SB Nation - Carson Wiggs

The Bucket Stays: A Bloomington Road Trip

BoilerTMill — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:27:40 -0000

As regular readers know, I love going to see Purdue on the road. Unfortunately, my road record is not the best. In fact, coming into today I had not seen Purdue win a game away from Ross-Ade Stadium since going to Illinois in 2006. Since then I have seen us lose at Hawaii, Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. Like many other streaks this season, my five game road losing streak is now done. As always, we have the road trip diary, even though it was just an hour in the opposite direction.

A belated thank you to Purdue football broadcaster Joe McConnell. Joe called his final Purdue game today, retiring because of failing eyesight after being the voice of the Boilers for the better part of the last two decades. McConnell is a class act who helped grow this young Boilermaker's fandom while in high school. Thank you, Joe. You will be missed.

I am a pilgrim in an unholy land

12:09pm - Indianapolis - Instead of enjoying at least half of the Miami-Duke game before leaving, we're forced to leave now because of the notoriously bad Bloomington game day traffic. I hope we make kickoff. I text Chris Summers' dad (a former co-worker). He responds; "Traffic is already bad." Crap.

12:25pm - We decide to hit the Pita Pit in downtown Indy. Unfortunately, no quick off the street parking can be found. Not the best start to the journey, as I was craving a pita with teriyaki sauce.

12:45pm - Chick-fil-a will do.

1:39pm - Eschewing the clusterf*** that State road 37 becomes on game day, we decided to go towards Nashville, IN and make the turn to Bloomington in Beanblossom. Beanblossom is the home of Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe's Museum. There isn't much else there, but this town goes apeshit over him.

2:11pm - Though state road 45 is the curviest road in the state of Indiana, we avoid all the traffic and we are tucked behind the centerfield wall of IU's baseball stadium. I rule. For good measure, we're parked next to a fellow Boiler, meaning the giant Purdue tire cover on my Jeep has company.

2:14pm - Walking out onto 17^th street we see the insanity confirmed. Once again, I rule. Time to look for tickets

2:24pm - Walking up to the stadium we have the completion of a joke made six years ago. When I took Mrs. T-Mill to Bloomington for the first time in 2003 I pointed to the stadium at the top of the hill. Her response: "Where's the rest of it?" As we see IU's new addition (very nice, by the way) we finally see the rest of it.

Nice of IU to finally finish their stadium.

2:57pm - This is becoming an odyssey. Each scalper is trying to charge $60 per ticket. We can walk over and buy them for $50 from the ticket office. one guy asked for all the cash we had. As Mrs. T-Mill said, "That's called a stick-up." Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have each of us wearing Purdue jerseys.

3:21pm - We resign ourselves to waiting until after kickoff for a better deal. This is especially true after some jackanapes, when we turned down $75 per ticket, said, "This is IU, we pay to get into games. I thought you were a good program." We have bathroom break at Assembly Hall. It is my first time entering the building. I feel dirty.

3:40pm - Success! Just as we're about to give up and walk back to the car we hear Jaycen Taylor's first TD. We also find a guy with two seats not together for $35 each. We grab his last two and hightail it to the stadium to sit in an empty corner. Patience is a virtue.

7:47 1^st quarter - We're finally settled into the open seats in the Northwest corner of the stadium, just in time to see David Pender block a field goal attempt. He is one of many seniors that played very well today.

6:04 1st - Jaycen Taylor is officially playing like a man possessed.

5:04 1^st - Dan Dierking finishes the drive with a nice catch, his first TD of the year. Boilers up 14-0 (first time I have seen a lead on the road since Hawaii). Is a blowout in order?

4:56 1^st - Nope. Our piss poor kickoff coverage returns as my grandmother could have had the same length of return that Tandon Doss just had. 1. She died last September. 2. She got around in a motorized scooter the last five years of her life.

3:02 1^st - It means nothing as the D forces a 3 and out. What follows is the ugliest punt sequence you will ever see. IU has a bad snap. Chris Hagerup bops it around against no rush before finally getting it off. It is partially blocked by a very late rush, Purdue touches downfield, but recovers. This is why both teams are 4-7.

14:23 2^nd - Darius Willis just gashed us on a play that looked exactly like Marcus Thigpen in 2007. ugh.

12:30 2^nd - The D holds, forces a field goal, which IU misses. Meanwhile, the four drunk IU students behind us have been obnoxious, stepped on Mrs. T-Mill's coat, derided their players by name, called West Lafayette a cesspool, and stated, "We need to come to games more often." This is all in the last 15 minutes. We were told Wisconsin had awful fans but they were great. Indiana actually stopped tailgating to show up and they were obnoxious.

Spelling is a graduate level course at IU.

6:46 2^nd - Easy pick by Torri Williams. It is awesome that he ended his career on a very high note.

2:03 2^nd - Taylor keeps running hard. He sets up a nice TD pass to Jared Crank (his first). It should be noted that with this TD, Elliott threw his 22 touchdowns to eight different receivers this year. We're getting outgained in yardage, but we're up 21-0. Meanwhile, the IU jackasses behind us keep talking trash as we ignore them. I plan to just point to the scoreboard if they call me out.

1:58 2^nd - The word GIBBONEY is written down as we give up a big return again. Most teams get better at coverage as the year goes on. We got worse. This is after being one of the best in the nation before he came.

0:40 2^nd - They feature this sign on the scoreboard. Okay, we'll take it. Thanks!

Thanks! We will. It's ours anyway...

0:35 2^nd - A coverage scramble leads to a near TD (called back on review) it sets up IU's first score. Stuff like this can't happen next year. At least we're up 21-7 despite getting outgained.

15:00 3^rd - Dierking is deep on returns? This is new.

14:49 3^rd - ATM! ATM! ATM! ATM! MONEY! MONEY! (Translation: I am very happy that Al-Terek McBurse just returned the 2^nd half kickoff for a touchdown. These are my shouts as he runs.) After this, I say that if we're truly Purdue we give it right back to Doss.

13:23 3^rd - A good three and out here. I continue to cross myself every time Aaron Valentin is back to return punts. As previously stated, I am not Catholic.

9:25 3^rd - More drunk fans behind us keep saying, "IU Fuck Purdue." This is in addition to the dozens of Puck Furdue shirts we saw walking around. Again, this is a classy place.

7:11 3^rd - More poor tackling. Even though we're up 28-7 I am still worried.

6:39 3^rd - Shades of Wisconsin as we bite on the reverse.

4:28 3^rd - Indiana shows that it has a hairy scrotum by going for it on 4^th and five down three scores. It pays off with a TD to Mitchell Evans. The jackanapes behind me celebrate like IU just won the Big Ten. I feel like reminding them that 14 is a smaller number than 28.

Counting: Another graduate level course at IU.

2:41 3^rd - Keith Smith plays pinball wizard with a big catch over the middle. We're already in scoring position again.

1:51 3^rd - "IU Fuck Purdue! IU Fuck Purdue! IU Fuck Purdue! IU Fuck Purdue!..."

1:30 3^rd - Carson Wiggs bangs home a Figgie. Up 31-14. We should have this.

0:11 3^rd - It looks even more in hand as we force a three and out again. Pete heads to the Bloomington Mall to have the new P engraved at Things Remembered.

Between 3^rd and 4^th quarter - Wisconsin has Jump Around, which is awesome. Purdue has Shout, which is okay. IU has John Mellancamp as the students sing Jack & Diane. No wonder they can't hold fourth quarter leads. This lulls them to sleep. Maybe they can recruit Jack because he was gonna be a football star. It might help.

13:34 4^th - Savvy move here. We put in Frank the Tank Halliburton to punish them for a few plays. He has some nice runs, but it only leads to a missed field goal. At least we took 5 minutes off the clock.

9:47 4^th - In the timeout after the missed field goal we have trivia FAIL. They ask, "What was the year the Bucket was first awarded?" The correct answer, 1925, isn't even a choice. They say 1930. For the record, that is the first year IU won it.

9:15 4^th - We give up a big pass (shit)

8:47 4^th - Chappell gets a big run (more expletives)

8:04 4^th - Demarlo Belcher touchdown. My butthole officially tightened. An IU basketball commercial follows. I loudly comment that it is nice they are deciding to field a team this year.

7:53 4^th - Why are we throwing the ball?

6:59 4^th - Three and out. We didn't even take a minute off the clock. The stadium is alive again.

6:09 4^th - Kawann Short finds the plug with a huge interception. When is the last time we had a defensive tackle with two interceptions on the year?

4:07 4^th - Elliott is sacked. It is a good sack, as we take 2:05 off the clock, move field position, and force them to use a timeout. Summers' final punt is a good one downed inside the ten. Thank you, Chris!

3:46 4^th - Belcher makes a circus catch, but is ruled out of bounds on the review. That is why these officials are great! The girlies behind us, who have no concept of football, shout advice like "Throw the Hail Mary!" and "get an interception" (even when we run the ball). They are swearing like sailors against Purdue with little to no knowledge of the game. The students from India in front of us know more.

2:41 4^th - The defense gets a big stop. It's our Bucket now.

2:14 4^th - After IU uses its last two timeouts to set up 3^rd and long and have one final chance Keith Smith breaks a big TD. He basically says, "Oh you want this ball back? Well, I am done with it now. You can have it."

Keith Smith does his best Mariano Rivera impression.

0:00 4^th - The Bucket stays where it belongs. The one day it is seen in Bloomington every two years is over.

I know I will have a more complete entry to wrap up the season, but this was a great dominating effort today. The senior class was outstanding. Boilerdowd texted me during the game and said Mike Neal was playing like it was his last game. He might have broken a hand, but he came back. He and Kawann Short had a dominating day in the middle. Pender had a blocked field goal. Elliott went over 3,000 yards. Chris Summers averaged over 46 yards per punt. Jaycen Taylor went out with maybe the best game of his career. Torri Williams had a pick. This game was for the seniors, and they came ready to play.

I don't think I have loved a group of seniors more than this one. They went out with a 5-7 record. They didn't go to a bowl game their last two years, but they have instilled an attitude of never quitting. They could have rolled over and died at 1-5 with Ohio State coming to town, but they didn't. If there is a group that ever deserved the Bucket, it is them. I will miss them.

On the other side of the coin, we got key contributions from some guys that will be here awhile. Kawann Short (redshirt freshman) had a fumble recovery and an interception. ATM (true freshman) had his huge kick return that looked easy. Keith Smith will be back. Jeff Lindsay and Kyle Adams will be back. Jared Crank threw some nice blocks and got his first career touchdown. All three linebackers had a good game and will be back.

The future is bright for Purdue. Next year will not be a bowl-less season as we have a lot to look forward to.

Our trip to Notre Dame is on September 4^th. I am so excited I am considering a lift of my vow to never go there.

The Bucket makes a rare appearance in Bloomington.

Stats Fail Me - Michigan State 40, Purdue 37

Pete Rossman — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:47:36 -0000

More photos » by Tom Strattman - AP

Thanks for saving the season, Keshawn. You too, Mr. Swenson.

Browse more photos »

Numbers. We deal with them pretty heavily at this site as a way to predict future performance and rank teams. Usually this method is pretty accurate, but then a game like yesterday's occurs and blows those notions to hell. Purdue had 28 first downs to MSU's 12. Purdue gained 524 yards to MSU's 362. The Spartans were completely dominated in all but a few categories. One of those categories was points, and State's three point win means that the Spartans will (hopefully) be going somewhere warm for December.

How did MSU pull this one out? Well, it helped that in the 4th quarter, down 34-23, Don Treadwell took the hammer to the "break in case of emergency" part of the playbook under glass. When you absolutely, positively need a win to get bowl eligible, standard operating procedures say to put the ball in the hands of the best playmaker. For the next two years, this person is Keshawn Martin. One of the joys of college football is watching a player develop from year to year, and watching Martin make the transformation from a receiver with a case of the dropsies to lethal returner in the past three games has been joyous. Kick returns, reverses, wildcat QB - he's the Leatherman of the Michigan State offense.

Underrated part of yesterday's game - the wind. Both of Brett Swenson's 52-yarders were wind-aided, and even though he's one of the best kickers in the NCAA, I'm not sure either of those kicks make it to the uprights without assistance. Enough criticism though - he's legitimately missed one field goal on the year (the other was blocked, I believe - correct me if I'm wrong), is a lock for All-Big Ten, and All-American status is a distinct possibility.

Kirk Cousins had an uncharacteristically inaccurate day (11-25), but two of those passes were huge - the 55-yard completion to Gantt in the second quarter set up a TD and the 73-yard TD throw to Cunningham composed about 60% of his passing yardage on the day. Hats off to Cousins though - even though he was a bit off today, he made the big plays when needed, and didn't throw a pick. Also, we have a running game? Baker and Caper both averaged over 4.0 yards a carry.

As for the defense...ugh. Joey Elliot completed about 70% of his passes and was finding receivers at will - in the flat, off of slants, down the sidelines - he was deadly today. Trenton Robinson made 14 tackles today, proof positive that the secondary was doing more than its fair share of the tackling. Does the defense need adjustment? LVS posted this quote in the afterglow thread, and I'll let Danny Hope's words make my point:

Boilermakers coach Danny Hope said Purdue was able to take advantage of things from a schematic standpoint.

"We had a great game plan. They have a very vanilla defensive formation," Hope said. "We knew what were up against and what we had to do. We just had to execute and I felt like we really did."

So...yeah. What adjustments do the Spartans need to make though? For those advocating a more drastic solution (FIRE NARDUZZI! BLLLLLLAAGGGHHH), I have one word for you:

GERG.

Scott Shafer, by most metrics, was not a good defensive coordinator. Justly, he got the boot after Michigan's abysmal 3-9 season, and was replaced by Greg Robinson, the man who set Syracuse football back to the leather helmet era. This hiring was hilarious in and of itself; more hilarious was watching Michigan fans talk themselves into the hiring. "Hey, he was the defensive coordinator at Texas during the Vince Young era!" was probably my favorite justification. I don't need to tell you what happened next.

Here's my point - some serious retooling does need to be done with the base defensive scheme. Any team with a functioning quarterback has been picking us apart this year, and an adjustment needs to be made - more pressing by the corners at the line of scrimmage, more use of the nickel package, etc. - if MSU wants to compete for the Big Ten title next year. However, firing Narduzzi means we need to hire a new defensive coordinator. New does not mean better; new just means different; and sometimes different equals disastrous (see: Rodriguez, Rich). Let's not fire Narduzzi and GERG ourselves.

Anyway, back to the question at hand: how, how, how did MSU win this game? In a word - execution. Brett Swenson executed his field goals better than Carson Wiggs. The Spartan kickoff returns were much more well executed than the Boilermaker kickoff returns. The Michigan State defense did get enough stops, as evidenced by Purdue's five field goal attempts. Even though Purdue executed better on ~80% of the game's plays, Michigan State executed better in the other ~20%, and all plays are not created equal. That's why football stats are dubious - an assumption is made that all plays count the same - an assumption everyone knows is a lie.

Now we're bowl eligible and have a chance to go to a slightly classier locale (HELLO ORLANDO!) with a win against Penn State on Saturday. The ~~Motor City~~ Little Caesar's Pizza Pizza bowl is definitely a possibility if Michigan beats Ohio State, so root against the Wolverines to your heart's content. As for now, enjoy the win, and never mind the defense - here's to a third straight bowl game.

I am stripped of all but pride

BoilerTMill — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:14:04 -0000

by Tom Strattman - AP

about 1 month ago: Michigan State running back Edwin Baker (4) picks up yardage as he tries to get away from Purdue safety Torri Williams (2) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

View full size photo »

The above lyric from Metallica is appropriate. After today's 40-37 loss we have only pride and the Bucket to play for this season. While it is disappointing, it is far from a horrible thing considering where we were going into the Ohio State game. We went from questioning if a 1-11 season was probable to playing for a bowl in the penultimate game of the season. Now we can build for next year with a statement win over Indiana.

That is why I think this season is a success regardless of the outcome of so many games. Yes, games against Oregon, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, and Michigan State would absolutely be wins if not for our own mistakes. Still, this season was not the 1-11 disaster many were picking even before it started. This team has shown more heart than recent Purdue teams. This team has never quit. This team has performed above expectations and has a win over the Big Ten's Rose Bowl representative and a close loss against the likely Pac-10 representative. This is growth from last year.

As for the mistakes that cost us today's game, they were unfortunate, but they can be corrected. That is also a sign of growth. We were 3-8 at this point last season, yet we seemed to have no heart or direction. The eight losses were by 6 (in overtime), 17, 14, 13, 22, 11, 14, and 5. This year, our seven losses were by 2, 7, 4, 3, 6, 15, 37, and 3. To me, that is a huge step forward from where we were. We are now to the point where other teams are not beating us except for our own mistakes. The next step is to correct those mistakes. If we do so, we will become a very good football team.

Positives from the Michigan State game:

Joey Elliott - Can you imagine if he had been a starter earlier in his career? If anyone deserved to lead this team to a bowl it was Elliott. After his TD pass to Cortez Smith you could see the passion as he ran off the field. He has grown by leaps and bounds this year, and I will miss his attitude.

Cortez Smith - Cortez has had a phenomenal two weeks and is putting himself in position to fill Aaron Valentin's role next season. The guy knows how to get open and get first downs. We can always use a guy who can use the chains.

Keith Smith - Keith will be a top target for Robert Marve next season. We have plenty of other options too. This is why I am already excited for next year. We return a bunch of experience at the skill positions and Keith will lead the way.

Jeff Lindsay and Kyle Adams - This was another fine week from our tight ends. They kept the chains moving with several critical catches. It is nice to add these weapons and we need to keep them involved in the offense next year.

Dan Dierking - I've always thought Dierking was undersized as a running back, but he made two huge catches today. That running back continues to be wide open on the wheel route, as Bolden was uncovered several times if we had looked for him.

Michigan State - It is rare that I credit the other team, but dammit if I wasn't impressed by the Spartans today. We truly outplayed them, but they made us pay for every mistake and made some huge plays when they needed to. I thought the game was over after Bolden's second TD. We had an 11 point lead on senior day with under 12 minutes left. The defense was rested, so I thought they would come out fired up. What ensued was a frenzy not seen since The Fumble game. Sparty earned this one today. They won a hard fought game.

Negatives from the Michigan State game:

Special Teams - I want J.B. Gibboney gone. Things were better without him. The past two seasons we were among the top 10 in kickoff coverage without a special teams coach. Today we acted like it was illegal to tackle the returner. The breakdown on the block field goal was huge. I don't mind Carson Wiggs missing the 49 yarder before halftime. You can't hit them all, but the other stuff is getting ridiculous. Chris Summers at least had a good game.

The defense - They had a great effort ruined by just a handful of plays, but they were big plays. They held for field goals after two long returns, but all three offensive touchdowns were the result of big MSU plays. They had a chance to really make a statement when up 11 and it last one damn play. To be fair, MSU provided excellent protection all day, but still. We had breakdowns two plays after we would look great. Just frustrating.

Covering Keshawn Martin - I hope this young man has a comfortable trip home because I don't want to see him again.

Up next:

As I said above, I am still incredibly proud of this team. The season will finish better than people thought, but not as good as it could have been. It is still progress. While I as at the Black & Gold Mine after the game I was listening to the call-in show after the game. Those that are attacking Danny Hope and saying he won't learn or it won't get better than this need to calm down.

Danny Hope did not miss tackles on kickoff coverage. Danny Hope did not miss the block that caused the blocked field goal. Danny Hope did not fail to execute on the field. What we are seeing are things that can be corrected. As long as the coaching staff recognizes this and works to do it for next season we will be fine.

Is it really that bad that we have lost seven games, five by less than a touchdown. We have been much more competitive than anyone expected. It is a base to build on for what can be a breakout year next season. The talent will only get better, while the departing seniors have never once quit on this team. That attitude will hang around. I will only be worried if the same mistakes continue unabated next year.

Keeping the Bucket next week is paramount. Both teams are 4-7, but both teams were 3-8 last year and 62-10 happened. We must exert our will and show that we are still much better than Indiana to gain confidence going into next year.

As for next year, I am expecting a big leap forward. First of all, playing Toledo, Western Illinois, and Ball State should be three easy non-conference wins. As middling as the Big Ten has been this season we should count on at least three conference wins, and if we improve I think we can win five. Are you really going to count us out of any game except maybe Ohio State? We can even make a big statement by ending Notre Dame's national title hopes in week one.

We're playing for next season now. It is this team's choice as to which way it wants to go. If we choose to focus on the positives of what we accomplished while striving to fix small mistakes we will do very well. If we choose to be negative and blame others for our failures we can expect another bowl-less season in 2010.

Accomplishing Nothing in Madison.

BoilerTMill — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:36:42 -0000

Well, that 700 mile round trip was fun. At least I got a great deal on a hotel room, a cheap rental car for the weekend, and I got to experience one of the best venues in all of college football. I have decided that I have a new number one on my favorite venues list. The fans at Wisconsin were the most pleasant fans I have ever been around. Madison is a fantastic college town and Camp Randall Stadium was one of the most accommodating places I have ever watched a football game. We never heard a single harsh word uttered to us before or after the game. Most everyone even welcomed us with open arms.

It would have been nice if the Purdue football team had joined us.

What follows is the travel log from the weekend. All times are Indianapolis time:

This is as close as anyone in a Purdue jersey got to the end zone. Yes, I was rocking my Kory Sheets jersey.

5:43pm Friday - Indianapolis, IN - We're rollin' this weekend in a Chevy Cobalt from Hertz. Why? 1. It was only $27 for the weekend. 2. My Jeep has 112,000 miles on it, it's paid for, and I need it to stay that way. 3. I'll save more than $27 in gas mileage anyway. 4. Because you know everyone is Big Pimpin' in a Chevy Cobalt.

6:05pm - Interstate 65 - The first major snag of the weekend. Just past 465 on the northwest side of Indy we hit a traffic backup. There appears to be no reason for this other than being frightened by rain.

6:48pm - Lebanon, IN - It took us over an hour to go what normally takes 15 minutes. Fortunately, the folk at Subway will get us on our way.

7:23 - Lafayette, IN - We pass God's country as we nearly met Him. Between tons of cars, tracks weaving across the highway in the wind, and a steady rain I swear I have now lost five years off my life. As Denis Leary would say, at least it is the adult diaper wearing years at the end.

8:32pm - Hobart, IN - Better weather prevails north of Lafayette, but nothing humorous along the way. Maybe I have done this drive to Chicago too many times. Time for a stop at Jamba Juice and their Pumpkin Smash. For the uninitiated, Jamba Juice is fantastic, but the one in the Merrillville area is the nearest one to Indianapolis. Just another reason living in Indy sucks.

9:17pm - southside of Chicago, IL - I can't remember where along I-94, but I remember seeing a billboard for a strip club that promised all-bare models. How many girls from the Hoosier state flock across the border to flee the oppression of pasties and G-strings? Is it really that much of an issue in strip clubs?

10:40pm - Outside Rockford, IL - One of the most dull drives I have ever done just keeps going on. There is NOTHING along I-90 west of Chicago. I question if this travel journal is worth it. At least Mrs. T-Mill is getting caught up on The Lost Symbol. It is coffee and pretzel time from the toll oasis.

11:51pm - Madison, WI - Finally, we are there. The hotel of choice the fabulous Crowne Plaza East on Madison's east-side. God bless the good folks at Hotwire.com for letting us essentially thieve the room for $57.

12:01am - We park after checking in. A strange guy ina Wisconsin Badger hat comes running up spinning a story about needing gas money. Among the highlights (all said in 30 seconds):

Are you Purdue fans staying the night (seeing my hat)?
I have all kinds of collateral in my truck
I'm calling my ex-wife and she is selling her wedding ring
I'll wire you the money, I just need to go about 140 miles.
Believe in Western Union

This, people, is why I rarely carry cash. We back away slowly and flee into the hotel.

12:49am - Time for bed. Just before signing off I see that Charles Torwudzo had a big 6-yard touchdown in Brownsburg's 20-14 win over Zionsville. Sweet!

8:09am Saturday - Going 1 for 1 with the Jamba stop in terms of having food from good places not in Indy, I hope to keep things rolling by finding a Buregger's Bagels for breakfast...

8:11am - and fail. Neither of the two in Madison are near the hotel. BLAST!

9:17am - Panera Bread will have to do

10:16am - I run into a few more Purdue fans leaving the hotel, leading to this exchange:

Fan: Are we gonna kick some butt oday?

Me: I sure hope so. It has to be better than when I went to Michigan two years ago.

This, my friends, is what we call a bad omen.

10:44am - We pass the infamous State Street on the way into campus. Just a fantastic bar scene. Even without a breakfast club going on I can tell it is great.

10:53am - As we park, we get warned we must leave by 3pm or they will tow all cars left because of the hockey game. I ask if they have leniency in case the game goes long. They say they think so. I am not encouraged, but what can you do. (Little did we know, time would certainly not be an issue)

11:39am - After another Subway stop on the walk to the stadium I figure out how to save lunch for halftime. I manage to stuff an entire footlong sub down the sleeve of my jacket and walk into Camp Randall Stadium undetected. I tell Mrs. T-Mill I should have done it in the pants and, if they asked questions, replied with, "Don't act like you're not impressed."

Following directions at Subway FAIL

11:43am - No wonder everyone likes Camp Randall after seeing this sign inside:

I approve! We showed up, and we certainly blew.

11:51am - I am seated with fans that don't lament being there. They actually cheer and want to watch football. I will like these people over the next three hours.

11:56am - Mental note: It's On Wisconsin = bad, not Onward Kokomo = good today. Don't enjoy the fight song. The U2 Streets Have No Name entrance is very nice. Camp Randall also has the best sound guy in the Big Ten, though their band is conspicuously quiet when not wandering through the stands. (All times will now be in game time)

15:00 1^st Quarter - Carson Wiggs bombs the kickoff deep for a touchback. Little did we know, this would be the highlight of the game, and the only play involving Wiggs. Does this make him team MVP?

All of our highlights in one photo!

11:40 1^st Quarter - We are refusing to adjust to the run. All they are doing is handing off to Clay and we can't tackle him.

9:27 1^st Quarter - Touchdown. 11 plays, 80 yards. All of it on the ground. They shouldn't attempt a pass until we prove we can stop them. Which way is State Street again?

7:26 1^st Quarter - Welcome back, turnovers. We've missed you

7:13 1^st Quarter - It's overturned and ruled an incompletion as Keith Smith never had possession (the first of many drops). A great Summers punt pins them inside the five.

6:23 1^st Quarter - The Wisconsin students begin chanting "Eat Shit, Fuck You." Classy! I don't want to hear a single Purdue alum ever gripe about 1,2,3,4, FIRST DOWN, BITCH again.

5:22 1^st Quarter - The defense holds, we get great field position, and do nothing with it.

3:02 1^st Quarter - The PA seems to be stuck on repeat. All I am hearing is, "John Clay on the carry."

Trying to figure out yet another way to write, "Clay with the carry"

14:23 2^nd Quarter - Random observation here: has Ralph Bolden become too patient? He seems to want to make an extra move now he doesn't need to make instead of just attacking.

10:37 2^nd Quarter - We go for it on 4^th down around the 30 on our best drive of the day. We fail, plus Aaron Valentin gets a 15 yard penalty for spiking the ball. Good job!

10:08 2^nd Quarter - Defend the sweep!

6:58 2^nd Quarter - That pick was just like the one Walter Thurmond took to the house at Oregon. Ugh.

5:02 2^nd Quarter - And Clay makes us pay. That's -7 points the offense has generated.

4:39 2^nd Quarter - The good: we try to get the ball in McBurse's hands. The bad: he doesn't want it with three drops (though the first two passes were bad)

4:30 2^nd Quarter - Game over with the blocked punt for TD. This was the worst four play sequence of the day. Even if McBurse had caught the first down pass he gets lit up for a four yard loss. The block is not on Chris Summers. Why do we run that 3-man protection when it invites a more persistent rush? Our own guy vaulted the defender up to block it!

0:02 2^nd Quarter - Give us the ball around the 25 with seconds to go in the first half and we are great. We misuse a timeout, eschewing it for a hurry up which costs us a few seconds (and at least one play). Elliott gets a WTF for not even throwing the Hail Mary.

Halftime - Props to the random guy in a white suit tossing peanuts at passersby on the concourse, encouraging them to catch with their mouths. Is this the Show N' Blow guy? Our best offense is officially ATM on kick returns.

14:38 3^rd Quarter - Catch the ball!

14:14 3^rd Quarter - "Another friggin' sweep!" The woman behinds me bursts out in laughter.

13:19 3^rd Quarter - All they are running is sweeps and draws. It's nothing fancy, and we look stupid. They overpowered us on the first drive and we never rose to the challenge.

12:04 3^rd Quarter - Another poor throw on third down. Another 3 and out. Joey Elliott regressed today, but he did have a ton of dropped passes that were on the mark.

10:39 3^rd Quarter - I am now officially staying just for Jump Around. It has gotten that bad.

8:26 3^rd Quarter - Is it now time for TerBush after another three and out? We can't even keep the clock running to mercifully end this.

6:01 3^rd Quarter - Still Elliott? Really? I mean I like the guy, but he can do no more today. I don't think it is his fault, either.

5:21 3^rd Quarter - This is how bad it was all day. They were manhandling us with the defensive front four. Those guys were getting pressure and stopping us any time we tried to run. That let the other guys step back in coverage, so no one was ever open. It's easy to play defense when your defensive line has a fantastic game like Wisconsin's did.

2:53 3^rd Quarter - You know you are sucking when the other team puts in their backup QB in the third quarter.

1:15 3^rd Quarter - ATM fumbles on another busted run. It is now a total disaster.

End 3^rd Quarter - Finally, Jump Around. For those of you who have never seen it in person, it is very impressive. Just a great tradition and I was very glad to see it. I even did some jumping myself in section DD. This just added to the atmosphere, as this is the most lively crowd I have ever experienced at a football game. These guys come to support their team and have fun doing it. Some Purdue fans could learn a lesson from them.

14:33 4^th Quarter - Wisconsin shows no mercy by going for it on 4^th and short up 34-0. I'm done. I bid farewell to the section and thank them for being great hosts. On the way out of the stadium I simply text Boilerdowd, "No mas" as the last field goal sails through the uprights. His response: "I left the house."

That's about right.

4:35pm - One final note after experiencing Madison a little more and getting some excellent coffee from Coffeebytes. We pick up a local microbrew, Ouisconsing Red Ale from Central Water's Brewing Company. "At least we'll get something good out of this trip," says Mrs. T-Mill.

I also got a call on the way home from Drew of the Big Ten Football Tour. He is wondering what the hell happened, as today was their Wisconsin day. He picked Purdue to win and had become a big fan after their visit two weeks ago. He does thank me and all Purdue fans for a wonderful experience last week. The discussion of beers in Indy after the Pacer game next Friday is raised. This must happen.

To sum things up, this was our worst effort on the season. We need to forget about it, never watch the tape again, and get ready for Michigan. The Wolverines got pantsed by Illinois today, so if we're ever going to win in Ann Arbor now is the time.

Packing up for the trip to Mad-town

BoilerTMill — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:03:19 -0000

At the very least, this matchup has gotten a lot more interesting in the last few weeks. Purdue has been the hotter team of late, though Wisconsin has a pair of losses to league heavyweights Iowa and Ohio State. There is no doubt that this is a different Purdue team than the one we saw in its last road trip. The landmark win over Ohio State is certainly cause for confidence. I am more encouraged, however, that we needed a less than perfect effort to win against Illinois.

Beating the Illini may not seem like much, but it is a major step forward for this team. Now that we know how to win games the ugly way, we can work on winning games the more aesthetically pleasing way. There is no time like the present with a visit to Madison on the schedule next.

This is also the week for the Hammer & Rails road trip. Last year's trip to Michigan State saw the official end of Purdue's bowl hopes in Tiller's final season, but we had a lot of fun anyway. I'll be documenting this game again travel journal-style like last year's Michigan State trip. Departure time is around 5:30 Friday evening from Indy, so I am hoping that this is a preview of a fun weekend. My previous road could use some work for sure:

At Cincinnati: 1-0

At Indiana: 2-2

At Rose Bowl: 0-1

At Illinois: 2-1

At Northwestern: 1-0

At Michigan: 0-1

At Michigan State: 0-1

At Minnesota: 0-1

At Ohio State: 0-1

At Hawaii: 0-1

TOTAL RECORD: 6-9

Many of these losses (Illinois 2002, Hawaii, Indiana, Minnesota 2005, Ohio State 2003) have been of the heartbreaking variety, so it would be nice to change things up a bit this week.

2008 Record: 7-6, 3-5 Big Ten

2009 Record: 5-2, 2-2

Bowl Result: Lost to Florida State 42-13 in Champs Sports Bowl

Blog Representation: Bucky's 5^th Quarter

Series with Purdue: Wisconsin leads 39-29-8

Last Purdue win: 10/18/2003 at Wisconsin 26-23

Last Wisconsin win: 10/21/2006 at Purdue 24-3

Wisconsin has had a season that would do Joe Tiller proud so far. They have five wins over mediocre teams in Fresno State, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Wofford, and Minnesota. In their other two games they have double digit losses to ranked teams. The win total is far from expected, but the Badgers are lacking a signature win over anyone. If you go on previous opponents it is hard to predict the outcome of the game. Wisconsin has beaten two teams (Northern Illinois and Minnesota) that Purdue lost to, but Purdue's 26-18 victory over Ohio State came a week after the Badgers dropped a 31-13 game to the Buckeyes. In my preseason preview, Adam of Bucky's 5^th Quarter said he wasn't worried about this game. He is probably at least a little worried now.

Wisconsin offense:

As usual, Wisconsin is a strong running team. They average almost 185 yards per game on the ground, so continuing to play strong against the run is paramount. Leading the way is John Clay with 716 yards and seven touchdowns. Clay has been over 140 yards three times this season, so we must key on him. He is a big back at 6'2" 247 pounds, making him a pretty heavy load to stop. Zach Brown (217-3) should see some time as more of a speed back, but he has good size at 5'11" 208 lbs. Wisconsin will likely try to wear us down with a combination of both Brown and Clay.

The Wisconsin passing game has been relatively effective at times, but has struggled in the last two games. Scott Tolzien has a good completion percentage at 63.6% per game. He has thrown for 1,436 yards and nine touchdowns against eight interceptions. The last two games have been particularly bad, with five picks coming against no scores.Ohio State managed to return two picks for scores.

Scott Tolzien has struggled of late, being sacked 10 times and throwing five interceptions in the past two games.

Tolzien has been successful with three solid receivers to spread the ball around to. Nick Toon (29-357-2), Isaac Anderson (22-347-1), and Garrett Graham (29-331-4) are quality targets that will open up the running game for Clay and Brown. Tight end Lance Kendricks (15-153-2) is also a solid receiving option, especially in short yardage. We should be concerned if Tolzien can get the passing game going, because a two-dimensional Badger offense will be difficult to stop.

Heading into the Ohio State game Wisconsin's offensive line had given up just two sacks in five games. The Buckeyes got to Tolzien six times, then Iowa got him four more times. This should make things interesting when you consider that our defensive line has been dominant of late. They will need to be again. Wisconsin's offensive line is simply massive with Gabe Carimi, Josh Oglesby, John Moffitt, Kevin Zeitler, and Peter Konz all standing 6'4" or better and weighing more than 315 pounds. It is one of the biggest lines we will see this year.

Wisconsin defense:

At lot has been made about how good our offense is, but I still see struggling. We're generating yards, but we're not putting tons of points on the board. We still haven't topped 26 points since the Oregon game, but we've been over 20 each time. It will be imperative for us to take advantage of every opportunity to score against a pretty good defense.

Wisconsin will be hurt by the loss of linebacker Mike Taylor. Taylor was lost for the season with a severe knee injury against Iowa. Since he saw extensive time as a redshirt freshman, depth could be an issue. True freshman Chris Borland will start in his place. Culmer St. John and Jaevery McFadden man the other two linebacker spots.

Wisconsin's secondary has picked off nine passes on the season, with safety Chris Maragos among the league leaders with three picks. Jay Valai at the other safety position is also a threat for interceptions.

Wisconsin's defensive line has been dominant all year long. The Badgers have 19 quarterback sacks on the season, which is two fewer than Purdue's 21. O'Brien Schofield leads the team with 6.5 sacks, meaning he is a forced to be reckoned with as a defensive end. Schofield also leads the conference with 16.5 tackles for loss. The rest of the sacks have been spread around the defense fairly evenly, so Schofield is far from the only guy we need to stop.

Wisconsin Special Teams:

Because of Phillip Welch, the Badgers are a feast or famine team on offense. Welch has hit on just eight of 14 field goal attempts, but he did have a long of 57 yards against Fresno State. It is the second longest field goal in the country this year other than the 59 yarder by Carson Wiggs. He has also missed an extra point. He doesn't have much of a leg on kickoffs with five touchbacks, so we should be able to take advantage of a kick return coverage unit that gives up over 25 yards per return. That kick return coverage also gave up a touchdown to Ray Small against Ohio State, so we shoul dhave very good field position and may even be able to break one with Al-Terek McBurse.

Brad Nortman is one of the conference's better punters, averaging more than 43 yards per kick. Neither return game does much of anything, though Borland does have one 25 yard return.

Intangibles:

The category seems to be about even. Purdue is playing well, but Wisconsin has had a week of rest. Wisconsin played poorly in its last two games on offense, but Purdue's defense just seems overdue to be gashed by a running game. Purdue is playing with a ton of confidence and has renewed optimism for a bowl, but Wisconsin has already handled the two teams that most soundly beat Purdue.

If we're going to get to a bowl game we have to win at least one of these next two road games. I would like to get it this week rather than rely on a win in Ann Arbor, where we haven't won in 43 years. We have also played well in Madison of late. This has been a strange series in that Purdue has not beaten Wisconsin at Purdue since 1997, but has a pair of wins in Madison (2000, 2003) in that time.

This is not a great offense if we can slow down the running game. The defense is pretty good, but it is hardly a brick wall. I certainly want to give the Badgers and edge since they are playing at home, but Purdue is due for a big road win. Of the big four road venues (Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State) Purdue has had the most success in Madison.

Keys to the Game for Purdue:

Limit Turnovers
Slow down the Wisconsin running game
Hassle Tolzien with the defensive line
Establish the running game with Bolden, Taylor, and McBurse
Make Tolzien throw the ball

Is the curse of The Fumble broken?

BoilerTMill — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:33:20 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

This looks an awful lot like Joe Tiller in September of 1997.(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Browse more photos »

It has been almost 48 hours now, and I am still wondering what happened in Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday. Coming into this season I know I was in the minority. I predicted we would win at least six games to go to a bowl game and that the infamous losing streak against ranked teams would end. I predicted all summer that we would win at Oregon, even as people in both fan bases told me I was crazy for thinking the game would even be competitive. As each close loss piled up, however, I gave up on the bowl dreams. I still knew we were good enough to beat a ranked team, but as it turned out we would only get one shot this year. Of our remaining five games, only Michigan might be ranked at the time of the game. That meant Ohio State was the one chance to end the ranked losing streak. Surely we wouldn't win that game.

But I was right.

The ranked losing streak is now a thing of the past. Unlike Chubby Charlie and our non-rivals to the north, we now know what it is like to beat a ranked team. We don't have to rely on moral victories anymore because we almost beat a top-10 team at home. Just imagine what we could do if we had a decided schematic advantage and four- and five-star talent all over the field.

Sorry about that. I couldn't resist that shot this morning. What happened in Ross-Ade Stadium could be a huge moment for the Purdue football program. Fittingly, it came just one day after the five-year anniversary of the last groundbreaking moment in our program's history. We call it The Fumble, but it could easily be called The Dropped Interception (thank you, Kyle Smith), The Missed Field Goal, or The Collapse. Whatever you want to call it, from the 8 minute mark of the fourth quarter in that game with Wisconsin, when Kyle Orton scored on a bootleg to make it 17-7, Purdue has never been the same. Even before The Fumble we gave up a lightning quick touchdown drive (sound familiar?) that featured Smith dropping a sure interception that would have sealed it. Most fans remember 10/16/2004 with sadness and resentment.

Five years later we were at rock bottom. I call it rock bottom because could we have really gotten any lower before that Ohio State game? We had gotten dominated by a middling MAC team at home. We had lost 19 straight games against ranked opponents (no one else in the country had lost more than 14 straight). We had digressed to the point where we couldn't even hold on to the football, turning it over three times in two minutes during our last home game to basically hand a sure victory over to a struggling Northwestern team.

The evidence was even in the crowd Saturday. I can't remember the last time we barely had 50,000 people in the stadium for even a 1-AA game, let alone against Ohio State. Even me, the eternal optimist, had a hard time getting excited for a trip to West Lafayette.

It is almost like we emerged out of purgatory Saturday morning. Maybe for some reason the football gods decided we needed exactly five years of ineptitude as punishment for some unknown sin. Since that moratorium ran out at midnight Friday night, we could once again be a good team. I am not saying that we are now worthy of the #5 national ranking that we held at the time of The Fumble, but you could see it in this team from the beginning Saturday. They just looked and felt different all day long. Even the Ohio State fans, who immediately tried to get the O-H-I-O chant going in the round, were subdued and couldn't get it going. That was a big sign in our favor.

Ryan Kerrigan played like a beast, setting the tone with a forced fumble on the second play. We made mistakes, but amazingly we didn't give up a single point after all three turnovers and the shanked punt. Even after the shanked punt we forced Ohio State backwards and forced another fumble.

I think the ultimate play that reversed The Fumble needs to be called The Kick. When Dan Dierking threw his awful interception it felt like we were just hanging on. It looked like another mind-numbing close call that Ohio State would pull out in the second half. The defense got a stop, we used our timeouts wisely, and Elliott got us in range with two nice throws. With nothing to lose we trotted out Carson Wiggs for a 55-yard field goal into a decent wind. He nailed it.

The moment his kick went through the uprights I felt a huge shift in the stadium. It is the type of shift I haven't felt since The Fumble. Before The Fumble, we felt that winning was inevitable. Since then, we have been waiting for disaster in nearly every game. After Wiggs' kick, however, everyone's demeanor changed. Like any player of NCAA Football on playstation does, we used the halftime break as a defensive stop to get the ball back. We then showed amazing competency and confidence in marching down the field for a touchdown. That was shocking. We NEVER march down the field at any time against Ohio State. Every touchdown we have gotten against the Buckeyes since Brees-to-Morales has felt like we needed to pull everything out of the bag just to get the score. Later in the third quarter we did it again. Leading 23-7 I had the same look on my face as every Ohio State fan in the South End Zone. It was the "What the hell is going on here?" look.

Amazingly, we closed it out with defense. Aside from one Elliott interception that did no harm, we played a virtually mistake free second half. Anyone who follows Purdue football knows this is a rarity even against bad teams. Our defensive line of two star talent was mauling Ohio State's large, heralded offensive line. The maligned secondary was batting passes down left and right. This was completely unheard of for us.

As I stood on the field following the win I couldn't help but wonder if the curse of The Fumble had finally been broken. That is the main reason behind this article today. Just as we didn't know the full effects of the Fumble on October 18^th, 2004, we don't know what the full effects of this win will be on October 19^th, 2009. It sure feels like a swing in the right direction though.

Much like after the Oregon game, we now have people seeing us as a dangerous team the rest of the year. We also have an overmatched opponent (from the state of Illinois, no less) coming into Ross-Ade for our next game. Like the Northern Illinois game, we are going to be a double digit favorite. The next step in the process is to not do what we did against Northern Illinois and blow a game we absolutely should win.

This win over Ohio State can be one of two things: First, it could be a lot like a 41-14 win Purdue had to open the 1992 season against #11 California. It was a great win that some thought would turn the program around. We immediately crapped the bed at home the next week against Toledo, finished 4-7, and had a 1-10 season the next year. As punishment, we had to have Jim Colletto be our coach from that game until the end of the 1996 season, wasting the career of the greatest running back in Purdue history.

Second, it could be a lot like another great day in Purdue history: September 13^th, 1997. On that day Purdue shocked #12 Notre Dame 28-17 in very similar fashion. We dominated that game in the same way we dominated this one. We held on late with some big plays on defense. That win came totally out of left field, as few people expected it walking into the stadium that morning. It even had its own signature play: the fumble recovery by Adrian Beasley for a touchdown. That win started a six game winning streak that ended with an unexpected bowl game. In related news, a similar six game winning streak would result in an even more unlikely bowl game. It is possible too. If we can beat Ohio State we are more than capable of beating each remaining team on our schedule. We jsut have to go do it.

I tend to think Saturday was closer to #2 than scenario #1. We just seemed to have an edge on Saturday that is intangible and hard to describe, but you could feel it from the players. They kept fighting through all the crap of the last five weeks, and now they know what it feels like to have that work pay off. They have taken the next step in learning how to win and overcome the mistakes that are happening. If we can ever learn to not have those silly, correctable mistakes, then watch out.

Maybe I am just delusional. Maybe I am still drunk off the ambrosia of the biggest win the program has had since at least 2003. We very easily could return to Northwestern form and blow a game to an Illinois team that has clearly quit on its season. As big as Saturday's win was, a loss to Illinois would be 10 times worse. At least Northern Illinois was a MAC team playing a virtually perfect game. The Huskies had a ton to play for. Illinois has already given up. You could see it when they got dominated by Indiana. If we lose to Illinois it would be the most damaging loss in the history of Purdue football.

We have to make it a win. That is the next step: not falling off pace. A win gives us an actual winning streak. Then, if we're 3-5, we can look at the final third of the season and still have an outside chance at a bowl. Let's keep the confidence rolling and make sure the curse of The Fumble is broken.

Nirvana achieved: Purdue upsets a ranked team!!!!

BoilerTMill — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:52:03 -0000

Today started very poorly for me. The job I told everyone about fell through and I was laid off after just three days. Carrying this up to West Lafayette, I needed a pick me up. Four hours later I was in Harry's with a drink in hand, shaking my head in disbelief. Guns ‘N Roses was playing, I could smell the popcorn, and I just smiled. That has to be what heaven feels like.

Purdue 26, #7 Ohio State 18

This is why I write here. This is why I devote so much time to following my alma mater. I know I am one of those people that lets my team affect my day, good or bad, too much when they are playing. Today I was glad, because it made it a very good day. As Purdue fans, we rarely have these great moments. We are not blessed as one of the great teams of college football that takes a nine win season for granted. It had been almost six years since we had experienced a win even close to this one.

Get those 30 year old alumni off the field!

I am an emotional guy. I get fired up easily and put my heart into everything. Today, as we kept building on an inexplicable lead, I was so elated I was almost crying. As Ohio State began its comeback I kept saying, "If they want to kill me, blowing a 16-point fourth quarter lead against Ohio State after five straight losses is the way to do it." Even when they announced the final face mask penalty, which gave us the clinching first down, I was more stunned with disbelief than overjoyed. After several primal screams following each big sack, I just stood there once we had the last first down. Was it really over?

Seeing the students run on the field, Mrs. T-Mill and I couldn't resist. After a few moments we went down and joined everyone on the field. It was quite a sight. Alumni were out there taking pictures. The players were shaking hands with the students. I personally shook hands with Jaycen Taylor and David Pender, thanking them for the game. Mrs. T-Mill even got a hug from Pender. No one wanted to leave.

Make no mistake, Ohio State was TERRIBLE in this game, and that is a huge reason we won. They had five turnovers. They had an ineffective offense. Their passing game consisted of Terrelle Pryor throwing the ball up for grabs and hoping his receivers came down with it. We did what we needed to defensively in shutting down their running game and making Pryor beat us with his arm. He was unable to do so. Meanwhile, we had some mistakes, but unlike past weeks, we did not have to pay for them. We gave up zero points after three turnovers and another poor punt. There were also several fantastic performances on both sides of the ball:

Ryan Kerrigan - Whenever this young man plays Ohio State he is a beast. Nine tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. If he does not when Defensive Player of the Week this week in the Big Ten it is a crime. For the record, he now has six sacks in two games against Pryor. Ohio State might double team him next year.

Carson Wiggs - He was four for five on field goals, and the miss was by about a foot from 52 yards. He also hit high pressure kicks from 55 and 49, then had to unexpectedly punt the rest of the game as Chris Summers continues to unfortunately struggle. Ladies and gentlemen, you Special Teams Player of the Week in the Big Ten.

Brandon King - Two HUGE interceptions.

David Pender - He laid out and had a gigantic pass block on a 3^rd down attempt that ended a drive late in the third quarter. That was a huge play right there.

Aaron Valentin - 10 catches for 97 yards and two scores. Why don't we go for the sweep and give him the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week?

Keith Smith - 12 catches and 125 yards. His catch over the middle just before halftime set up Wiggs' 55 yard field goal. That was a big kick, as it really turned the momentum of the whole game in our favor. I think it is safe to say that we do not when if Smith doesn't make that catch. The field goal changed everything because we hadn't played well, yet we led at halftime. It jump started the entire offense for the second half.

Joey Elliott - He missed some throws, but still had a solid game by making more throws than he missed.

Waynelle Gravesande - He did very well in the return game and had a good reception on a touchdown drive. Said to Mrs. T-Mill when he was catching punts: "I think if I smoked it would take less off my life than watching us return punts." With Gravesande, that factor is lowered somewhat.

I am going to enjoy this win for awhile. I knew I had a good feeling for a reason this week, and I was right in saying that the long losing streak against ranked teams would end. I was thinking last year in a cheap win over Minnesota when they were ranked 25^th. I never thought it would come against Ohio State. The Buckeyes NEVER lose games like this. The last time they lost a game to a team that did not play in the BCS was to Purdue in 2004. Unless we win the rest of our games to finish 6-2 in Big Ten play and Penn State, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Iowa all finish with at least three conference losses that is not going to happen this year. Did you know they would have tied the Big Ten record for consecutive conference road wins with 17 had they won today? The last time they lost in conference play away from Columbus was at Penn State in 2005.

And this may be the delusion speaking, but the dream of a bowl game for Purdue in 2009 is not totally dead. If we beat a moribund Illinois next week we are 3-5. Suddenly, a split with Michigan and Wisconsin puts us 4-6 facing Michigan State at home. Beat the Spartans, and we're playing IU for a bowl.

Let's not get carried away though. It is still likely not going to happen, but this program got a gigantic shot of confidence today that it sorely needed. Those that were saying this was a loss in Sharpie *cough* JMoney, Boilerdowd *cough* can suck it (I kid, guys). I actually saw Boilerdowd at the game and he was a virtual wild man in section 128.

I leave you today with what we all want to see, Boilers on the field celebrating. We don't have to wait for basketball season anymore.

Albert Evans celebrates with the P

Ralph Bolden with a young fan on the field

Mrs. T-Mill gets revenge for the 2002 Fiesta Bowl

With my 11-year old nephew after his first Purdue game

Welcome to the Fold: Cody Webster

BoilerTMill — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:39:20 -0000

Punters do not generate a lot of excitement. Most are only known for two reasons: 1. They do their job exceptionally well (like Travis Dorsch) or 2. They screw up royally and draw the ire of the fan base. Our current punter, Chris Summers, is unfortunately closer to the second category, but he has still done an admirable job. For a former walk-on (majoring in engineering, no less, so he does have a hefty class load) he has done everything we have asked of him. He has a bowl-winning kick on his resume, and his 41.4 yards per kick average is still an improvement over last year.

I mention this because Chris will be gone next year, and it appears we inked his replacement today in Cody Webster. Webster is a 6'2", 180 pound punter from Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, PA. This may sound familiar to those that have read my regular scouting reports on the incoming recruits. Wide receiver Jeremy Cornelius and his Bishop McDevitt team played Central Dauphin East on September 18^th. It can also be confusing, as there is a Central Dauphin and Lower Dauphin on Bishop McDevitt's schedule as well as Central Dauphin East.

As is expected with most kicking recruits, he is currently unrated by both Scout and Rivals. His Rivals profile does have video. Central Dauphin East is currently 0-5 on the season, so he has had plenty of practice at punting. The Panthers are giving up more than 55 points per game and are scoring less than 20.

Cody also has some highlights on YouTube. This clip is particularly impressive, as the snap goes over his head, yet he recovers in time to get a hell of a punt off from over 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

What a play, by a punter!

I like this because it shows he is both athletic and has a cool head under pressure. He reminds me a little bit like Miami's studly punter Matt Bosher. Bosher handles both punts and placekicks and has set records for weightlifting at his position. He is not afraid to hit guys if he has to make a tackle.

Webster plays a little bit of wide receiver on his team, and I have also found that he plays some basketball. This follows the trend, even at punter, of Danny Hope going out and getting athletes. He does not limit himself to one specialty, which is good. You never know when that athleticism will be needed on a fake punt, a botched snap, or a botched hold on a place kick. Sure, we don't call on it all the time, but it is nice to know it is there.

I leave you tonight with a more complete highlight reel. He can handle placekicking as well. Wiggs appears to have that job locked up for the next two seasons, but it is nice to have a plan B in reserve just in case.

Gettin Familiar With: Purdue

Rodger Sherman — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:41:40 -0000

This post is about two things: Purdue Boilermakers football and... romance.

via news.uns.purdue.edu

She stared deep into his limpid, pupil-less eyes, and immediately knew that she could never be with another man wearing a mask of a really weird looking, possibly soulless engineer with a helmet again

On the season: The Boilers got off to an alright start, I guess, beating Toledo 52-31, but since then, it's been three coulda, shoulda, woulda, but, uh, didn't games for Purdue. First came a 38-36 loss to Oregon - yes that Oregon, who just whomped Cal - that came due to a missed PAT and a last-second two-point conversion that was caught just a few inches outside of the end zone. Then came an embarrassing loss at home to Northern Illinois, who, quite frankly, dominated Purdue. Then came a heartbreaking 24-21 loss to Notre Dame, where Danny Hope majorly aided Notre Dame's game-winning touchdown drive by calling a timeout in the waning seconds, a decision inspired probably by playing Madden on three minute quarters and letting your opponent score easily with like 40 seconds left so you have the ball with time to score. Anyway, Purdue is a few plays away from being 3-1 with two wins over signature teams, but then again by that logic, NU is a few plays away from being 4-0 and almost ranked. So all you need to know is that they're 1-3.

Us and them: Purdue is 49-26-1 against us all-time. That all-time record reminds me of another set of numbers...

Oh yeah. We beat them 48-26 last year. The main thing I remember from this game is that we were lifting this one guy every point we scored, but after lifting him 41 times, it was really hard to lift him 48 times a few minutes later. I also remember collecting disembodied Pat Fitzgerald heads-on-sticks, but that's neither here nor there.

Unfortunately, there's been a surprising amount of overturn from last year at Purdue - Curtis Painter, who lobbed three picks, is gone, and Kory Sheets, who really dominated us on the ground running for 168 yards and two touchdowns, is also gone. And in case you ain't heard, Joe Tiller, last year's head coach, has been replaced with Danny Hope, the fourth team we've played with a new head coach. Purdue also has new offensive and defensive coordinators, making them the fourth team we've played replacing a head coach and both coordinators, and the fifth with at least one new coordinator. I hope you guys hate continuity.

Offense: Ralph Bolden is sort of good at running back. He's averaging 6.2 - six, point, two - yards-per-carry, and 488 yards rushing in four games.. Yeah, some of that is skewed by a 234 yard game against Toledo, but, that's still a little bit less than half his yardage on the year. Even in his lowest total on the year - a 12-carry, 67-yard performance against Northern Illinois - he was still averaging those 5.3 yards-per-carry and had 62 yards receiving. The guys good. And he'll touch the ball 20 times this game, so, long story short, panic.

Joey Elliott is a fifth-year senior starting for the first time, and he's not so hot, but he's not really what we need to worry about. He threw three picks against Toledo, and although he redeemed himself with a three td, one pick performance against Notre Dame, I don't know, he's really just not a great passer if you watch him just a little bit. He'll hit short open guys, and he'll hit them well, but he's not going to be Purdue's focal point by any stretch. Keith Smith accounts for 358 receiving yards, about twice as many as anybody else on the team, but I don't think he'll trouble Sherrick McManis much.

Defense: Purdue has a Northwestern style defense, by which I mean "they couldn't tackle your grandmother if she was walking at a brisk enough pace." This isn't something I've discovered because I'm a football analyst, or because I'm a Purdue fan who has pored over game tape, I just watched a few highlight reels on youtube, all of which are less than a minute, and you can see that a lot of the medium-to-huge size plays Purdue gives up are because they really just don't wrap people up. It's important to note that Northern Illinois ran for 280 yards against Purdue.

In terms of passing defense, they do average a pick a game, but, yeah, Toledo threw for 423 yards against them, and I understand they're a pass-heavy offense, but, yeah, that's not going to cut it.

Special Teams: I don't generally cover special teams in these posts, but Purdue has a fella named Carson Wiggs who freakin' nailed a 59-yarder against Toledo. Yeah, 59. That's almost 60. Which is almost 63. Which is the longest field goal in NFL history.

Then again, he also missed an extra point against Oregon. This sort of inconsistency is known amongst those in the kicking world as a case of "the Demoses."

Transitive property logic that makes me confident we'll beat this team by a lot:

Normally I do this using lopsided scores from the previous year.. but we beat this team by 22 last year. No transitive property logic needed, that was sort of a beatdown.

So, that's that. A day late and a lot of football analysis short, but, deal with it, it's what I got. See you some other time, people.

Boilermakings for 9/8

BoilerTMill — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:53:19 -0000

Now that football season is in full swing, it means other fall sports are in swing as well. As a result, We get a Boilermakings Tuesday before turning our thoughts toward Oregon.

Ralph Bolden is the toast of the nation - I suppose that being the nation's top running back after week one will do that. ESPN's Adam Rittenberg recently praised Ralph, He was featured in The Sporting News today, and he was of course named as the Big Ten's co-offensive player of the week. I don't expect him to put up the same numbers against Oregon, but if he does I have a hard time seeing us losing. Credit also needs to be given to the O-line and fullbacks Jared Crank and Dan Dierking for freeing him.

Plenty of Ralph Bolden to see here

Katie Douglas is up for WNBA MVP - This is a great honor for the Purdue grad, as she tried to lead the Fever to the WNBA title. Indiana has the best record in the East heading toward the playoffs, and before the season many people expected that the only thing that would keep them in Indianapolis is a WNBA title. Fortunately, Katie Douglas has not been seen shooting up the 8 Seconds Saloon over on the west side unlike some of her co-tenants at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Women's soccer climbs in the polls - The women's soccer team used its upset of #6 Texas A&M to achieve a #14 ranking in last week's top 25. With wins over Valparaiso (1-0) and Ball State (6-1) this past weekend Purdue should have little trouble maintaining its ranking. A trip to #4 Stanford looms on Friday, followed by a game at #22 Santa Clara on Sunday.

Volleyball goes 2-1 at Baylor Classic - The ladies' volleyball team may have fallen out of the top 25, but they were able to notch wins over Texas-San Antonio and Central Florida before losing 3-2 to host Baylor. Next up is the Kansas State invitational against Portland, Kentucky, and #21 Kansas State.

Final Four or Bust for the men's basketball team - Credit to the guys at Boiled Sports for finding this, but the basketball blog Rush The Court has come out with their Purdue preview. I agree with its assessment as well: Final Four or Failure.

Only one segment left of Livin' Large to enjoy - And Basketbawful has been a truly artful story teller for this entire series. I knew those guys from Kokomo were alright.

Painter makes the Colts' roster - He received lots of good news on a day when many former Boilers did not.

Tim Cary has us all covered - Tim posted some fine work from his visit to Ross-Ade last weekend. He has a great conversation with Curtis Painter, a feature on Jason Werner and Torri Williams, and a discussion with Carson Wiggs about his 59-yard field goal on Saturday.

Go Duck yourself - Addicted to Quack is beginning to move on and look forward to the Purdue game. We'll have more from them later this week as I work to set up another podcast tomorrow night.

The ranked losing streak will continue - No matter what happens, our wait to beat a ranked team will continue as Oregon fell out of both top 25's after their loss at Boise State. Personally, I think they should have held on to #25 based on defense alone, but I am wrong.

Suddenly not so bad - The Rivalry, Esq. sums things up best. We have gone from "Surely putrid" to "mildly intriguing" with our week one perfomance. This is all the more reaqson that an upset at Autzen would be very good for our program. I am thinking this is becoming almost as pivotal of a swing game as last year's was. A win in Autzen would be just as positive as us choking away last year's game was negative. Bring on the Ducks!