paper journal stops at this point as it is too cold to write. It should be noted that we finished the game with a very impressive 96 yard drive for our only score. I stayed to the bitter end, making sure I saw at least some points put on the board. That, or I was frozen to the seat. At least the people were friendly and I recommended that if they end up in Pasadena it is worth it.

Postgame – Wind, cold, rain, and traffic prevented a more thorough search of campus, but I do highly recommend the Grand River Rd. area north of the main campus. There is a Bruegger's Bagels there, which is just about the best bagel place on God's earth. It is the Dunkin' Donuts of bagels. As exciting as dinner and then outlet shopping in extreme northwest Indiana is, I'll spare you those details.

At least I got a very nice picture with the Spartan Statue. It's a nice tribute to a very good team that bested us this day.

Final Thoughts:

It is now official: The rest of this season is playing for the future. Unfortunately, that future will not include players like Kory Sheets, Cory Benton, Alex Magee, Ryan Baker, Anthony Heygood, Torri Williams, Greg Orton, and Desmond Tardy. Even Curtis Painter, who is much maligned, deserves a much better sendoff than this. What I saw today was a number of those guys playing their hearts out, but I also saw plenty of reason to hope this is a one year aberration at best.

Justin Siller continues to make plays with his feet. It was not his finest day passing, but many of his mistakes were simple freshman mistakes. Chris Carlino looks like an incredibly promising player and leader of the defense as only a true freshman. Ryan Kerrigan was disruptive, but he did whiff on Hoyer once allowing a huge gain. Ralph Bolden could be a very promising running back if we can get the offensive line settle. That line involves another great true freshman in Ken Plue.

The defense had another good day as Ringer had to work hard for everything he got. A quarter of his yards came on one 31 yard jaunt. The rest were earned the hard way, as we made sure he wasn't the sole reason we lost. We forced four turnovers, but did nothing with them. Aside from Heygood, Baker, and Williams, we get almost everyone back on a defense that is getting better every week. It is a defense that is better than its statistics, especially on the road.

The more that Siller plays in these last two games will allow him to improve for next season. We also get Jaycen Taylor back as a nice player to help him in the backfield. Valentin and Smith will get better as receivers, and Wasikowski and Adams should return as solid tight ends. There are enough players coming back that are making contributions right now to give me some hope. We have been decimated by injuries to our offensive line and quarterback positions. Those are the two worst places to have injuries, so it has to get better next year, right?

Finally, Tiller himself deserves better than this. Last week's win over Michigan showed me he is still trying, but he just doesn't have it anymore when you look at the results of the season as a whole. I don't know what will happen in Iowa City next week, but the Indiana game is a must win. Tiller deserves better and the seniors deserve better. I am feeling a venting session much like the 63-20 win four years ago coming on.

Purdue at #18 Michigan State Open Thread

We've got to stay alive. That is the goal for this week. Don't let Ringer go nuts and keep the game at least close to have a chance in the end. Before heading out to the game from my hotel in Lansing I wanted to post the open thread for those watching at home. You'll certainly be much warmer than I will be. I am working on a road trip journal that will likely be published tonight after I get back and it will likely take the place of the game wrap.

As the song says, Keeping myself (bowl hopes) alive through your EMPATHY!!!!

Comments are open. BOILER UP!!

Week 11 Big Ten preview

We're roadtrippin' the next two weeks for college football! Much like Maize N' Brew did last week when Dave came to "Kool-ade Stadium" as he calls it for the first time, Mrs. T-Mill and I are heading north to East Lansing to see if the Boilers can end the losing streak against ranked teams. That, or we will see if it will continue into 2009 where the next chance will likely come at Oregon (a game that suddenly looks like a whole lot of fun with Justin Siller playing). Here is Purdue's official road/bowl record with me in attendance:

At Indiana: 2-2
At Illinois: 2-1
At Northwestern: 1-0
At Cincinnati: 1-0
At Michigan: 0-1
At Minnesota: 0-1
At Ohio State: 0-1
At Hawaii: 0-1
At Rose Bowl: 0-1

Overall: 6-7

I'm currently riding an 0-2 streak away from Ross-Ade, and as mentioned earlier my first visits to Big Ten venues haven't always been kind. We'll be following most of the wonderful game day guide posted by the Enlightened Spartan and I have heard wonderful things about East Lansing. I highly recommend any other Boiler fans heading north this weekend to check this out. If you see a blue Jeep Liberty with a Purdue tire cover and Miami stickers on the back heading north on I-69 Friday night give us a honk.

(All rankings are this week's blogpoll rankings)

Purdue (3-6, 1-4) at #17 Michigan State (8-2, 5-1) Noon, Big Ten Network

I had a funny feeling about the Ohio state game and turned out to be half right. The defense played more than well enough to win, but a special teams breakdown and complete lack of offense led to a 16-3 loss. Now, facing our last chance at a ranked team this year, I have a funny feeling again. Last week was a gigantic momentum shift for everyone in the program from the players to the fans. That momentum will continue if we break the huddle Saturday afternoon and #5 comes out to lead the offense instead of #12. If it is #12 I fear the only way we win is if Tiller "starts" Painter for a series, then Siller goes the rest of the way, thus possibly breaking Painter's starts 0-fer against ranked teams with an asterisk.

It is nice to at least have something positive going for us now. As I said last week, we just needed to get something going in the right direction. The Boiled Sports guys have been raving about Siller all week, but it is more than that. Orton and Tardy are a pair of seniors that finally got involved in the same game. Siller can get them the ball, and that gives us two more playmakers to go with Siller and Sheets. Unlike Bernard Pollard and Ray Edwards in 2005, Orton, Sheets, and Tardy appear ready to fight to the last breath to keep our postseason hopes alive. It may be late for that, but they are still alive.

As mentioned yesterday, it means little if we cannot at least slow down Javon Ringer. I feel if we hold him to even 100 yards and two scores we might have a chance as long as the offense can do something. That comes back to the Siller vs. Painter debate. If we win with Painter it will be because he will show something we have not seen since at least the Motor City Bowl. If we win with Siller it will be because he plays as well as, if not better, than last week. I am also completely delusional in that I think this team realizes there is still something to play for. We've always played Michigan State fairly well under Tiller, and Siller gives us an interesting wrinkle. That breaks down the official prediction into two ways: If Siller plays: Purdue 30, Michigan State 28. If Painter plays: Michigan State 35, Purdue 10.

Wisconsin (4-5, 1-5) at Indiana (3-6, 1-4) Noon, Big Ten Network

If we can stomach it, we should cheer hard for Indiana on Saturday. If we win our own game we're suddenly one game away from playing the hapless Hoosiers for a bowl bid. That bowl bid can be helped if Indiana can beat Wisconsin. That will give the Badgers 6 losses with a trip to Minnesota hopefully delivering #7. If the Badgers win they will go bowling unless they drop the season finale to Division I-AA Cal Poly.

Neither team is playing well at the moment. Indiana went right back to the bottom by losing to Central Michigan's backup quarterback at home a week ago. Wisconsin gacked away a near sure win in East Lansing too. It would be fitting if Wisconsin seals the "most disappointing team" label by losing to the Hoosiers. This is one of the harder games to call because both teams should have played much better to this point. It will probably come down to whoever sucks the least on Saturday. In that case, always count on Indiana to be worse. Wisconsin 24, Indiana 14

#12 Ohio State (7-2, 4-1) at #25 Northwestern (7-2, 3-2) Noon, ESPN or ESPN2

I would consider Northwestern in an upset if not for two things: 1. They have the worst home field advantage in the Big Ten, and that includes Minnesota in the Metrodome. They may sell out Saturday, but only because the Buckeye legions will invade Chicago. 2. They got absolutely drilled last year in Columbus. Mike Kafka running wild against Minnesota last week was frustrating because I imagined what Justin Siller would have done with a week's prep now. Pat Fitzgerald is being coy about who is starting, but I don't think it will matter.

Ohio State is still Ohio State. They have about 14 million reasons to keep winning and grab a second BCS bid for the conference. That is especially true if USC can drop another game and a different Pac-10 team ends up in the Rose bowl. If both Penn State and Ohio State win out the Buckeyes will be going to Pasadena or somewhere else in the BCS. They have too many fans not to. They've had two weeks to stew about the Penn State loss, and will sadly enact vengeance on poor Northwestern this week. Ohio state 31, Northwestern 10

Michigan (2-7, 1-4) at Minnesota (7-2, 3-2) Noon, ESPN or ESPN2

Minnesota gets to recover from a severe stomach punch last week by getting the first of three straight trophy games to end the season. Minnesota currently doesn't hold the Little Brown Jug, Paul Bunyan's Axe, or the Floyd of Rosedale, but they stand an excellent chance of opening TCF Bank Stadium with all three in the trophy case. First they must beat a Michigan team that finally found some offense last week, but now may be missing Steven Threet who suffered a concussion against Purdue.

Minnesota's running game has been AWOL lately, but it shouldn't have trouble getting back on track against a dismal run defense. It is unfortunate, but the Gophers likely won't have much of a real test until they get to a New Year's Day Bowl in Florida. At that point, the SEC will probably expose them. If not, they might be one of the favorites for the 2009 Big Ten season. For now, the Little Brown Jug will return to Minneapolis for the first time since 2005 and just second time since 1986. Minnesota 38, Michigan 21

Illinois (5-4) at Western Michigan (7-2) Noon, TBD

This is most definitely a trap game for the Illini. They are facing one of the MAC's best in what is essentially a home game. With a win, Western Michigan will enter a great argument with Ball State and Central Michigan as to who the best team in the MAC is. Both the Cardinals and Chips own a pelt over a Big Ten team (Indiana in each case), but the Broncos are a better team than the one that went to Iowa City and won on senior day a year ago. A win would also help our bowl cause since Illinois still must face Ohio State, then travel to Northwestern.

Tim Hiller is one of the best quarterbacks no one is talking about, yet he is lesser known than Dan LeFevour and Ball State's Nate Davis. Hiller has passed for 2,856 yards and 28 TD's against just five picks. He is more than capable of giving a somewhat shaky Illini defense fits. Western Michigan's only losses this year were at Nebraska and Central Michigan. Illinois will probably win, but do not be surprised if the Broncos pull an upset. Illinois 28, Western Michigan 24

#3 Penn State (9-0, 5-0) at Iowa (5-4, 2-3) 3:30, ABC

This is probably Penn State's last serious chance at a loss. Indiana will not beat them in Happy Valley and a good Michigan State team probably stands little chance on senior day and what could end up being Joe Paterno's final game at Penn State as head coach. That makes the Iowa game incredibly important not only for the Big Ten, but for the national picture.

Unless Shonn Greene goes crazy I just don't see Iowa having the offense to keep up with Penn State. The Nittany Lion offense has had two weeks to prepare and has moved the ball well against everyone except Ohio State. Green has been over 100 yards in every game this season, but will need to have a monster performance. If Iowa can control the running game and simply keep Penn State off the field it might have a chance, but I doubt it. Penn State 27, Iowa 17

National Games of note:

#8 Oklahoma State at #2 Texas Tech – Man that was a great game last week! Can the Red Raiders do it again? If they get past this week they have a trip to Oklahoma as a game against a third straight top 10 opponent. I doubted this team until last week. Oklahoma State is a great road team though. This should be a dandy. Texas Tech 38, Oklahoma State 37

#1 Alabama at #16 LSU – LSU has been somewhat disappointing this year, but all can be forgiven if they beat former coach Nick Saban this week. Personally, I can't stand Saban, so go Tigers. LSU 17, Alabama 14

#21 California at #7 USC – This should be another good one as Cal needs this to break a very long Rose Bowl drought. Unfortunately Oregon State in Corvallis is the only team that has managed to do much of anything against USC. The Beavers are the only team to score more than 10 points against the Trojans, but Trojans always have trouble penetrating Beavers (rimshot!). Still, I'll go with Cal because they're due. California 20, USC 17

Michigan State preview

A lack of a Big Ten bloggers' roundtable this week and no guest blogger from Michigan State has lead to a dearth of entries. Election coverage last night prevented me from commenting on a couple of things found in this week's GBI, so here is a rundown before getting to the preview of the Spartans:

• The Michigan game was the first time ever that Purdue has recovered from two 14 point deficits in the same game to win. Even then, the quarterback (who was also named Big Ten Co-offensive player of the week) may not be good enough to start this week after leading us to more points in one game than the previous four combined.
  
• Women's basketball player Lauren Mioton was named as homecoming queen and was recently selected as a Rhodes' scholar candidate. Smart, attractive and a basketball player? It makes me wish I had a little brother just like me that was at Purdue.


• Kyle Orton was just beginning to turn the corner for the Bears but got hurt last week. Now the Bears get a few weeks of Sexy Rexy again. It was especially crippling, as Orton made a spot start for my fantasy team with Drew Brees on bye. The loss dropped me to 6-3


• The men's basketball team, especially freshman Ryne Smith looked good against one of the better division II teams in the land. I probably won't get going full speed on basketball until the season opener against Detroit next week, but man did they look good already.


• Torri Williams will not pursue a medical redshirt to gain a 6th year of eligibility. It's a shame too, because he was finally healthy this season and would have given us some depth in what looks to be a good secondary next year. McLean and McKinley will probably start now with the departure of Duong and Williams.

With that out of the way it is time to look forward to Michigan State. When I did the Know thy Opponent series over the summer I had a funny feeling about the this game. It is the only game against a team that was supposed to be one of our better opponents that I predicted a win against. Obviously, things have been much different on our end of late, but it is a game that I feel a lot better about after watching Justin Siller last week. I am firmly in the camp that Justin Siller starting gives us at least a chance. If Painter starts he has shown me nothing this year to indicate that we can beat a ranked team on the road.

Still, it was only one game against a very bad Michigan team that we have seen Siller. Being just a redshirt freshman his performance can wildly vascillate from one game to the next. He could go out and play even better, or we could be in line for a four turnover game as we lose by five touchdowns. I want to be positive though. One more Siller performance means we're one game away from playing Indiana for an unlikely bowl berth. This is our toughest game left, but it would be poetic justice if Siller won his first start against a ranked team while a 10,000 yard passer would probably lose what would be his final shot at ending an 0-fer streak against ranked teams.

This is also my Big Ten road trip for the year. It is my first visit to East Lansing and hopefully it will go better than my first visit to Bloomington (13-7 loss in 2001), Champaign (OT loss in 2002), Columbus (OT loss in 2003), Minneapolis (double-OT loss in 2005), or Ann Arbor (last year). The only place in the Big Ten I have seen Purdue win in my first visit was Evanston two years ago.

Michigan State offense:

We have seen Beanie Wells, Evan Royster, LaGarrette Blount, and Jeremiah Johnson. They are all great running backs, but none of them have the numbers Javon Ringer has posted for the Spartans. 1,427 yards on 321 carries and 18 touchdowns. That breaks down to more than 35 carries per game, 142.7 yards, and two touchdowns. Ringer is the Michigan State running game. The next highest total on the team is Andre Anderson with just 26 carries for 97 yards and no scores. Most of that came in the blowout of Eastern Michigan. If we can stop Ringer we can stop the ground game, but barely anyone has stopped Ringer all year. Even held to a season low 57 yards last week he still found the end zone twice. He doesn't even get tired.

Our best hope to slow him down is to have Siller and Sheets running the ball as well as they each did last week, keeping him off the field entirely. I am encouraged that we contained Beanie Wells and Terrelle Pryor at Ohio State, but it will take a similar effort to stop Ringer. If the defense that turned Brandon Minor and Armando Allen into top five draft picks shows up we are done no matter what the offense does.

The Michigan State passing game hasn't been great, but it has only had to be very efficient with Ringer carrying the load of the offense. Brian Hoyer was particularly impressive against us last year. He doesn't have Devin Thomas to throw a slant to on every single third down anymore like he did against us a year ago, but he has been serviceable with 1,875 yards and nine scores against four picks. His completion percentage is below 50%, so if we can slow down Ringer we can slow down their offense. Wisconsin did just that a week ago and would have won if not for an utter collapse in the final ten minutes. He isn't particularly mobile, having been sacked 15 times. He's also only gained 39 yards on the ground while losing 149. After facing mobile quarterbacks every week since the Northern Colorado game we finally get a guy that is not a threat to run. Of course, that doesn't mean we can totally ignore him either.

The Spartan receivers are fairly balanced with Blair White (30-508-1) and Mark Dell (27-568-2) leading the way. Charlie Gantt can also be a bit of a deep threat as he has an 82 yard TD catch. Of his 14 receptions a team high four have gone for touchdowns while gaining 249 yards on those catches. B.J. Cunningham (25-370-0) and Ringer (20-130-0) are also threats to catch the ball at any time. This is possibly what makes Ringer so effective. The passing game does not have to do much, but when it does it has a number of options that are tough to defend. That makes teams think about something else other than focusing on Ringer.

Another reason Ringer has done so well is that he has a massive offensive line plowing the way for him. This game could easily turn into the Iowa game from two years ago where our defensive front got manhandled and the Hawkeyes ran all day on us. Our defensive line must come ready and our linebackers have to play in run support or this will quickly turn into a rout. We will likely be able to go back to our 4-3-4 and get Chris Carlino into the game more, but he must be ready to play.

Michigan State defense:

It is good that we are coming off of our most successful day running the football in years because we now face a defense that is susceptible to the run. This is key. more we can run the football and simply keep Ringer off the field by working the clock the better chance we will have. We made our move against Michigan in the third quarter by dominating the time of possession and converting numerous third downs. That kept the Wolverine defense on the field and they simply wore down. We must have a similar effort Saturday in order to have a chance at winning. The weather may be rainy as well, meaning we'll likely stick to the ground more, but the cuts that Siller and Sheets made last week will have to be crisper. Michigan State gives up 152 yards per game on the ground. We need at least this many, and more will help.

The passing defense is only slightly better at 202.2 yards per game. Teams are moving the ball on the Spartans and scoring about 20 points per game, so as long as we can keep the offensive momentum we built up last week we should be able to score some points. Senior safety Otis Wiley is arguably the leader of the defense with 55 tackles, 7 pass break ups, four interceptions, and a fumble recovery. Greg Jones is the team's leading tackler with 88 tackles, nine of them for loss. The rest of the defense is fairly balanced with six guys having 40 or more tackles. It is a particularly opportunistic defense having forced 21 turnovers (12 picks, nine fumble recoveries) led by Wiley with almost a quarter of those turnovers. Wiley also took one of his interceptions back for a score against California in the opener.

I am not sure why GBI says that Michigan State struggles at getting to the quarterback when it averages two sacks per game. Trevor Anderson leads that group with 8 sacks, but he will find Justin Siller to be much more elusive. Once again, this area of the game will come down to who actually gets the start. Siller wasn't sacked at all against Michigan, but Painter likely would have been dropped about five times. Siller is far from Terrelle Pryor, but Pryor caused all kinds of problems when Ohio State blew out the Spartans 45-7 a few weeks ago. If Sheets and Siller can be a poor man's Wells and Pryor and combine for 212 yards and three touchdowns like the Buckeye duo did we will have an excellent chance.

Michigan State Special teams:

When the Spartans get inside the 35 they will get points unless they turn the ball over. Considering they are +6 in the turnover ratio, that does not happen often. The two most popular ways that Michigan State scores is by Ringer touchdowns or Brett Swenson field goal. If you take away the Michigan game where he was 0 for 3, Swenson 19 for 20 on the year and would have made all 19 in a row after missing his first attempt of the season against Cal. Just last week he was 4 for 4 with a 44 yard game winner in the final seconds.

Aaron Bates handles the punting duties, averaging 42.3 yards per attempt. There could be a vulnerability here as he has had a pair of punts blocked. We've come close a couple of times since blocking two against Northern Colorado, so this may be where we could make a game-changing play. The Spartans are also giving up almost nine yards per return and have surrendered a score, so Tardy might have some room on returns.

Godawful is the word I would use to describe our own return defense of late. We gave up nearly 275 return yards last week in both the punt and kick return game, and Michigan State is a team that can more than make us pay for our largesse in this area. Wiley returns most punts and he averages about 11 yards per return. The Spartans do kick retuning by committee with Ringer, A.J. Jimmerson, and Glenn Winston splitting the duties almost evenly. Each averages more than 20 yards per return. What was once an area of strength is now a glaring weakness and you had better believe they will try to exploit it.

Final Thoughts:

On paper this looks very simple. We should start Siller and have him go playstation on a defense that has trouble stopping mobile quarterbacks while stacking the line and daring Ringer to breakthrough or have Hoyer throw. Michigan State struggles most when Ringer is held at least partially in check. Therefore, that has to be our top priority. Hoyer showed he can play a bit as well with a pretty good performance against Michigan two weeks ago. He had three of his nine TD passes in that game, but has played the role of game manager for most of the season. Last year he absolutely shredded us when we refused to cover Devin Thomas for play after play. This year he misses that go to guy, but he has plenty of balanced options.

Siller plainly gives us our best chance to win. If Painter plays he will not be 100% as evidenced by yesterday's injury report. His confidence is clearly shot to hell as well. We still have something to play for this season until the seventh loss is clinched, and as far as I can see that hasn't happened yet. Siller gives us an additional dimension in the running game and he actually looks for other receivers. Last week he even showed a nice touch on his throws at times. We need that additional option in the running game. I mentioned last week how Kory Sheets had over 85% of our rushing offense by himself. Siller is now second with more than 100 yards on the season, but third is now Anthony Heygood who has all 61 yards on his one carry last week. Their weakest area is defending the run, and in Tiller's twilight we are a better team ironically when we run the ball more. We must exploit this, and we can truly do so only if Siller starts. Why not go one step further and do more of the option running with him like we did in 2005?

As far as Ringer goes, he is going to get his yards. The real question is whether we can contain everyone else and make him have to go for 300 yards and five scores to beat us. I liken it to the semi-state championship game my Kats played while I was in high school. We ran into Luke Recker's DeKalb team with a berth in the state finals on the line. We knew he was going to get his points. He had about 26 points in that game, but we shut everyone else down to win 69-46 and end his high school career. We pretty much dared him to score 60 and beat us personally, and he didn't do it. It's a delicate balance, but if we can make Michigan State rely solely on Ringer while not letting him go totally apeshit (i.e. 300 yards, 5 TD's) We have a good chance.

Of course, this is also dependent on our offense continuing to move the ball. Last week we had the ball for almost 16 minutes more than Michigan, but still only won by 6. Simply put, Michigan State cannot score if it does not have the ball. Ringer can't play defense. He cannot hurt us when we have the ball. We therefore must continue to have a high completion percentage and convert on third downs as we did last week.

The final thought I have is how improved the attitude is around the entire program after just one win. Last week I wrote about how we simply needed to get momentum going in our favor. That is how streaks start and we hadn't been able to do so all year. We finally have that going for us. If we can build on it there is still absolutely something to play for out there. I shared with the Boiled Sports guys earlier this week and absolutely wild scenario for playing in the Champs Sports Bowl again this year. A lot of that scenario has to happen elsewhere, but this week we have a chance to tackle our hardest step of the three we can personally handle. If we can build on the momentum of last week we just might do it too.

Hey you, GO VOTE!!!!

Enclosed is my final blogpoll ballot for the week, reflecting the changes pointed out by astute readers Sunday night. It is a small measure of democracy in the world of college football, even if Purdue probably would not make the poll if you expanded it to the top 70 or so.

When it comes to democracy though, tomorrow is a much more important day. The message of this short is simply to go and vote tomorrow. Personally, the closest I can come to an official Off the Tracks endorsement is Democrat Barack Obama for President and Republican Mitch Daniels for Governor of Indiana. It doesn;t matter who you vote for though, the important thing is that you do go and vote. If you don't vote you forfeit your right to bitch in my personal view.

This is far from a cry to go for Barack or to condemn McCain. It is more of a chance to speak out and say that I am exercising my right to do something that not everyone on this earth can do. As citizens, it is our right to vote for the candidate of our choosing for any reason. This reason can be supporting Obama's plan for education, or simply because I couldn't turn down voting for a guy in the primary that had the guts to go on the ballot with the name of "Hippie Joe" (and yes, he was running for Congress). It doesn't take the four I got on the AP U.S. Government test back in high school to figure this out.

So go vote! Vote Democrat! Vote Republican! Vote Libertarian! Vote Communist! Shoot, Vote Fascist Anarchist, I don't care! Just go and vote tomorrow. Then crack open a cold one and watch the talking heads all night long analyze the latest trends in how lesbian midget dairy owners with less than three children of different races voted in this election vs. the Tilden-Hayes election of 1876.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Penn State	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Texas Tech	1
4	Florida	2
5	Texas	4
6	Oklahoma	1
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Oklahoma State	1
9	Boise State	2
10	Utah	--
11	Ohio State	2
12	TCU	3
13	Missouri	1
14	Ball State	2
15	Georgia	8
16	LSU	1
17	Brigham Young	1
18	North Carolina	5
19	Michigan State	5
20	Tulsa	8
21	Maryland	5
22	California	4
23	Miami (Florida)	2
24	Georgia Tech	2
25	Northwestern	1

Dropped Out: Oregon (#19), Minnesota (#20), Florida State (#21), South Florida (#22).

Week 10 Big Ten Review and blogpoll ballot

Today's entry is going up a little earlier than normal because I have tickets to the Colts-Patriots game tonight. I admit that I was wrong in saying that this week's slate of games was boring. All five Big Ten games came down to the final play this week. In three cases, the winning team had a backup quarterback directing them to victory. Purdue's offense exploded for 48 points with a third string quarterback running the show in his first career start. This was simply an unbelievable week. Here are this week's updated rankings with bowl possibilities.

11. Michigan (2-7, 1-4) Result: Purdue 48, Michigan 42. No Bowl – Brian's wonderful liveblog of yesterday's game over at MGoBlog shows that Michigan fans are pretty pissed off right now. They think it is inexcusable that a third string quarterback lit them up all day long. Can you really blame them? I would be pretty upset too. I knew Michigan would struggle this year, but like Notre Dame last year, there is no excuse for being that bad with that amount of raw talent.

On the other hand, meeting the Maize N' brew guys yesterday was a very enjoyable experience. The crew came down and enjoyed some glorious tailgating over on the IM Lots. They seem resigned tot heir fate, but enjoyed the game for what it was. Forget that both teams were 2-6, you couldn't ask for much more with a back and forth game that features tons of scoring and big plays. I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon, and Dave agreed with me.

10. Indiana (3-6, 1-4) Result: Central Michigan 37, Indiana 34. No Bowl – One funny thing that Dave said yesterday was that he was glad Michigan didn't play Indiana this year. He didn't want to see the Hoosier unleash 40 some years of pent up frustration because he's had enough of everyone releasing frustration on Michigan. After Indiana's performance yesterday he may want to reconsider. In reality, Indiana and Michigan are joined in last place for the moment. One could argue that Indiana should be lower because of two MAC losses, but Michigan's came to a worse team. At least Indiana has lost to the best of the MAC.

The Hoosier Report is fed up. Indiana didn't have an answer for Dan LeFevour's backup. LeFevour didn't play, plus the Chips had no running game to speak of. All Burnner did was bomb away and Indiana couldn't stop them. Can you blame John for being upset? At least it is looking like he'll be happier come Tuesday when Obama gets elected.

9. Purdue (3-6, 1-4) Result: Purdue 48, Michigan 42. No Bowl – We're not going to have many years in which we beat Michigan, but lose to Minnesota and Northwestern. If we end up winning these next three games it will be even stranger. At least we should be encouraged that we're 2-0 against the state of Michigan. A win next week and a Motor City Bowl win over Western Michigan makes us the Michigan state champs, right?

As Boiled Sports said last night, it is very nice to see an invigorated fanbase even if it is for a week. Going to Michigan State we have something to build on. It will still likely be a loss, but at least it feels like we have a little more of a chance now. How ironic would it be if Painter goes 0-fer in his career against ranked teams, yet Siller gets one in his first attempt? If he starts again we just might do it. Unfortunately, Tiller is hellbent on having Painter play if he is healthy. This is where we queue up some Journey.

8. Wisconsin (4-5, 1-5) Result: Michigan State 25, Wisconsin 24. Motor City Bowl – Boiler fans, if we can stomach it we need to root like hell for Indiana this week. If the Hoosiers can knock off Wisconsin this week and Minnesota does the same that makes the Badger ineligible for a bowl game. It then opens the door for us to win these last three and go somewhere ourselves.

It's possible because Wisconsin continues to find ways to make me look like an idiot for declaring them as the team that knows how to close games out. This time they blew an 11 point lead with less than 10 minutes to play. It got so bad yesterday even Bret Bielema got called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after his own team scored!

7. Iowa (5-4, 2-3) Result: Illinois 27, Iowa 24. Insight Bowl – Iowa is now another team with some difficulty remaining as far as gaining bowl eligibility, but at least we can do something about it. If we can just win at Michigan State next week we will suddenly be in control of our own destiny because Penn State is going to crush the Hawkeyes. Iowa showed a lot of heart in the comeback yesterday, but the defense failed them in the end.

Iowa continues to struggle in close games. The five wins have each been by 12 points or more, while the four losses have each been by less than a touchdown. I believe this was called our 2002 season. Iowa is going to wish they had this game before the season is over because of games against Penn State and Wisconsin. If we beat Michigan State we might be fighting them for the last bowl slot a week later.

6. Illinois (5-4, 3-3) Result: Illinois 27, Iowa 24. Champs Sports Bowl – I don't think things are as bad as previously thought in Champaign, but team Up and Down finished the week on an up. Going to Western Michigan had better be an up as well. Otherwise it is entirely possible that Illinois could miss a bowl game too. At least if Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin all miss bowl games we might get to go to Orlando.

5. Northwestern (7-2, 3-2) Result: Northwestern 24, Minnesota 17 Alamo Bowl – Obviously Northwestern wants a mulligan from the Indiana game. On a day for backup quarterbacks Mike Kafka may have had the best day with over 200 yards rushing. Lake the Posts provides some great analysis of Kafka's performance in terms of where it ranks in the great rushing QB games of all-time. It's also very hard to top the finish of yesterday's game. This was much like Northwestern's 2000 win in the Metrodome.

4. Minnesota (7-2, 3-2) Result: Northwestern 24, Minnesota 17 Outback Bowl – I really hope the annoying Minnesota fan that was cheering for Painter to get hurt more last week enjoyed his day yesterday. A possible long-awaited date in Pasadena is now gone as fast as that interception return to end the game. I normally like Minnesota and have never had a problem with its fans, but that jackass from last week deserved yesterday.

For the second straight week Minnesota had a poor running game, as even Weber struggled to get things going. The Gophers will still likely play on New Year's Day since a fourth team will have to go if Ohio State goes to the BCS, but it will be bittersweet now.

3. Michigan State (8-2, 5-1) Result: Michigan State 25, Wisconsin 24. Capitol One Bowl – First it was Northwestern a week ago, then Minnesota this week. Will Michigan State at the hands of Purdue be the next team to have a potential unexpected Big Ten title run ended before the biggest game of said run? I certainly hope so! Michigan State is likely the one team left that has a chance at knocking off Penn State and getting a piece of the title for itself.

Michigan State played with a lot of poise yesterday, Javon Ringer had next to nothing, but the Spartans took advantage of every Wisconsin mistake in the final 10 minutes and made them pay. That's the mark of a very good team, and I doubt that they will look ahead for Penn State. If they do lose, it will be a very long two weeks before going to Happy Valley.

2. Ohio State (7-2, 4-1) Result: bye. Rose Bowl – Ohio State is going to beat the living hell out of Michigan and enjoy it. First up is a two game road sing through Illinois though.

1. Penn State (9-0, 5-0) Result: bye. National Championship Game – The Nittany Lions gained the most without even playing a down. Texas Tech knocking off Texas means Penn State only needs to win its last three games to get to the championship. The toughest of those games will be Iowa this week, and I don't think it will be that tough.

Blogpoll ballot:

The Texas loss obviously leads to some changes at the top. Texas Tech now announces they are officially in the fray as well. Both Alabama and Texas Tech still have very difficult roads to the title, while Penn State does not. There is now a very long line of one loss teams behind those three, but they will all have to wait for two of the three to lose before I will begin to argue for one of them.

Georgia deserves some serious punishment for crapping the bed in another big game this year. Something tells me there will be no whining about missing out on the championship with two losses now. Tulsa losing moves Ball State closer to the top. If the Cards take care of business and TCU, Utah, and Boise State can each lose a game the MAC might looking for a liquor store in Muncie in order to cash a large BCS check.

The bottom of the poll was chaos as usual. At least the Canes won so I can move them up. This team is learning how to win right now and will be incredibly good in a year or two. I'm excited to see them in person against Virginia Tech in a week and a half.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Penn State	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Texas Tech	1
4	Oklahoma	1
5	Florida	1
6	Southern Cal	2
7	Texas	6
8	Oklahoma State	1
9	Boise State	2
10	Utah	--
11	Ohio State	2
12	TCU	3
13	Missouri	1
14	Ball State	2
15	Georgia	8
16	LSU	1
17	Brigham Young	1
18	North Carolina	5
19	Michigan State	5
20	Tulsa	8
21	Maryland	5
22	California	4
23	Miami (Florida)	2
24	Georgia Tech	2
25	Northwestern	1

Dropped Out: Oregon (#19), Minnesota (#20), Florida State (#21), South Florida (#22).

A win!

I’ll try to keep this brief as I have a party to go to tonight, but that was an incredible on an incredible day of football. Not only did Purdue erase TWO 14 point deficits, but we won on day when Indiana and Notre Dame each lost in dramatic fashion. It was made even better in our household as Miami won on the road in overtime against Virginia. It all made for a great day of college football, which was sorely needed.

This is the kind of boost the Boilers needed today. It may have been a pair of 2-6 teams going at, but damnit if it wasn’t the most entertaining game of the season. There are so many positives to take out of this game, even if was only over a 2-7 Michigan team in the midst of its worst season in 40 years. Once Threet's final pass fell tot he turf you could feel the stadium release as for one week the fans could enjoy themselves again. I know i collapsed into my seat. There were also a number of smiles as I left hte stadium. That's huge right now, and I'll take it.

Positives from the Michigan game:

It was a win – This is the biggest one for me. We finished a game with more points than the team we were facing. For the first time since the Central Michigan game (thank you, Chips, BTW) I walked out of the stadium happy and felt like my Saturday was somewhat fun. The way we did it was even better. I can’t remember the last time Purdue survived two 14 point deficits and a punt return TD yet still won. This was the wild, guns blazing on both sides shootout we haven’t seen in some time. Plus we hung 48 points on Michigan. If you take away the two garbage time touchdowns in last year’s game we hadn’t scored 48 points in the last four games combined against the Wolverines.

Kory Sheets – The kid is a warrior. I don’t even know the last time we have a 100 yard rusher against Michigan unless it was Montrell Lowe in the 2000 game. At this point there are not proper adjectives to describe my high esteem of Mr. Sheets. He played his heart out once again and it was wonderful to see his monster performance rewarded with a W. He will make an NFL team very happy in a few months as a mid-round pick.

Justin Siller – It sucks for Joey Elliott, but Mr. Siller had a very successful audition to be the 2009 starting quarterback. One week of practice did wonders as he really didn’t force anything and gave us an element with his legs on third down that was much needed. I met up with Dave and his posse from Maize n’ Brew after the game and they were very impressed with Siller as well. I think Siler is the starter from now on, but Curtis Painter deserves the start against Indiana even if both play.

Coaching staff – The fake punt was big. I think it was even set up more by the high snap on the previous punt. That was excellent execution by the line to open a hole for Heywood and give us a huge boost. The hook and ladder play… holy crap! Whoever called that had some massive stones considering where it came in the game. That both calls came in the fourth quarter of a tight contest shows that the coaches may have figured things out in the last couple of weeks.

A second praise of the coaching staff goes for the way we erased the second 14 point deficit. We used the halftime break as a defensive stop, which is what any good player of NCAA Football on Playstation will do. Coming out and scoring on the opening drive of the second half was a huge momentum swing in our favor. Once our offense got rolling there we were virtually unstoppable the rest of the way.

Greg Orton – This was a much needed good game from the senior. The touchdown was big, but his catch down the sideline on the first drive of the second half was the biggest catch of the year. I thought at first he went out of bounds and came back in. That was why I thought the play was reviewed. It happened right in front of my section and he easily got the foot in bounds. How he executed the lateral to Tardy on the winning play I will never know.

Anthony Heygood – I haven’t talked enough about Anthony this year. He has had a solid year on a defense that has been all over the map with its play. I really hate to see this kid leave. Today he had several good stops one-on-one, and that is especially telling since we struggled to tackle most of the day. In the little things department, I like how he had the presence of mind to shift the ball to his left side near the end of the fake punt run. He hasn’t carried the ball much the last few years, but that was a smart play because then any fumble caused by the tackler goes harmlessly out of bounds.

Ryan Kerrigan – Kerrigan actually led us in tackles, sacked Threet three times, and forced a fumble. He had 10 tackles total (seven of them solo) and a pass breakup too. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our next great defensive end at Purdue and he’s just a sophomore.

Negatives from the Michigan game:

Special Teams - I have never been so terrified every time we have kicked the ball as I was in this game. After the missed (blocked?) extra point I was scared even though there were 20 seconds left because we had to kick off to them. Michigan had a big mistake on one punt return and almost one on the first directional kickoff, but other than that it was a day to say a prayer every time we kicked be it a punt or kickoff. Michigan had 272 return yards and just 300 of total offense! If we could have just held them on kicks we win this game by three scores easily, but we kept giving them a short field.

On the other hand, Chris Summers proved once again you do not come to his side of the field on a return. Chuck Norris is back.

Run defense – Brandon Minor turned into Armando Allen. We didn’t have an answer for him as he had more than half of the Michigan offense. He didn't have a ton of yards coming in and was a backup most of the season too. If it wasn’t for him and the return Michigan wouldn’t have moved the ball at all.

Offensive line – Kory had to earn his yards today, as at least five of his carries went right into a wall of defenders that had busted through. All told the group wasn’t bad as Siller didn’t get sacked, but Kory took quite a beating on the day.

Final Thoughts:

I can now go to East Lansing and at least feel like we’re still playing for something. I recognize that part of the day comes from the fact that Michigan is awful this year. Still, we got the offense going and it looked really good at times. Siller showed a ton of improvement after one week of practice and could give us at least a puncher's chance next week.

We cannot look at this as needing to win three game for an improbable bowl bid now. Instead we have to look solely at Michigan State. Go up there and win not to make a bowl, but to end the ranked team losing streak. After that we can then worry about Iowa and who knows what will happen. I am not saying we have a great chance to win next week, but at least I feel like we have a small one now. That’s all you can ask for.

Michigan at Purdue open thread

At least the weather will be perfect today. The football-like substance on the field won't be s0 much. As usual, the comments are open for what may be the worst game of the Big Ten season. Was it really 8 years ago these two played for a championship. Shoot, was it four years ago (the game after The Fumble).

The song is definitely appropriate. Thankfully, this has been banished to the Big Ten Network