It's Purdue! It'e Western Michigan! It's a better bowl game than Urban Meyer and Ohio State will see next year!

Don't blame me, Babaoreally picked the playlist for the day.

The Big Ten kicks off its bowl season with a must win game against Western Michigan. If the B1G has any hope of reaching six wins, it's going to need this one. Come on in and join and party. Today's drink of choice may be predictable, but when you're chasing alcohol with alcohol, you know that you're in the right place.

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I have only been to one bowl game in my life, the prestigious 2007 Motor City Bowl between Purdue and Central Michigan. It was one of the most memorable football game experiences of my life. Since Purdue is going back to Detroit this year to face a directional Michigan school (this time it's Western), I figured it would be a good time to reminisce.

This may be long, but it is hard to describe everything that happened that day without going into detail. To sum it up, the following things were involved: Xbox, food vouchers, sickness, a homemade sign, offense, the longest third quarter of football that I have ever witnessed and lots of yelling. I'll put the rest of this story after the jump, so it won't take up too much precious front page space.

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I was sitting in my chair watching the 4^th and 3 play and just knowing that the Buckeyes were going to score. Braxton Miller was being chased, and sort of stumbled, but of course he threw up a floater and (just like Wisconsin) the DB was too busy looking at him to keep an eye on the receiver who got behind him. Purdue was going to lose another game and we’d have to file this season with 2009 in the "should have been better" folder.

I was still trying to convince myself that Purdue could drive down the field and get a chance at a game-winning field goal, when the play-by-play guy said, "Basil's perfect on extra points this year." I was mentally preparing myself for crushing defeat. OSU would have a one-point lead, and I envisioned a Boilermaker drive ending when time runs while the team is in field goal range. I thought maybe Marve or Terbush (or maybe even Siller or Bolden on an ill-advised trick play) would just throw an interception and it’ll end that way. As these and other random doomsday scenarios played in my head, an amazing thing happened.

Bruce Gaston slid through a gap in the line, got his hand up and blocked the extra point. I was in shock. Could that really have happened? Did we just get a lucky break? Obviously it did happen, and I was still trying to figure out how we were going to lose in overtime (which also didn't happen).

When a play like Gaston's block goes your way, it makes being a college football fan worth it. After all of the bad things that have happened to Purdue recently, it's great to know that sometimes luck is on your side. And when your team capitalizes on their good fortune and wins the game, it doesn't get any better than that.

Things are bad for Purdue fans. On Saturday we had to watch our Boilers get slaughtered by Notre Dame, the team that every clear-minded college football fan loves to hate. The dark clouds of losing have rolled in, and the forecast has them sticking around at least until basketball season. Rather than wallow in depression, let's see if we can find some silver linings from the Notre Dame game.

Cloud: Even though Notre Dame kicked off to start the game, it only took them 24 seconds to score a touchdown.

Silver Lining: After Purdue kicked off in the second half, it took ND three whole minutes to score. That is a vast improvement from the first half.

Cloud: ND rushed for 287 yards on 40 attempts; it seemed like there were at least two missed tackles on every Irish running play.

Silver Lining: Practice makes perfect. The more players that get a chance to tackle the ball carrier, the more they will learn about tackling the ball carrier.

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We have favorites and we have loyalties, but if the Big Ten is going to continue to gain national respect, we're going to have to do it together. That means that we have to all be pulling in the same direction. Here's what I want to see from each Big Ten team in their non-conference battles this week.

7 PM 

Notre Dame at Purdue

It's not that Purdue can't keep it close. After all, a bad Purdue managed to stay within a field goal of Notre Dame two years ago in West Lafayette. It's just that these Irish are not the same. Ask Sparty. Notre Dame dominated a team that some were expecting to win the Legends. Ask Pitt. Notre Dame gritted out the kind of win that they had been losing for the better part of eight years. I want to see Purdue keep it competitive. I don't expect that they can win this one, but can they even make a game of it? I don't know. I'm doubtful. 

What I Want

I want Purdue to keep it close into the 4th Quarter. 

What I Expect

I expect Purdue to lose by more than two touchdowns. 

What We Have So Far

The Big Ten sits at 34-12 (.739) out of conference - that's fair. The league is 7-6 against BCS Conference teams (plus Notre Dame) - that's OK. The league has six losses (North Texas, North Dakota State, Ball State, New Mexico State, Rice, and Army) to non-BCS teams - that's pathetic. 

Things are looking pretty grim in Boiler-land. After getting beat by Rice on Saturday, angry writers and fans took to the internet to let out their frustrations at the current coaching staff and the direction of the program. I'm not going to spend much time this week making the same points that have been made over and over again in regards to Danny Hope's decisions, but here is a couple paragraphs on the coaching.

Many of the coaching decisions over the past few years have been bad, but at least the coaches have a strategy and stick to it, right? I mean, surely they know what they want to do in critical situations, right? They have a game plan that might not make sense to you or me, but they do have a game plan, right? When it looks like they are trying to figure out what to do while valuable seconds tick off the clock, it is a deliberate move to confuse the other coaches and gain an advantage, right?

Of course not. Boiled Sports discusses a quote from OC Gary Nord about a weird decision in the waning minutes of Saturday's game, in which the coaches waited twenty seconds or so, then burnt a timeout before punting. Coach Hope had said that the offense was on the field trying to draw Rice offsides, but it sure didn't look like it. Nord confessed to GoldandBlack.com that the coaches had no idea what they wanted to do if the third down play didn't result in a first down, and that is why a timeout was called. I admire his honesty, but it sure doesn't make either him or Coach Hope look good. It's pretty simple: punt, or go for it. That decision should be made before the third down play. Coaches that can't think one play ahead should not be in charge of a major conference college football team (even Indiana).

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It seemed like a good idea when we were buying the tickets. A non-conference game against a Sun Belt team would be a great first game for the kids. I came to the game with my friend and his young son. My brother, his wife, and their two young sons met us at the game.

We got to the game right before the noon kickoff, and we were already miserable. It was over ninety degrees and humid. The sun was beating down as we sat on the blazing hot metal bleachers. Within a few minutes, Ricardo Allen fumbled the ball and the Blue Raiders took the early lead. A few minutes after that, I was enjoying a Powerade in the shade of the concourse while keeping an eye on the game and my nephew.

To say the kids (and adults for that matter) were not having a good time would be a great understatement. We left right before halftime and managed to catch most of the second half at my friend's house. I'm not a big fan of leaving games early (even when Purdue is getting killed), but this was an excellent decision. I enjoyed the winning combination of air conditioning and not having to hear fans complain the whole game about how bad Purdue looks. 

By the time Antavian Edison cut back across the field to catch the game-winning TD from Caleb TerBush, I was mentally preparing myself for another Hope special: a non-con loss at home to a team from an inferior conference.

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Apparently my closing arguments for Purdue ruffled some feathers in BoilermakerNation.  I hope that this update will be more agreeable to our friends from West Lafayette.

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