Could someone please tell me exactly what the heck is going on in your state with all the flooding and Ft. Calhoun nuclear facility.......because I am hearing reports that dozens of roads, along with thousands of acres of farmland is all under water - and more flooding (high levels) still possible.

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Not sure if TMill or any of the other H&R guys at the Spring Game noticed, but there was a tall, lanky young kid hanging around the field after the game, talking with some Purdue folks and some of the players. I looked at him a couple of times to figure out he was still in high school because of the ID tag he had around his neck.

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Pretty enjoyable afternoon at Ross-Ade for the Spring Game....didn't think I was going to go until the last minute after the weather started to clear out. Beautiful day and some pretty solid outings for a number of the Boiler football team.

I was interested in keeping an eye on some of the younger kids now on the roster, and I kept going back to DE Ryan Russell, the RS freshman from Carrollton, TX.  He had 2 sacks and some hurries on the day, and he might just be the heir-apparent to the Den of DE tradition for the Boilers. Mebane was solid as well, but Russell caught my attention from the get-go. Will be interesting to see how much he can progress over the next four years. Rashard Frazier is also another young gun at DE I am anxious to see develop for the Boilers.

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Thinking back on the week that preceded the big contract and payraise for coach Painter. By the thousands we were all nervous wrecks watching the bizarre Tweeting and jump-the-gun-reports unfold by the minute during of the Mizzou saga. Sorting through all the pro's and con's of why he would or would not accept the post in Missouri, etc., etc. It seemed like a ride on the bullet train through hell, and much longer than the 72-96 hours it lasted.

All of that is now a moot point. Matt Painter has pushed his chips "All in".

Coach P wanted more support and better pay, not just for himself apparently, but  for his staff. He also wanted additional university commitment and support, in the belief that it would propel the Boilermaker basketball program towards the "elite" level on a consistent basis.  Will this help in the recruitment of "better" players? We'll see. Already, in my opinion, he has lost ground in the recruiting game these past couple of years.

Whether that was caused by the lack of support that he referenced, I don't know. If so, fine, but he still has an uphill battle to take back the state on the recruiting trail. And he doesn't really have many slots available to offer over the next two years.So it looks like, for now, he's going to have to go with the hand he's holding. Not that it's a completely horrible hand, but I am one who believes it's a bit lacking, especially in regards to scoring and able bodies in the paint. (

Meantime, as he stated (or was oft-stated for him during "The Decision"), the goal - the ONLY goal - is to win a national championship in men's basketball. After some delay and an odd public press release, Burke and the university re-grouped and responded. Big time. The deal was sealed for the Boilermaker basketball program and the Boiler faithful.

As the saying goes, "Be careful what you wish for".

From this point on, ALL the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of Matty P. He owns it.  And while he's busy making up his lists for the things he plans on doing with the increase financially, and the additional sources of university support, he might also want to send a sarcastic "Thank You" card down to Indianapolis to one Brad Stevens. Because like it or not, those two names WILL come up jointly over the next few seasons as the "new" Purdue basketball era unfolds. 

Brad Stevens, on a contract of around $400k (or a bit more) has made two trips to the championship game in consecutive years, with talent that was determined to be far from 4 or 5-star bluechip level. That's about $1.5 million less in contract money to much better than his counterpart here in Lafayette. That's a bunch of jack to be accepting for a Sweet-16-level ROI. Especially when looking at the ROI for the Butler contract with Stevens.

Fair or not, that's now Matt's benchmark. Championship game in the next two or three years, or bust.  No more excuses, no more "should've been in the final four's", it's in the public domain as being the reason he needed the extra money and support.

Matt has the capability to get it done. He's smart, savvy and knows the game. But while many will give him a pass on the 2009-10 season because of the late injury to Hummel, and again this year (maybe) with Robbie's 2nd injury and the Barlow incident, I don't think that's entirely appropriate. He had solid players after Robbie, including two players lauded as two of the best in the nation. One ended up as an All-American selection, B1G player of the year and DPOY. So what happened? They wilted in games that they should have (and were supposed to) show up and win. Not so much JJ as E'Twaun, but it was also the supporting cast that offered much the same response.

That MUST change, and therein lies Matt's biggest challenge. No excuses.

That's why I point to our in-state brethren down the road at Butler as the new benchmark, and more directly, the work of coach Brad Stevens.

As we've all witnessed over the tournament run of this year and last, Butler doesn't fold. We've seen Butler show up. Every game. And they don't give up whether they're down 2 points or 7 points or 13 points, like they were at one time against Florida a couple of weeks or so ago. Like they were last night early on against a VCU team that just destroyed our Boilers. Yes, I realize they shot much better from the field against everyone else until the Butler game. But that's an excuse, and should also say more about Butler's defensive pressure and tenacity than an off-night by VCU.   

Some how, some way, coach P and our Boilers have to have find whatever it is that's been missing in those same situations. The plain truth is we haven't seen them with the fire and intensity (except for the home games vs MSU and OSU this year) that helps lift a team in critical contests. Painter has to build that up and instill a "No Fear" mentality that just pours out of the players from Butler. It should be pretty embarrasing to the players on this Purdue squad, actually.

So while all of us rejoice in the fact that coach Painter is a Boiler( and probably will be for the remainder of his career), he has stepped up (which I admire him for). and stepped out to lay his cards on the table.

He's all in. WE'RE all in. I'M all in. Have been. For decades. 

Makers, All.  *cough* gag* choke*

Now the question remains: Can he get us to the promised land. Will that type of program bloom now that he is set up the way he thinks is just and proper. I hope so. It would be fantastic to see it happen. He won't have long to prove it. If we end up in the next  two or three seasons with a few more Sweet 16 appearances and additional deflating losses along the way, my hunch is he will  be going to go into early retirement and maybe sitting courtside with an ESPN or B1G Network headset on just like Gene Keady. Nice guy, decent coaching resume, no Final Four and no championship as promised.

 Bunch of weight on those shoulders now. Boiler Up !

So the Ohio State AD stated earlier today that the Buckeyes will suspend Jim Tressel for two games, with Tressel giving the alibi that he lied to NCAA investigators because he was trying to protect the confidentiality aspect of a drug trafficking investigation. Uh huh.

SportsbyBrooks.com has just released copies of the actual email responses of Jim Tressel, with dates of the emails showing how far in advance he knew of the illegal actions and the responses he gave when finding out about the actions.

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/documents-read-the-actual-jim-tressel-emails-29547

While Ohio St. has made the decision to punish Tressel with just a two-game suspension, I would have to think at this point the NCAA will be forced to step in and come down in a much more forceful manner unless they just completely do not care about the hypocrisy of their "enforcement" policies.

According to a tweet from College Football Talk website/ story from Yahoo Sports.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/03/07/uh-oh-jim-tressel-could-be-in-major-ncaa-hot-water/

The five who were already suspended for the beginning of the year - when the Buckeyes play the likes of Akron and Toledo - won't kill the chances of OSU vying for another B1G football title. However, if it can be proven that Tressel hid information from the NCAA months before he actually stated, then he could ultimately be sent packing. Not saying that will happen, but the allegations don't bode well for the 2011 season to go very smoothly.

Went to OSU's Jared Sullinger. According to Yahoo Sports.  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=Aoa62fJvqgSAndJMMKmdIBrevbYF?slug=jn-bigten030111

JJ & 3Twaun are first teamers and Coach Painter getst he COY......but no other Boilers on 2nd or 3rd team lists.
Not quite sure that I disagree with the 2nd and 3rd team exclusions other than LewJack not getting any love. Perhaps this fires him up (and others)  a bit more for the tournament

He's performed pretty well for being an inexperienced, unpolished young QB tossed into a horrible situation.

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Not Robbie. Not AGAIN !  Oh good God, noooooooooooooooo. Sorry, still need to scream out the pain. And since I need more words to make this a post:

WHY?

NOW?

WHY?

EVER?

WHY?

AGAIN?

WHY?

NOW

WHY?

EVER?

WHY?

We'll still be there for our Boilers this year.

We still have a good team.

We just won't have THE SAME CALIBER of team without Robbie.

The Paint Crew and the rest of Boiler Nation will be especially important in the coming days, as this team will need to know it still has all of us behind them 100% of the time, no matter what.

Underclassmen need to step it up harder and faster now. JJ and E need to take the responsibility of leadership and show the younger guys what a gut check is all about. We can DO this guys. Just play your game.

Ooops. I missed getting back here to post this on Monday night, so you'll have to excuse the tardiness. You can check out the new rankings each week on Tuesday mornings over at www.drafttek.com, along with all of our positional rankings and computer simulated NFL draft. Right now, the top Boiler on the Drafttek.com Big Board is none other (and not surprisingly) than Ryan Kerrigan. He's at #93 presently, but will certainly move up even more if he can continue to do as well as he has the past couple of years.

But now, onto the NFL Power Rankings as we head into week three of the 2010 season

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It's only week two of the college football season, but already there are matchups that will certainly create havoc down the road in the BS BCS playoff bowl schedule. A few of them are bowl-worthy even now, and should make the viewing weekend (coupled with the opening week of NFL action) a beautiful thing. For all of you who aren't going to be able to make the trip to Ross Ade Stadium to see the Leathernecks and Boilers, it would appear that an all day camp out in front of the big screen will be almost as much fun. Enjoy!

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Be sure to visit  Drafttek.com  to read Mac's NFL Power Rankings each week following all the action in the NFL, and to utilize the exceptional Online Draft Simulator that lets YOU input your own team needs and their level of importance for your favorite NFL team. You can also set up the draft in the order you think each team will be slated at draft time next April and then create your own mock draft!

At Drafttek.com, you can also find the most timely updates and rankings for over 500 collegiate football players that will be making up the 2011 NFL Draft.

That's at www.Drafttek.com

So welcome back football fans!!! It's finally time for the NFL to get back into full gear and it seems like it has been ages since the Super Bowl. Be sure to catch Mac's NFL Power Rankings each week at Drafttek.com


We're finally ready to dispense with the pretending and commence with the reality that is a new NFL season. The mind-numbing and oft-nauseating Favre watch is now officially over - for good. (We think) This will be his last season no matter what. (We hope) Teams have now pared down their rosters to the requisite 53 players, with teams claiming a few of those potential diamonds in the rough off waiver wires. Hardknocks is now over and Jets coach Rex Ryan will find out what that term truly means in the next few weeks- with or without Revis Island.

In the 2010 NFL season, I believe we'll see a couple of unfamiliar faces in playoff spaces come January, with former playoff "regulars" looking on from the proverbial sidelines. While the Saints might have a letdown from their championship year, there's no reason to think it will be because they are less hungry. Sometimes things just fall into place for you like an Adrian Peterson fumble, or a Hank Baskett muff. There's just nothing that can explain the how or why of it happening, but if you're on the side of "lady luck", then you have been supplied one more portion of that age-old formula "When preparation meets opportunity, success is a likely result." Or words to that effect.

Unless you're the Minnesota Vikings. But that's a whole different subject for a whole different day.

Mac's NFL Power Rankings will normally begin each season with the defending champion at the top of the heap, until it's first defeat. At that point all bets are off and anyone could jump up to #1 at any given time. Generally the first few weeks see quite a bit of change as the teams looked upon as favorites have a rugged start, or teams not expected to do that much ( a la Denver last season through week 6) shoot up into the top ten, only to slide down the rankings later on.
Before we get to the rankings, let me also make the journey out onto the shakey limb that is NFL predictions, and give you my division winners and playoff participants.

First, the division winners & wild card teams:

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