November 5, 2006
Purdue Wins! And the Pollsters are Idiots…
First, lest someone think I would expect that Purdue somehow be ranked, let me state that the two headlines are unrelated…
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Purdue Wins!
Purdue managed to win a very important game yesterday. I was looking at the Big Ten standings after the game, and with a Purdue win yesterday, and an Iowa loss, Purdue has a very good shot at either taking 4th place in the conference outright or in a tie. Indiana is very likely to lose to Michigan next week, and if Purdue can either beat Illinois or Indiana, we’re assured at worst a tie for fifth. If Purdue beats both Illinois and Indiana, they’ll end up at worst tied for 4th. Given the fact that Purdue hasn’t looked that great this year, that’s a phenomenal result.
And what made me even happier was the way that Purdue won yesterday. It was a close game, against a talented opponent. There were a few mistakes, and one would think that last year’s team would have used those mistakes as an excuse to lose. Not this team. They fought to the very end, came up with huge plays when they needed to, and secured a close 17-15 win on the road. Sure, they weren’t exactly playing Ohio State, but given the point we were at in the season, we needed the win.
Michigan State needed the win as well, since they now have to win both of their next two games to secure a bowl, and one of those (a road game at Penn State) will be very tough. They came out to play, as evidenced by an injured Javon Ringer (star RB) suiting up to play. He’s a sophomore, so he didn’t need to play to impress any NFL scouts. He wanted a win, and he wanted to be on the field. MSU came to play, and Purdue managed to win in a serious struggle. Way to go Boilers!
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Wow, the polls are a joke. I initially was looking at it from Wisconsin’s angle. They’re sitting on a 9-1 record right now, with their only loss a non-blowout against Michigan. At the same time, they’ve beaten all but one opponent by a double-digit margin. They’ve been pretty much rolling in the Big Ten, and should have a very good shot at finishing the season 11-1.
So where are they ranked? 16th in the AP and USA Today polls, and 15th in the BCS poll. That’s behind two-loss LSU and Tennessee, and 6-8 spots behind Notre Dame (ranked 8th in the USAToday, 9th in the AP and BCS) depending on the poll, who got absolutely blown out by Michigan at home. Now, looking at one common opponent isn’t quite clear, but ND and Wisconsin both played Purdue and Penn State, and both teams beat both opponents by double-digit margins (ND beat Purdue by 14, Wisconsin beat Purdue by 21, ND beat Penn State by 24, Wisconsin beat Penn State by 10). I don’t know whether Wisconsin should be ranked higher or lower than Notre Dame, but there is absolutely no reason Notre Dame should be ranked 6-8 spots ahead of Wisconsin.
The computers have Wisconsin at 11th, ahead of both two-loss teams and a couple of the 1-loss teams, which, in my mind, is right about where they should be.
In the same vein, Rutgers, an undefeated Big East team, is ranked well below a large number of 1-loss teams. They’re 13th in the BCS, but the computers have them 9th. I doubt they’ll get past Louisville and West Virginia over the next few weeks, but even if they finished undefeated, I doubt they’d climb far enough in the polls to get a shot at the National Championship game.
Which just shows the problem with these polls. Wisconsin started the season ranked poorly, because they graduated all but three starters on their offense. Yet they’ve played well, both offensively and defensively, all year long. Considering the way some teams in the top ten have been playing lately, they’ve got a legitimate claim to a top ten slot, but they sit at 16th. Rutgers also started well outside the top of the rankings, and even as an undefeated team in a BCS conference, they’re sitting between 13th and 15th in the various polls.
I’m not sure if I know of a better system than what we have. As an electrical engineer, I’m a bit more trusting of computer algorithms than human bias, but I’m not exactly normal in that regard. It’s unfortunate, though, that the system is so broken that you can look at several teams every year that are getting screwed.
October 22, 2006
Weekend Football Report
Well, my picks are now a very respectable 26-17 against the spread (34-9 straight up), following another 5-1 performance yesterday.
But one stat makes me sad about yesterday, and that is Purdue’s 24-3 defeat at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers. Ugliness all around. When a team averaging over 450 yards per game of offense, and 30+ points a game, puts up less than 300 yards and doesn’t score a touchdown for the first time since 2003, it’s just ugly. What makes it worse is that our defense finally started to step up. We were starting to see the defensive front seven performing (although the secondary wasn’t playing well). I thought Wisconsin could score in the 20’s on us, but I thought we could score just as many on them. Instead, the offense just never found a rhythm. To make it worse, we had some scoring opportunities that we failed to convert, and I’m really starting to believe our offensive playcalling needs a serious overhaul. This team leaves too many points on the field, that would have made a difference in each of our losses. So we fall to 5-3, 2-2 in conference. In all honesty, with a team as young as ours, we were supposed to lose to the teams we lost to, and we beat the teams we should have. But I’m not entirely happy with the way we’ve won and lost those games. We could have played with Wisconsin, and at least been in position to fight for a win, but instead only one half of the team shows up. Ugh.
In other news, Michigan State again shows why they’re consistently inconsistent, with the biggest comeback in NCAA history. I said before the game that MSU would try to lose that game, and going down 38-3 will certainly do it. But then to rip off 38 straight points in about 22 minutes to win the game? Quite impressive, even if it was against Northwestern… That worries me a bit, though, because we play MSU in two weeks. We can beat a demoralized MSU team, but a confident MSU team is another story. I’m hoping Indiana can find a way to beat them in a wholly demoralizing way so that we can play the crippled team in two weeks. But either way, congrats to the Spartans, who finally appeared to play to their talent level, if only for 22 minutes.
Around the league, Notre Dame put up a great comeback on UCLA, and as usual for the Irish, it required multiple 4th-down conversions to do it. One of these days that might catch up to them, but they seem be constantly defying the laws of probability. Michigan and OSU continue their dominance, and the AP poll has them #2 and #1, respectively (while the coaches poll has USC at #2 and Michigan at #3), which is likely to remain the case until they face each other on Nov 18. The way things are starting to shake out, we’re likely to see a matchup between the winner of the OSU/Michigan game and the Louisville/WVU game in the national championship, unless USC successfully navigates several land mines upcoming on their schedule. We’ve got a good shot at having 2 unbeaten teams, and perhaps 3,when the season ends.
Today, I watched the Pittsburgh/Atlanta game, since the wife is out of town and I had all day to watch football. That was a heck of a game from wire to wire, finishing with a 41-38 overtime win for Atlanta. Scores were coming so fast that it looked like a college game, doubly so with a mobile QB like Michael Vick. It did look like Big Ben got his bell rung, and I think he ended up leaving the game with a concussion. I’m now watching the Washington/Indianapolis game, which is not anywhere close to exciting.
October 15, 2006
Thoughts On College Football — Midseason
We’ve seen a lot of football happen over the last few weeks. Michigan and OSU continue their dominance, probably leading up to a #1 vs #2 matchup in the final game of the season. Of course, that’s assuming that Michigan doesn’t get ranked #2 and then upset, like Texas, Notre Dame, Auburn, and Florida have. It’s not a good season to be ranked #2!
Those haven’t been all the upsets, though. Just this last weekend, we saw Indiana defeat Iowa, Vanderbilt take down Georgia, and Auburn knock off undefeated Florida. Oh, and Rutgers, though a very slight underdog to Navy, absolutely embarrassed them, 34-0. This year, Illinois has been the center of upset-land. They upset Michigan State, then were upset by Indiana, followed by getting upset again against a weak Ohio team from the MAC.
In the Big Ten, Michigan State is in a tailspin, as is Northwestern. One of those teams has to recover this coming weekend, though, because they’re playing each other. Illinois looks to be firmly down in the cellar with them. In between that group and OSU/Michigan is a big middle section. Wisconsin appears to be the most solid team of that group, followed by Iowa, then maybe Purdue and PSU (Purdue has an offense and horrible defense, PSU has a defense and horrible offense), followed by Minnesota and Indiana. Ohhh, Indiana. How I thought pre-season that you’d again be in the Big Ten cellar. In fact, when Coach Hep instructed the fans to “Defend the Rock”, I was among the first to laugh at you:
Yeah, I laughed. And then you upset Illinois on the road. No big deal, it’s Illinois. But Iowa came to town, and you defended the rock! You took down a top-15 team that just a week ago pounded Purdue for 60 straight minutes? I don’t know what to say? Thanks, perhaps, as an Iowa loss could help Purdue in the Big Ten standings. But it won’t help us much if you come to Ross-Ade Stadium on November 18th and beat the Boilers! I had that game as a guaranteed Boiler victory, and now I have to question it. Thanks a lot.
Around the NCAA, Oklahoma saw the rest of its season go down the tubes with Adrian Peterson’s broken collarbone. USC again went down to the wire and dodged a bullet. On can’t expect them to continue doing this, especially when they hit the stretch of games against Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame. We’re down to 5 major unbeatens, two of which must end up with a loss (Michigan or OSU, and Louisville or WVU, who play each other at the end of the year). Depending how this plays out, we could see as many as three unbeaten teams, and possibly as few as 1, and in a very unlikely scenario, even none. The BCS could be a mess again this year if either scenario plays out.
Yesterday, Purdue had it’s best win of the season, beating Northwestern by double-digits on the road. It was one of those “statement” games, which is exactly what we needed after the 30-point road loss to Iowa. But things are looking a lot tougher this weekend, when 6-1 Wisconsin comes to Ross-Ade. The only loss they have is to Michigan, and they look to be formidable on both sides of the ball. Initially, I look at this as a probable loss. With Wisconsin looking even tougher than Iowa, I’m worried that Purdue will have to play the game of their lives just to stay in it. But I saw something odd tonight. The opening odds have Purdue as only a 4.5 point underdog. 4.5 points? I thought we’d be a 10 point dog. Maybe, just maybe, they know something I don’t. I hope so, because I’d love that sort of surprise!
October 2, 2006
Purdue @ ND Wrap-Up
Well, this past week I went 5-0 against the spread and 5-0 straight up in my picks. The Purdue line was 14 points and they lost by 14, so that was a no-decision. So that makes me 13-12 against the spread for the year, and 20-6 straight up. Obviously there weren’t too many surprises this past week, except, of course, for Michigan State. I knew they’d derailed, but to lose to ILLINOIS?! Yikes!
But time to move on. Purdue showed the world quite a bit on Saturday; some good, some bad. I realize we lost by 14, but after watching the team play, I’m somehow okay with that. I think they could have made it closer, or even won, but the team is young, and made young-team mistakes. There were a few questionable coaching decisions, and a few questionable calls by the officials, but overall, it was just a Purdue team that executed 95% against an experienced Notre Dame team that executed 100%.
Senor Pez says the better team won on Saturday, which I’ll agree with. He went a bit farther to say that Purdue got embarrassed. I don’t agree.
Purdue has one major flaw that I saw, and that was our defensive gameplan. Earlier this year, ND has watched as Brady Quinn was rattled under pressure when Georgia Tech, Michigan, and Michigan State blitzed him mercilessly. All three of those were either close wins for Notre Dame, or getting blown out by Michigan. Penn State didn’t blitz much, and they got blown out by Notre Dame. I really think Brock Spack (our D coordinator) was trying to help out our weak secondary, by dropping LB’s into coverage and only rushing 4 most of the game. Bad move. Quinn, with time to throw, burned us completing greater than 75% of his passes for 300+ yards and 2 TD’s. I think if we had blitzed, we may have gotten burned for similar stats, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to see us get an interception as well, and by bottling up and blitzing, might have done better against the run. In fact, the few plays we blitzed, I think we saw results, and yet I don’t know why we didn’t do it more often.
That being said, though, I don’t think we played that badly. I don’t think we got dominated in this game (as the offensive totals, us putting up 490 yards, would signify). Although 14 points look pretty bad, I don’t think there was really a point where I thought the game was out of reach. It really comes down to two factors. Offensive explosiveness, and the team quitting. We have enough offensive firepower to score on any team from anywhere on the field on any play (see Selwyn Lymon’s 88-yard TD). And we didn’t quit. I don’t think there was a time I saw this team lay down in the second half, even when we were down by three scores. In fact, down 14 with a few minutes left in the 4th and the ball, I still thought we could mount a comeback. Yeah, it was unlikely, as we’d have to score, get an onside kick, and score again to force OT. But this team showed they could rack up yards on ND, and I knew those players were still fighting for a win, despite being down 14 points with time winding down.
So why did this team lose? Well, before the game, I boiled it down to a couple of factors. This is what I said last week:
I think two metrics are going to define this game. Third down conversions and turnovers. Personally, I don’t even think big plays are going to be a big metric, because both offenses will have them. The key is going to be the crucial stops. If Purdue converts well (> 65%) on third down and wins the turnover battle, I think we can take this game. If we don’t, we will get beat.
We lost a fumble, so we lost the TO battle. I can’t even fault the TE, Dustin Keller, on that fumble, because the defender got his helmet right on the ball, which is nearly impossible to defend against. And we were 4 of 11 on third downs (0 for 3 on fourth down), definitely lower than the 65% I think we really needed to be near. Notre Dame, though, was 8 of 14 on third down, and 2 of 2 on fourth down. Purdue helped them with some crucial penalties to keep Notre Dame drives alive, again some young team mistakes. That, and one special team’s score gave ND four points (7 on a TD instead of 3 on a FG).
When it comes down to it, there was no defining point at which Notre Dame “beat” us. It came down to small mistakes, which all add up. We missed an early field goal. Dustin Keller fumbled. Starting the second half, Greg Orton dropped an easy 3rd down pass. Later, Dorien Bryant had a pass bounce right off his pads. We had a strange third-down trick play that didn’t work. We missed the fourth-down conversions. And that’s not even counting the 2nd late hit penalty (which wasn’t late) and the running-into-the-kicker penalty that was a pathetic call. We died the death of a thousand paper cuts, but that’s how a young team learns.
Above all, Coach Tiller said it best after the game. Above all, we made a few small mistakes, but against a quality opponent, that’s all it takes to turn an equal performance into a 14-point loss.
“The thing I think our team needs to learn about our team is that the better the opponent, the smaller the margin of error,” Purdue coach Joe Tiller said Sunday.
“You can make mistakes against a lesser opponent and recover. When the talent of competition picks up, the smallest of errors can be the difference. I hope they learned how critical focus is, and their ability to stay on task for 60 minutes.”
I was happy, though, to see how the team responded. Curtis Painter was so cool he made absolute zero look balmy. Notre Dame never sacked him, but pressured him quite a bit and laid a few hits on him. Yet Painter remained cool, in the face of 80,000 screaming fans, on the road. That was a very good sign, especially for a sophomore. Anthony Spencer looked like an absolute monster. With almost no help from the linebackers on blitzes, he racked up 15 tackes, 4.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and broke up 1 pass. Selwyn Lymon had a breakout game, and proved to every defensive coordinator in the Big Ten that if you try to beat Purdue by shutting down Dorien Bryant, we’ve got enough other receivers to burn you with.
And, lest I forget about this point, let me say it one more time. The team never quit. Last year, our problem was a team that quit when they were down. No longer. One of the things I remember about the Drew Brees days was that the team (and us fans) always believed we were still in a game. It didn’t matter how far we were down, we knew that we were a play or two away from coming back into it. That’s the team I saw on Saturday. It didn’t happen for us, but I could tell those players believed it could.
That attitude will make the difference all the rest of this year. We have a couple games on our schedule that might come down to shootouts. We’ll undoubtedly lose some of those games. But this team won’t give up, and I think we’ll win a couple as well.
September 26, 2006
Purdue @ Notre Dame — A Preview
Well, as I’m sure most of you have been able to tell, this is one of the biggest games of the year for me. I’ve been thinking about it since the final moments of the Purdue-Minnesota game. I’m not going to actually make a pick yet, at least until I see the line, but here’s how we stack up.
Notre Dame entered this year ranked #2, and I said they were overrated. They survived a scare against Georgia Tech to start the season, when inexplicably the Georgia Tech coaches decided to stop throwing the ball to Calvin Johnson. They beat Penn State handily, but Penn State gave them 5 turnovers, and also inexplicably didn’t attempt to beat Notre Dame by blitzing Brady Quinn. Michigan destroyed Notre Dame, albeit with the help of quite a few turnovers, and planted Quinn on his back early and often. Michigan State was on pace to rout Notre Dame, but in usual fashion, imploded. Notre Dame is currently ranked 12th, but hasn’t looked like the powerhouse they were expected to be.
Purdue, on the other hand, wasn’t expected to be a powerhouse, and if they’re going to be so by the end of the year, they haven’t shown it yet. Purdue’s offense has been racking up yards and points in big bunches, but their defense hasn’t really shut anyone down. They’re currently 4-0 and would be ranked about 29th in the AP poll, which isn’t a surprise who they’ve played and how they’ve beaten them (close). What has impressed me, though, is their tenacity in the face of adversity, and the way they’ve learned and improved over the season. The defense we had on September 2nd was the defense I saw last Saturday, and the one we unveil this weekend should be just a bit better than last week. Beyond that is the way this team has stepped up and big plays when it needed big plays. Purdue over the last two years has had a horrible tendency to fold at the end of a close game. This team looks like the type that will fight like a cornered dog from kickoff to final whistle.
How does this play out for Saturday? Notre Dame should win this game. They have a lot more experience at the skill positions, and while I think they’re overrated, they’re not a bad team. On paper, Purdue isn’t quite ready for them. But I don’t think the Purdue players care about that. This is a rivalry game, and I guarantee they’re not scared of walking into that stadium and laying it out on the field.
So here’s how they stack up.
The Unrepentant Individual linked with Purdue @ ND Wrap-Up
The Unrepentant Individual linked with 2006 NCAA Football Predictions — Week 5
September 18, 2006
Purdue Update
Well, I went 3-3 against the spread this week, and 4-2 straight up. The picks are starting to get a little more predictable now that we’ve got a few weeks of play.
I got to actually go to a game this weekend, and I have to say that I missed being in West Lafayette. I got a chance to go hang out before the game at my fraternity house. I met some of the current brothers, and a few alumni from my time also showed up. Ever enjoying the days back in school when alumni would show up with free booze, I had a cooler full of nice beer to share as well 
On the football field, Purdue is looking a little better, and I think they played much stronger football than the 38-28 final score indicated. With about 4 minutes to play, they were up 38-13 in a rout. I think they laid down and got a bit complacent, which isn’t too surprising for such a young team. But it did allow Ball State to rack up 15 very quick points. You can’t do that against better competition (which I’m sure the coaching staff will impress into their minds today).
So far, the Purdue offense is looking absolutely unstoppable. The only thing that can slow them down is Curtis Painter getting intercepted, which is happening FAR too often, but he’s a young guy and needs to learn a little more about reading defenses. Again, these mistakes, while costly, are manageable against the likes of Miami and Ball State, but they need to be cleaned up before we play teams like Notre Dame or Iowa. Purdue’s receiving corps, though, is looking stellar. Veteran Dorien Bryant is always a threat, but in past years we haven’t had big-play talent opposite him. In 2005, defenses would just bracket Bryant, shutting him down. This year, we have Greg Orton and Selwyn Lymon. While young, these guys are big, NFL-style wide receivers, with speed and athleticism that will one day make them stars. At tight end is Dustin Keller, who is widely considered a “freak of nature”. About 6′5″, 250 lbs, with inhuman strength, and 4.5 speed. And coming out of the backfield is RB Kory Sheets, who currently leads the NCAA in scoring with 60 points. Defenses can’t double-cover anyone on this team. Heck, they can’t COVER everyone at once effectively. There are just too many targets, and Painter showed last Saturday that he can spread the ball around to all of them. Add that to a 1-2 combination of Sheets and RB Jaycen Taylor in the backfield, and a very solid offensive line, and I don’t think there’s a defense we face this year that can effectively slow us down. As long as we don’t make our own mistakes, we can score on anyone.
The only problem, then, is how many points get scored on us. The defense is very, very young. And I can say from what I’ve seen so far that they’re improving. But they’ve got a long way to go. After already losing two defensive backs to injury, while already starting mostly freshman and sophomores on this team, we have a lot of room to grow. I think this team will get much better on defense, but I would say taking the Over on any Purdue game this year will be a good bet. Our defense means that we’ll be in some offensive shootouts this year. We’ve got plenty of firepower to match, but to win those games takes luck and senior leadership as much as skill. Against teams with senior QB’s like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan State, we’ll be hard-pressed to win those battles.
Overall, though, I don’t think Purdue looks that bad. Which, given our scare against Indiana State and letting Miami take us to OT, is a very positive statement. I think we’re slightly better than even money to beat Minnesota this week, and probably destined to lose against both Notre Dame and Iowa. But even if that’s the case, and we’re 4-2 after Iowa, we’re still in decent shape. Our defense will be a different team by week 6, especially as we are already seeing notable improvement in their play week-to-week. Northwestern looks down this year, and I think we can beat them, and then perhaps split a 2-game home-stand against Wisconsin & Penn State. And it’s downhill from there. This team hasn’t really looked very good to start the season, and the growing pains have nearly cost us a game. But I see an attitude out of this team that they’re young and hungry for respect. Every week I see them learn from their mistakes, and get a little better. This team is going to be pretty good in a month, and be incredible the next two years.
Oh, and in other news, Notre Dame got crushed. It was a good day for two reasons. First, I always like to see Notre Dame lose, and they’re looking a lot more vulnerable than I thought they were. Second, Purdue doesn’t play Michigan this year, because they look tough. The Big Ten Championship just might come down to an undefeated Michigan and an undefeated Ohio State playing in November for the National Championship berth. Michigan is a complete team this year, and they just earned some serious street cred for it.
August 28, 2006
Purdue Football Season Preview
Well, I hesitate to do this, because I worry a bit about my predictive ability. Last year, I thought Purdue was ready for a special season, and they certainly didn’t disappoint, if you consider “special” to be of the short-bus variety. The team broke down worse than New Orleans after Katrina, answering the Orlando Sentinel sportswriter who picked the Boilers as his preseason #1 with their first losing season in 8 years.
But ever the optimist, I’ve got a good feeling about this one, because a lot has changed since last year:
1. There’s been a lot of upheaval in Purdue’s coaching staff. Five assistant coaches were replaced, and consensus opinion is that there are some definite improvements. If nothing else, the coaches are bringing a new attitude to the program, and news reports of spring and summer practices have universally been positive and reflected a reenergized program.
2. There was internal dissension in last year’s team. A “me-first” attitude started to take over, and it wasn’t handled well by Coach Tiller. At times, reports bubbled up to the surface of fights in the locker room or in practice. Some fans chalked that up to the natural excitement of a “fired up” football team, but it was more a sign of a cancer on the team. However, most of the culprits have departed through graduation or leaving early for the NFL, and it seems that the reports out of practice this year show a team that’s together and ready to get down to business.
3. The injury bug bit the defensive backfield. At the beginning of the year, it was one of our weaker units, and injuries hit so hard that we converted a wide receiver over to cornerback. Doubly worse were changes to the defensive schemes. Purdue had previously played a very aggressive, attacking defensive scheme, relying on their speed. To mask the injuries, though, they started blitzing less and dropping linebackers in coverage. The result was a poor run defense and a poor pass defense, with no pressure on opposing QB’s. Mid-year, they changed the scheme back, and the defense returned to old form. This year, they’ll run that same aggressive, blitzing scheme, and Tiller has recruited some serious JuCo and freshman talent to shore up the defensive backfield. They won’t be shutting down everyone they face, but they’ll be worlds better than last year.
4. The offense will be firing on all cylinders. Last year, the offense had a few difficulties. They brought in the spread option to take advantage of Brandon Kirsch’s running ability, but he never seemed to make good decisions. Purdue’s receiving corps struggled, as their primary receiver, Dorien Bryant, found himself facing double-coverage all year. Mid-year, coaches yanked the senior Kirsch in favor of redshirt freshman Curtis Painter. Painter executed the option very well, and showed good decision-making skills, but was too green to be accurate throwing the ball. This year, Painter has had all spring and summer practicing with the starters, and his accuracy should improve. On the receiving end, sophomore Greg Orton looks to be poised for a breakout year, and Tiller’s best recruit so far, Selwyn Lymon, will take the field for the first time. If those two can draw enough coverage that defenses can’t bracket Dorien Bryant, we should be able to pass at will. The coaches have already said they’re going to stretch the field, and this receiving corps can do it. At running back, we have proven talent in Kory Sheets, an explosive JuCo transfer, Jaycen Taylor, and two big bruising backs in Anthony Heygood and Frank Halliburton. And last, but really the most important of all, Purdue has fielded their best offensive line since the 2000 Rose Bowl season. They were good in 2005, and should dominate this year. They’ll give Curtis Painter time to read his progressions, and control the line of scrimmage for the run.
The pundits don’t see this the way I do. Many of them predict Purdue to fit somewhere between 6th and 9th place in the Big T(elev)en. But I don’t think that’s going to happen. Here’s how I see it going down:
Sep 2 – Indiana State (I-AA): Big W
Sep 9 – Miami (OH): W
Sep 16 – Ball State: Big W
Sep 23 – Minnesota: W
Sep 30 – @ Notre Dame: L
Oct 7 – @ Iowa: L
Oct 14 – @ Northwestern: W
Oct 21 – Wisconsin: W
Oct 28 – Penn State: W
Nov 4 – @ Michigan State: L
Nov 11 – @ Illinois: W
Nov 18 – Indiana: W
Nov 25 – @ Hawaii: W
Truthfully, that’s what I see, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we lost to Penn State and beat Michigan State. Those two are going to be close games. I think Purdue is headed for a 10-win season, with about a 3rd or 4th place finish in the Big Ten. If we eek out a win over Notre Dame, which is a possibility given the fact that overrated program will be battered coming off 4 tough weeks, we could finish 11-2. With Purdue’s tendency to lose a game they shouldn’t though, it could be as bad as 9-4. But I doubt it will be worse than that. Either way, this is going to be an exciting season.
July 19, 2006
What to Buy?
With my poker winnings, bonus time at work, and my birthday coming up next week, I’ve been asking myself what I want as a “treat”. I normally try not to make frivolous purchases for myself (homebrewing doesn’t count, that’s a “hobby”), but I’m looking to get myself something I don’t really need, simply because I can.
I’ve got two options. What do you guys recommend?
1. The #12 Curtis Painter Purdue replica jersey — $50
What better way to support my alma mater and the kid predicted to follow Drew Brees and Kyle Orton from Purdue to the NFL, than by buying the jersey. I’m not a big sports-jersey nut, so this will actually be the first one I ever buy. But I can foresee getting a hold of this, having Painter sign it at some point down the road, and having it framed up on my basement wall. In between now and then, of course, I’d get to wear it to commemorate Purdue games.
Potential Downside: Painter is a sophomore, and doesn’t have a track record. My gut tells me he’ll be our starting QB until he graduates, but it’s not as easy to justify $50 if I’m not sure he’ll even be our starter in a year or two, much less be the next Brees or Orton, playing on Sundays.
2. A bottle (or more) of the best beer in the world, Westvleteren 12 — $25 each
This isn’t just “beer”. This is “special occasion beer”. This is “put it in my cellar and pull it out in 2 years for my 30th birthday beer”. This is “birth of a child” beer. We’re talking some special stuff. This is actually a beer that the monks don’t want to be sold outside of their brewery, so it’s fairly difficult to get. I need a special occasion to drink this beer, but I also need a special occasion to buy it. If I don’t pull the trigger now, am I ever going to?
Potential Downside: Considering I’d be paying to ship this from Belgium, I’d probably buy a bottle (or two) of the Westy 12, maybe one of the 8, and one of the 6, plus a glass. We’re looking at a minimum of $100 before shipping costs. And let’s face it. It’s beer. I love beer, but even with all the hype surrounding Westy 12, can I justify dropping $25 a bottle plus shipping? Wouldn’t it just be smarter to plan a vacation to Belgium sometime, sample as much of the whole nation’s product as I can, and pick up a few bottles at the brewery for a much lower cost?
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“Around the league, Notre Dame put up a great comeback on UCLA”
Brad, I know Notre Dame has a 3-1 record this season against Big Ten competition, but that alone does not make them a member of the conference.
I believe they have a shot to go 3-0 in the Pac-10 as well. Perhaps a Notre Dame/Notre Dame Rose Bowl this year?
Comment by Jim — October 23, 2006 @ 1:42 pm
Jim,
I thought it was obvious that by “league” I meant NCAA. I talked quite a bit about Michigan/OSU, but spoke in more wider terms of USC, WVU/Louisville, and the BCS championship implications. I wouldn’t let Notre Dame into the Big Ten if they came begging…
Comment by Brad Warbiany — October 23, 2006 @ 2:20 pm