Purdue Mailbag Answers

You guys sent in questions and while I was very tempted to answer them while drunk so I could post this over the weekend, I waited until the work week and enjoyed my long weekend instead. I am however disappointed nobody’s asked for last week’s lottery numbers. They were 1, 27, 29, 38, 62, and 12 in Ohio. You guys could have been rich! Oh well, on to your questions:

boilermaker5 asks two questions:

How does it feel to have OTE Purdue week come so late in the year?

AOC looked rough in the spring game, do you think there will be real issues not having a “go to” reciever at the start of the year

Well to be honest, this is the earliest I’ve ever done Purdue week and I hope it stays that way. On a more relevant note, the good thing about coming later in the summer is that there is a wealth of material about Purdue’s upcoming season already written that I can read and use to better inform OTE’s loyal readers. Transfers have exited the transfer portal. Staffing decisions have been finalized. Legitimate attempts at putting together a two-deep can be made. Most importantly, by going this late in the summer, it’s a sign that Purdue is a better football program than all the teams that came before them.

For your second question, I have no concerns. AOC was just fine in the bowl game against Tennessee. He will get to add a handful of talented receivers to the group that played in that game. He’s also a 6th year player and shouldn’t need to rely on a “go to” guy this season.

Nikos Frazier / Journal & Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

greenie71 asks:

Is there a B1G campus that is uglier than Purdue’s?

Well, I guess you are talking about IUPU-Columbus. Which while technically a Purdue campus, is much more of an Indiana campus. Purdue University - West Lafayette is beautiful.

1st Hoffmaster Boilermaker asks:

Which receiver is your pick to be the one to have a career day against OMHR?

I think Yaseen can have a career day against Iowa, but not this season. I think he’s a year away from being the star - and hey, good news Hawkeyes we might not be playing every year by then. But I’m assuming you are talking about this season and that’s got to be either Rice or Sheffield. I don’t see Thompson topping his Tennessee game; those stats are just too good. And I expect the Hawkeyes to focus in on limiting Tracy and Jones since they saw the light and are now at war with Eastasia. Flip a coin, but if I have to pick one I’d take Rice as I think his upside is higher.

Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Danwesley Meyer asks:

among the following six team sports, which 2022-23 Purdue team will [a] have the best regular season, [b] have the best post-season (if applicable): football, men’s hoops, baseball, women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer?

Best regular season: football. The schedule is not terrifying and they return a lot of pieces from a successful team last year. The rest are either entering a rebuild year or in the process of a multi-year rebuild.

Best post-season: men’s hoops. I predict that football will get a bowl game opponent that outmatches Purdue since their shiny regular season record won’t reflect the true talent of the team. Volleyball and men’s hoops are the only other two I see playing in a non-B1G related postseason next year (although I have both just barely doing that). Men’s hoops gets the selection here as basketball is a sport that sees upsets more often the volleyball.

Andrew Wevers-USA TODAY Sports

87 Rides A Surfboard is confused about how non-conference scheduling works:

Explain yourselves.

Ball St. vs Illinois St. and Purdue vs Davidson will be the inaugural Indy Classic basketball showcase on Saturday, Dec. 17 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Purdue is not replacing Butler/ND with Davidson (although to be fair Davidson did make the tournament last season while neither of those two programs did). They are replacing a neutral site game in Indianapolis with a neutral site game in Indianapolis and doing so with what should be a tournament quality team in Davidson. This is all about brand visibility and recruiting. Purdue wants 1 game in Indianapolis per year, the weekend after exams is the best time to do so since students are off campus, and it’s not easy to get a P6 opponent to play what is essentially a road game without a return trip. Enter the best A10, MWC, American team you can get to participate.

Last season Purdue played NC State in New York. Davidson is a better opponent, but also one that is willing to play a “neutral” court game in Indianapolis. Basically Purdue is replacing that game with this one. As for why Ball State is the other game in the doubleheader - well, clearly Purdue wanted to have the 2nd best basketball team in the state headline a doubleheader with them and after years of waiting for Indiana basketball to be merely okay they just decided that Ball State is a better program, cancelled the Crossroads Classic, and put together this thing in it’s place.

badgersrox asks:

Purdue, does your chain hang low?

I do not understand the question and I refuse to answer it.

cericjo double dipped and asked:

How and why does Purdue (specifically Brohm), own Iowa (specifically KF)?

Follow-up: Why is Purdue Pete so fucking creepy?

Kirk Ferentz wants to play his run out the clock game and most weeks that is a good strategy as 5 other West division teams oblige him. But Purdue likes to throw the deep ball and Ferentz apparently doesn’t know how to teach corners how to defend that.

Purdue Pete is a perfect representation of all that is good and just in this country. We are not worthy.

Bryon Houlgrave/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

BoilerBehindEnemyLines pleads:

Will Purdue play the NIL game, or can finally give up on that whole Final Four thing and spend my winters making arts and crafts?

Be the change you want to be in the world BBEL and just start playing the NIL game on your own.

IUinVA asks:

Wikipedia informed me that a boilermaker is a glass of beer mixed with a shot of whiskey. Is this a popular drink at Purdue?

Having just gotten back from a wedding weekend in Indianapolis with a large proportion of Purdue alumni, let me just say I saw nobody drinking boilermakers. There was lots of beer consumed and lots of whiskey consumed, but not at the same time. Although you didn’t ask, as a bonus answer I’ll tell you that my favorite drink at Harry’s was a Baltimore Zoo.

Nikos Frazier / Journal & Courier via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Free Beer Tomorrow asks:

How are the Defensive and Offensive lines looking?

I think I covered this fairly well in the offensive and defensive previews, but TL;DR: offensive line should be capable at pass protect and maybe serviceable at run blocking. Defensive line is going to be stout at stopping the run, but going to have to figure out how to rush the passer as a collective unit instead of a Karlaftis heavy approach.

In the spirit of questions and answers, where do I go for the free beer tomorrow?

BuffKomodo tries to trick me:

Ohio or Indiana? What’s the superior state?

No politics.

Kind off... is a cruel person who likes to torture animals

What did you do to John Wooden to cause him to curse your basketball team so?

What would you say is the second-biggest upset in a Sweet 16 game in NCAA tournament history?

I don’t think there is a Wooden curse. He simply didn’t want to force out the guy who was currently coaching at Purdue.

I take the fifth amendment on the second question. The third most important amendment after the 3rd and the 21st.

waw asks a question better answered at our SBNation Purdue blog:

Now that Jaden Ivey is off to NBA stardom, how will Purdue fans convince themselves that actually the team is better without him?

Purdue won’t be better. They may have better results (although I doubt it), but the team isn’t going to magically be better without Jaden Ivey.

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

and finally I get to glassjawed’s very important question:

WHAT THE F%CK IS THIS BULL$HIT??

This is Off Tackle Empire on Coral. I don’t know, I didn’t make the rules.