Week 12 of Purdue Football | Boiler Jim's Blog

"Cut the blue wire! The blue wire!"

How many times have we've seen and heard this in the movies? A bomb is ticking down towards an apocalyptic explosion and a valiant hero is faced with a tough decision. Cut the blue wire and the bomb doesn't blow up. Cut the other wire and it's all over.

Guess what wire Tiller chose on Saturday? It wasn't the blue one.

The Boiler football season is destructing before our eyes. On Saturday against the Spartans, we could see the climatic explosion coming but we hoped Tiller would win in the end. We thought maybe this week Joe would find some last-minute saving play that would win the game. He couldn't and the wrong wire was cut.

Stand by for secondary explosions because the Indiana Hoosiers are next. They have a 12^th man on the field. This year, the Hoosiers are playing in memory of their dead coach Terry Hoeppner, who passed away last summer of brain surgery. Tiller, on the other hand, must be on life support. I don't see a functioning thought coming from the sideline.

Saturday's 48-31 debacle started early as Spartan quarterback Brian Hoyer began throwing the ball and completing passes like never before. Purdue's defense was set up to stop a potent Spartan running game and they did that for the most part. The Spartans were limited to 150 yards rushing where they typically average over 211. What killed Purdue was their inability to stop Michigan State's passing attack. Devin Thomas caught 10 passes for 116 yards which allowed him to set a new school record for passes caught in a single season. Considering he's now caught 68 passes for the year, you can see how productive he was against Purdue as compared to the other 10 games this year.

The other wirebreaker of the day was Purdue turnovers and costly penalties. Curtis Painter threw two interceptions and Dorien Bryant fumbled. The three turnovers produced 17 Spartan points...the difference in the ball game. Purdue also took the bait and bit on a fake punt and fake field goal. Though Purdue successfully stopped the fake field goal, a face mask penalty by Mike Neal gave Michigan State a first down. Spartans managed to capitalize for a field goal and 3 points from that miscue. Purdue's offensive output was impressive against Michigan State, 344 yards passing, 173 yards rushing for a total of 517 yards. Though they outscored the Spartans statistically, there is only one statistic that matters: final score..

Yes, Purdue cut the wrong wire. What is more disturbing, was bowl officials from the Capital One, Outback, Champs Sports, Alamo, Motor City and Insight Bowls watched the self destruction and the growing, gaping holes in the stands from poor attendance. With 10 of 11 Big Ten teams becoming bowl eligible, someone is probably going to stay home.

Okay, so Purdue blew up in their last home game of the season. Seniors can still leave the hallowed grounds in West Lafayette with their heads held high by sending Hoosier seniors away with no memory of ever beating Purdue. This week Purdue plays for the opportunity to retain the "Old Oaken Bucket". My favorite "bucket" memory is but two years old. While touring the University of Indiana campus with my traitorous daughter, the tour guide asked the gaggle of prospective students and parents if anyone had any questions. In the back of the group, I raised my hand and asked "So where is this Old Oaken Bucket everyone here talks about?" My daughter hung her head down in disappointment and my question was never answered by the guide.

Though it's been said before this year, this is going to be a tough game and probably the most difficult. It would be nice to only have to say that once.

Indiana has had an up-and-down season. It started out on a down note when their head coach Terry Hoeppner died in June. When he was hired by Indiana, Hoeppner said he would take the team to a bowl game, something Indiana hasn't done since 1993. Though the Hoosiers are bowl eligible, making this goal come true in memory of Hoeppner will be hard to realize unless they beat Purdue. There are more bowl eligible teams in the Big Ten than bowl games to go around.

Indiana is quarterbacked by sophomore Kellen Lewis who likes going to receiver James Hardy who, last Saturday against Northwestern, set the Indiana school record for career receptions and receiving yards (2,524). Last week, Indiana lost to Northwestern 31-28. Indiana controlled most of the game and had the lead against Northwestern with 5:24 left in the game. Northwestern scored with 40 seconds remaining to beat the Hoosiers. Purdue also needs to be careful of the Hoosier's pass defense. Indiana has 17 interceptions this year, the most since the 1998 season.

For the past two seasons, Indiana's rallying cry has been "Play 13". No, "13" is not a number for the Powerball Lottery but a goal to play 12 regular season games and then play a bowl game. This Saturday's game will be played with a lot of emotion. With emotion comes mistakes. Indiana has been prone to fumble and toss interceptions at the rate of their northern West Lafayette neighbors. Last year's game in Ross Ade was a contest between two teams trying to find defeat. The heart of Purdue will be tested this weekend after two disappointing losses. For 21 players, it will be the last game of their college careers barring a bowl trip someplace. Purdue's choices of bowl destinations took a severe downturn this week, both with their loss against Michigan State but also by Illinois upsetting Ohio State and Wisconsin beating Michigan. Essentially, everyone in the Big Ten was bumped down the priority list of bowl game destinations.

Purdue and Indiana's Old Oaken Bucket trophy rivalry began in 1925 when a combined meeting of Indiana and Purdue Chicago alumni clubs thought it would be meaningful if the two teams played for a token trophy. Michigan and Minnesota were already playing for the "Little Brown Jug" and this was an era where marketing was taking on a new form. Over eight decades later, Purdue leads the rivalry with 53 wins, 25 losses and 2 ties. The last time Indiana won the bucket was in 2001. When Purdue beat Indiana in West Lafayette, the victorious Boilers discovered Indiana forgot to bring the trophy with them because they just weren't experienced enough with having it in their possession. There's no doubt Purdue will bring the trophy with them and keep it guarded on their sidelines during Saturday's game. The goal, though, is not to guard the trophy. Purdue needs to win the privilege of holding onto the trophy for one more year and bringing it back on the bus.

It's not going to be an easy task. Boiler Up alumni! This is YOUR trophy game!