I know this is my inner cockiness coming out, but I am fully confident today will end with a victory. I am so confident I will even be out of town. You see, Mrs. T-Mill loves NHL hockey, specifically the Florida Panthers. Since Indianapolis does not have a hockey team (nor would four out of five people know what a puck is) we don't get much chance to follow the NHL. Her Panthers are playing down in Nashville tonight and we were able to get tickets at a good rate. As the Boilers play we're headed to the Music City and our best chance to see the Panthers this season. As a bonus, we're see Standford Keglar and Mike Otto take on Chike Okeafor and the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow. I'll be listening on the radio as long as I can driving down, but the comments are open.

The key to stopping Central Michigan Saturday will be containing perhaps the best player in MAC history, Dan LeFevour...

Sorry about that. I guess over the past few years I am used to seeing Central Michigan on the schedule and thinking about Dan LeFevour. In a way, it may be a good thing we missed out on a bowl game. Otherwise we would possibly see him again in Detroit. This time the men's basketball team will be facing the Chippewas. They don't have The Clippers' Chris Kaman to help them now, so we'll exact some revenge after they eliminated our women's soccer team from the NCAA tournament.

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope everyone out there has a safe and happy holiday. The posting will likely be scaled back slightly over the next few weeks before Christmas. The recent temp job I accepted is going to need me for some extra hours so that will cut into some of my writing time. I do have press access for the Wake Forest game next week, however, so that should be fun. If anyone finds any worthwhile news during the day feel free to post it via fanshot and I'll get it to the front page as soon as I can. Also, if you feel like doing a post of your own you can do it via Fanpost on the right. I haven't pushed these features too much in the past, but they are great ways to expand the community here. Now on with the football wrap up.

I am not quite sure what to think about this. When seeing some preseason predictions of 2-10, 1-11, 3-9 with maybe a pair of Big Ten wins, the 2009 Purdue football season looks pretty good. When you actually sat down and watched all 12 games, as I did (minus Northwestern) it is hard not to think that 10-2 was possible. That leaves me with mixed feelings. We were much better than advertised, but not as good as we could have been. Ultimately, 5-7 is probably about right based on the amount of inexperience we had on offense. Even then, those players overachieved.

That is what makes this season wrap up so hard. How do I put it in proper perspective? I guess we can look at each game individually.

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I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'll be headed home to Kokomo to visit family and watch my beloved Kats open the basketball season in their traditional first game against Western. As much as I love all things Purdue, nothing compares to the few times a year I get to go back to Kokomo's Memorial Gym. Before we get to the holiday, here is a quick Boilermakings.

Smith and Kerrigan named First Team All-Big Ten, get surgery as a reward - Credit to regular reader Carmen_fanzone for posting these two items as fanshots over to the right. Kerrigan's injury can be a little tricky. I had a stress fracture in the same spot once and it can take a while to heal. He seems to have had a clean break though, so surgery might help. Smith is simply a badass for playing 10 games with his injury and still making the all-Big Ten team.  

More honors for Kerrigan - Ryan was selected today as a Second Team Academic All-American by ESPN.

Wrestling begins season with major upset - The Boilers upset 9^th ranked Missouri on the road this past weekend.

Caden Shields gives us a reason to pay attention to Cross Country - As mentioned a week ago, Shields was the first Purdue male athlete to participate in the Cross Country championship since 1987. He placed 132^nd overall with a personal best time.

Volleyball nearly makes history - Penn State has now won 93 consecutive matches, but Purdue hung tough last week before losing three sets to one. Purdue took its first set against the Nittany Lions since 2005.

Women's basketball struggles early - Depth is going to be a huge issue with so many people hurt. The ladies beat Western Illinois and Seattle to start the season, but lost games in Mackey Arena to Dayton and Georgetown in the Basketball Travelers Classic. Projected starters Chantel Poston and Alex Guyton are out at the moment, as is freshman Sam Ostarello.

A Final salute to Jaycen Taylor - You will be missed.

The things that I miss with more responsibility. Purdue added its 20^th football commitment for 2010 today with the addition of Texas athlete Jeremy Eddington. This commitment is actually a bit of a surprise, as he backed out of a standing offer with from Rice to come to Purdue. This decision was made after his official visit during the Michigan State game a week and a half ago.

Eddington is listed as a 3-star athlete with Rivals and has 4.41 speed. Scout has him as a 2-star player. It is not known what position he'll be playing at Purdue. In high school at Paris Chisum in Texas he played mostly quarterback this year, but he could be slotted as a receiver or running back with his speed. To me, this presents some interesting possibilities. With Robert Marve, Rob Henry, Caleb TerBush, and Sean Robinson we have plenty of depth at quarterback. That depth will be young behind Marve as well.

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More photos » by Brennan Linsley - AP

5 days ago: Purdue players celebrate after narrowly defeating Tennessee to win the Paradise Jam final game in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. The final score was Purdue 73 - Tennessee 72. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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My wife thinks I am insane. She is probably justified. Last night she was in the middle of one of those long woman conversations with her best friend. She went in the other room (mostly for quiet) while I languished watching the game. When Kelsey Barlow pulled in the final rebound to secure the win I sprinted through the apartment with a series of fist pumps and general jackassery, eventually ending up in the other room.

On second thought, maybe she is just used to it. She didn't bat an eye.

This was a cathartic win as a Purdue fan, almost as cathartic as the football team upsetting Ohio State a few weeks ago. Can anyone name the last time We grabbed an elite win like this away from Mackey Arena? Does Wisconsin from two years ago count? Even though the Badgers were Big Ten champs at 16-2, they weren't considered a major Final Four threat like Tennessee. Maybe the answer is Duke in the 2003 Great Alaska Shootout? Florida out in Maui in 2000? I don't know.

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Enough with the preamble, let's get to the game! Purdue faces its toughest test of the year tonight when it takes on the Volunteers. Comments are open!

More photos » by Brennan Linsley - AP

6 days ago: Purdue's E'twuan Moore takes a shot against Saint Joseph's during a Paradise Jam basketball tournament game in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. Purdue won 85-60. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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Let's face it, it was a busy weekend. With the basketball team playing three games in four days and our annual defense of the Bucket now complete it has been hard to find time to elaborate on things. Fortunately, all has gone well. The Boilers averted disaster in a tougher-than-expected contest against South Dakota State, then dominated the second half against a solid St. Joseph's team. Admittedly, we might have dodged a bullet by missing Boston College in round two, but we can only play who the schedule says. Before looking at tonight's game against #11 Tennessee, here is a look back at the previous two games.

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Just because our season is over does not mean these feature ends. Many of our guys are still alive in their respective state playoffs, but a few more went down this week. In particular, the Florida playoffs began this week for our Lakeland, Mainland, and Cocoa guys.

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