POOR-DUE

Purdue had something to prove.  They needed to prove they weren't the worst team in the Big Ten.  They needed to prove that they could beat PSU.  But Pur-do pur-didn't.

In what was a surprisingly beautiful November day in Central PA, the Nittany Lions joined eight other teams in defeating the Boilermakers in 2013.  Only Indiana State was unable to pull off the win.  They must have missed the memo.

On the ground, Purdue amassed a whopping 41 yards rushing.  The Penn State offense, famous for being third-down-conversion-challenged, came up with conversions on 10-12 third downs.  What was that?  Ten of twelve.  Say it again.  Ten of twelve!

The Nittany Lions logged 501 yards and NEVER punted the ball, en route to beating Purdue 45-21, which also covered the point spread.  Say what?  They covered the point spread!  No!  Yes!  They did.  Damn!

Am I excited about this win?  You better bill-ieve it.  It's not quite the same as beating Temple (1-9), Western Michigan (1-10) or Southern Miss (0-10) but it still felt pretty good.  This is the school that graduated athletes like Drew Brees and Bob Griese for crying out loud.  This was a big win.

All kidding aside, this was a much needed win for this team.  Penn State is assured of not having a losing season, with 6-6 being the worst scenario at this time.  Penn State rebounded from a head scratching loss to the Gophers a week ago, and will head into a game against the Huskers on a positive note.

That is not to say that there isn't room for improvement.  A fake punt, a kick-off returned for a touchdown, and a touchdown saving tackle on another by Ficken means some extra work on special teams this week.  Purdue still made some yards through the air, and probably should have had more if their quarterback had been able to hit a few wide open receivers better.  Belton fumbled and Hackenberg was picked on an absolutely awful throw.

But at the end of the day, the score looked respectable, the win is in the books, and we didn't have to go to overtime to ring the victory bell.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From GoPSUsports:

	PUR	PSU
FIRST DOWNS...................	14	31
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............	20-41	58-289
PASSING YDS (NET).............	223	212
Passes Att-Comp-Int...........	33-21-1	23-16-1
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....	53-264	81-501
Fumble Returns-Yards..........	0-0	0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............	0-0	2-11
Kickoff Returns-Yards.........	7-205	3-52
Interception Returns-Yards....	1-0	1-22
Punts (Number-Avg)............	3-45.0	0-0.0
Fumbles-Lost..................	4-2	1-1
Penalties-Yards...............	5-61	2-15
Possession Time...............	23:31	36:29
Third-Down Conversions........	4 of 11	10 of 12
Fourth-Down Conversions.......	1 of 2	0 of 0
Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......	2-2	7-7
Sacks By: Number-Yards........	0-0	6-42

Is this the first game we did not have a fourth down attempt?  While it's tough to get excited about beating a bad opponent, the stats confirm that Penn State dominated a bad opponent.

INTANGIBLES:

Vintage Purdue Pete
What IS that on his head?

The Drum Major stuck both flips.

Purdue won the toss and deferred.

Attendance was listed at 96,491, and while it may not have reflected actual bodies in the seats, the crowd was larger than I expected it to be after last weeks loss.

The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 13-3-1.

THE B1G PICTURE:

The Buckeyes took care of business, defeating Illinois 60-35 and now are sitting at home rooting for Mississippi State.  (post-posting update . . . The Bulldogs fell to Bama as expected, and Baylor jumped the Bucks in the AP Poll.  Still waiting for the BCS ranking, but the furthest away from #2 they are, the better!)

Northwestern tried to notch its first conference win against THEM, but lost in triple OT.

The Spartans husked Nebraska 41-28.

Wisconsin pounded and pummeled Indiana into submission, 51-3.

Future member Maryland upset Va Tech 27-24.  Did I call that one or not?  Rutgers, though, fell to Cincinnati 52-17.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Temple--4 points short of upsetting UCF.
2.  Miami--beaten by . . . wait for it . . . DUKE.  And we're not talking basketball here!
3.  ACC Coastal Conference--led by DUKE!  In football!  Boo yah!
4.  Syracuse--squeezed 59-3 by the Noles.
5.  Texas--poked by Okie State 38-13.
6.  Georgia--burned by Auburn 43-38.

LOOKING AHEAD:

Bring on the Cornhuskers!

Senior Day at Beaver Stadium next Saturday.  Time TBA.

Nebraska is 7-3, 4-2 in the Big Ten.

W  Wyoming 37-34
W  So. Miss  56-13
L  UCLA  21-41
W  S. Dakota St.  59-20
W  Illinois  39-19
W  Purdue  44-7
L  Minnesota  23-34
W Northwestern  27-24
W  THEM  17-13
L  Michigan State 41-28

So in common opponents, both PSU and Nebraska lost to Minnesota, but beat THEM and Illinois.  They are certainly beatable.  But can we put together (hopefully) 4 quarters of solid football?  I think we can.

GO STATE!  BEAT HUSKERS!

Weekly Game Guide: Train Wreck Edition

It's Thursday night and time for ACC football on ESPN.  Clemson is ahead of the Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech 27-10 at the half.

Speaking of wrecks . . .

What has happened to Purdue?

Penn State, with a struggling offense and a defensive backfield that has been likened to four drunks chasing an empty donut bag blowing down the street, is a 21.5 point favorite.  Wow!  I'm not surprised we're favored.  But 21.5?  Have they seen our offense lately?

Sadly, the spread probably reflects more on just how bad Purdue is.

While I have said many times there are no MUST WIN games on our schedule, given the circumstances, this is a MUST WIN.  You simply cannot lose to a team like Purdue and look in the mirror at yourself the next morning.  A loss for any reason is simply unacceptable.  This would be worse than losing to Toledo--that Toledo team won 10 games and went to a bowl.  This Purdue team is going nowhere--and fast.  With games left against Illinois and Indiana, it is unlikely Purdue will win another game this year, although Illinois at home might be their best chance.

If we don't beat Penn State, I swear I'm going to jump!

In other Big Ten games:

Wisconsin is a 22 point favorite over Indiana.  Let's see--mediocre Hoosier defense against pretty good Badger defense means points for da badgers.  I don't have a favorite in this game.  We'll go with Wisconsin, but for no real good reason at all.

Ohio State is favored by 7,000 over Illinois.  Actually, it's about 32 points, but it really doesn't matter, now, does it?  Unless the Buckeyes lose their starting three quarterbacks, two linebackers and their coach, this game won't be close.  But I can't bring myself to root for O$U.  I don't want to root for Illinois.  Guess I won't be watching this game this weekend.

Northwestern is favored over THEM by 2.5 points.  I think Northwestern has suffered enough, and THEM can never suffer too much, so GO WILDCATS!

Michigan State is favored by 6.5 over Nebraska.  Since they are probably the only team that can beat O$U, I gotta go with Sparty on this one.  GO SPARTANS!

Minnesota and Iowa are off.

Maryland is a 15 point underdog to Va Tech.  They manage to beat Miami, so now they must be undefeatable.  Pffhhht!  GO TERPS!

Rutgers is a one point dog to Cincy.  GO KNIGHTS!

In other games of passing (or running) interest:

F$U is favored by 39 over Syracuse.  GO NOLES!   (Must.  Keep.  Buckeyes. Out. Of.  Title. Game.)

Alabama is a 25.5 point favorite over Mississippi State.  ROLL TIDE ROLL (see above.)

Baylor is a 27 point favorite over Texas Tech.  GO BEARS!

Stanford is a 3.5 point favorite over USC.  GO TREE!

Boilermakers Get Lions Back on Track

Get yours for Thanksgiving!

On a day which saw #1 Alabama come from behind in Death Valley to beat LSU 21-17, and a day when the referees gave Notre Dame a second win for this season, the game in West Lafayette may not have seemed very important. 

But many Penn State fans were worried about a let down against the Boilermakers.  While Purdue is not LSU or Notre Dame, they were capable of almost beating Ohio State (came closer than we did as a matter of fact) and almost beating ND, which apparently is the norm for this season.  Who am I kidding?!  That's the norm for every season.  Where do you think the phrase "luck of the Irish" came from?  A drunk referee no doubt!

And despite the refs, Pitt still had a chance to kick a fairly easy field goal in 2OT to upset the #3 ranked Irish, but failed to do so.  For years, the Pitt team has disappointed their own fans.  Now they are branching out and disappointing fans across the nation who do not want to see a mediocre Irish team in the national title game.  But I digress.

Penn State dominated Purdue just as they dominated Iowa two weeks ago, en route to a 34-9 victory that included a touchdown with no time left on the clock for Purdue.   Was Lloyd Carr in the stadium?  The win re-established the NASCAR offense which apparently was yellow flagged last week--it's as if last week never happened.  McGloin simply picked up where he left off--picking up the pace, throwing no picks, and picking apart the Boiler defense with surgical precision.

The one thing we didn't leave behind was poor refereeing, as Amos was called for a personal foul when he hit Marve too hard on what appeared to be a good, clean hit.  But the the fifteen yards was not enough to help Purdue, nor was a fourth down stop of Penn State at mid-field early in the game.

All in all, it was a satisfying victory and I feel better about the game in Lincoln next weekend.  There are very few times I wish I could go to an away game, but next weekend is one of those times.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From GoPSUsports:

The time of possession was nearly equal, so if you are looking for justification in the stats for Penn State's domination, you need to look defensively.  A late score not withstanding, the Lion's D nearly shut out Purdue.  The rushing attack of the Boilers was held to 87 yards.  Penn State averaged 6.7 yards per play to Purdue's 4.3.  Neither team did well on third down (about 33% for both) and Penn State, while still a gambling team on offense, failed to convert any fourth downs.  There was one turn-over in the game, but you can't really blame Purdue's woes on that.

INTANGIBLES:

The Lions dominated before an amazing crowd of 40,098, some of which came only to see the World's Largest Drum.

Penn State is 12-3-1 all-time against the Boilermakers.

Penn State won the toss and elected to defer.

Win #6 makes us bowl . . . oh, never mind.  WTF.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:
Nebraska and THEM are tied at 4-1 atop the LEGENDS division, while the LEADERS division is led by two ineligble teams.  Wisconsin is currently "winning" the LEADER board at 3-2 in the conference.

Root for Perdue, or I'll hit you with this drumstick!

THEM beat Minnesota 35-13 behind quarterback Devin Gardner.  Why did Denard Robinson not play?  I don't know.  I don't care.  I'm too lazy to look it up.

The Buckeyes kicked Illi Silli, beating them 52-22.

Nebraska edged Michigan State late in the game, 28-24.  Michigan State fans are now issued barf bags before entering the stadium, and fans not able to ride roller coasters are cautioned not to enter.

The Hoosiers slipped by Iowa 24-21, and are the only "legitimate" team standing between Wisconsin and another trip to Indy for the Badgers.  Who woulda thought?!

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Holy Freaking Kick the Field Goal Batman, how could Pitt let that slip away????  I am still pissed!
2.  LSU--their defense folded faster than a poker player with a pair of threes. (Or the defense for MSU.  Or Pitt's D.)
3.  West Virginia--lost to TCU in OT 39-38.
4.  Temple lost to Louisville 45-17, the second biggest disappointment in PA
5.  Colorado lost 48-0 to the Cardinal.  I remember when Colorado used to have a football team.

LOOKING AHEAD:

O'Brien's Lions head to Lincoln next Saturday for a 3:30 contest against the Cornshuckers.

Nebraska has manged this record so far . . .

W  Southern Miss 49-20
L   UCLA 30-36
W  Arkansas St. 42-13
W  Idaho St. 73-7
W  Wisconsin 30-27
L   Ohio State 38-63
W  Northwestern 29-28
W  THEM 23-9
W  MSU  28-24

The two common opponents to date:  OSU and NW, the Huskers have fared comparatively well.  Both teams lost to the Buckeyes--Nebraska scored more points, but gave up almost twice as many as we did.  Northwestern had a chance to upset both teams and failed.

While the keys to any game include not making mistakes and scoring more points than your opponent, it is actually not a trivial thing in this instance.  These two teams are probably equally matched (I hope to look at the stats later in the week.)  Nebraska has the home field advantage (their only losses are on the road.)  But I don't get the sense that this is a good catch-up team, although they obviously managed that in East Lansing.  But even Iowa beat the Spartans.  I think the Huskers struggle more when you take them out of their game, but then, what team doesn't???  I hope we can score quickly and early--the formula which has served us well in every victory this season--and limit our mistakes.

The Bolden Boys

It was mano a mano.  Bolden a Bolden.  Rob a Ralph.  Penn State a Purdue.

And in the end, Penn State prevailed, 23-18.  But in the Battle of the Boldens, Purdue's may have made a bigger difference in the game.  Ralph had 99 all-purpose yards, 97 rushing.  Rob had 10 rushing and 40 passing, and twice it looked like he should have made a first down but slid early and came up short. 

Penn State seemed to dominate the game, yet the Boilermakers always seemed to be a score away.  In the end, there was no domination, although there could have been. 

On a partially sunny, really windy Homecoming weekend, Penn State did just about everything possible to lose this game, without actually losing the game. 

In our darkest years, Paterno always insisted we were a "play or two" away from being good.  Well, we are 6-1, and these are not the dark years, but the reality is this:  we are a play or two or three away from 2-5.  Three games have been decided by less than a score (Temple, Indiana and Purdue) and even Iowa was within a score in the fourth quarter a week ago.  Give a play to those teams, and maybe an onsides kick to Iowa, and this season could be drastically reversed.

We are simply not executing well, and it is becoming rather tedious to try and separate the blame from the tight ends who drop touchdown passes in the end zone to a quarterback that plays like a deer in the headlights, to a dual quarterback system that appears to have all the logic and consistency of a groin pull, to playcalling in the red zone with time running out (was that really a reverse we ran?), to a head coach that can no longer safely be on the playing field, to an unsportsmanlike penalty after a great return, to the STEP program that is ultimately responsible for the lowest homecoming attendance I have ever been to . . .

It just doesn't end--just like that last sentence.

Matt McGloin is a free-wheeling gunslinger who is just as apt to shoot himself in the foot as he is to kill the enemy.  He is the Inspector Clouseau of quarterbacking.  He always seems to come out on top, but you're just never sure he's going to make it till the end of the game.  He threw another pick in the end zone and we are fortunate it was only returned to midfield.  Granted, it was a freakish tip, but it was a ball that should never have been thrown in the first place.  And despite Bolden leading the team on one touchdown drive yesterday (the phrase every blind squirrel finds an acorn comes to mind) I still think most of his appearances are a waste of a possession for Penn State.

I really liked the fourth down call late in the game that allowed us to keep possession and end the game by kneeling.  A field goal would have only put us up by 8, and there is no guarantee that the kick would be good.  It could be blocked and run back the other way.  If Purdue gains possession, a defender could fall down or miss a tackle.  If you don't think bad things could happen then you haven't been watching this team at all this season.  And don't forget, Witovet was on the field as well.

And despite all this crap, we are bowl eligible, six and one (and no one really expected any better at this point even if we were beating opponents by two touchdowns) and leading our division at 3-0 in the conference.

Northwestern lost to the Iowa team we dominated a week ago.  Illinois lost to a struggling Buckeye team.  Nebraska is beatable.  If we can stop making so damned many goofy mistakes and figure out a way to score in the red zone, I think we could be facing the Badgers with one loss in our pockets.  Of course, there's no reason to think that anything will change, and we might lose the rest of our games.

Six and one shouldn't be so frustrating.

BY THE NUMBERS:

From GoPSUsports:

Team Totals	PUR	PSU
FIRST DOWNS	15	21
Rushing	6	11
Passing	9	9
Penalty	0	1
NET YARDS RUSHING	162	182
Rushing Attempts	33	48
Average Per Rush	4.9	3.8
Rushing Touchdowns	1	2
Yards Gained Rushing	169	199
Yards Lost Rushing	7	17
NET YARDS PASSING	182	185
Completions-Attempts-Int	14-30-3	10-23-1
Average Per Attempt	6.1	8.0
Average Per Completion	13	18.5
Passing Touchdowns	1	0
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS	344	367
Total offense plays	63	71
Average Gain Per Play	5.5	5.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost	0-0	2-0
Penalties: Number-Yards	6-33	5-43
PUNTS-YARDS	4-175	6-267
Average Yards Per Punt	43.8	44.5
Net Yards Per Punt	35.5	37.3
Inside 20	1	3
50+ Yards	1	1
Touchbacks	0	1
Fair catch	1	0
KICKOFFS-YARDS	5-330	5-328
Average Yards Per Kickoff	66.0	65.6
Net Yards Per Kickoff	35.6	34.4
Touchbacks	3	1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD	2-23-0	3-33-0
Average Per Return	11.5	11.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD	4-136-0	1-92-0
Average Per Return	34	92
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD	1-55-0	3-24-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD	0-0-0	0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards	0	0
Possession Time	26:09	33:51
1st Quarter	8:42	6:18
2nd Quarter	5:28	9:32
3rd Quarter	5:49	9:11
4th Quarter	6:10	8:50
Third-Down Conversions	4 of 14	6 of 15
Fourth-Down Conversions	0 of 1	1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances	4-4	4-5
Touchdowns	2-4	2-5
Field goals	2-4	2-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards	1-9	1-4
PAT Kicks	0-1	2-2
Field Goals	2-3	3-3

Penn State won time of possession, and the turnover battle, although our lone INT set up a 14 point swing on the scoreboard.  But Purdue surprised me a bit being able to move the ball against our defense.  Of course, both touchdowns were set up by short fields (one on the kick-off return and one on the interception return.)  But the pesky Purduers managed 344 yards total offense, just 23 shy of the mark set by our patented Paterno prevent offense.  TOO MUCH!   As one lady behind us yelled, "that's unacceptable!"  We'll blame it on the emotional let down after the big win against Iowa.

INTANGIBLES:

The Drum Major stuck both flips.  The Alumni Band was incomparable as usual.

Penn State won the toss and deferred.

Paterno notches win #407.  I wonder if someone will eventually put an asterisk beside that, noting the number of games he was NOT on the sideline.

Penn State leads this series 11-3-1 all-time.

Attendance was reported as 100,820.  Someone doesn't count well.  And it's a shame.  Unfortunately, it's all about money; not about the fans.  Maybe we need to OCCUPY BEAVER STADIUM!

Penn State is ranked 22nd in the USA Today poll.  We are 21st. in the BCS standings.

THE BIG (TEN) PICTURE:

Wisconsin badgered all over Indiana, 59-7.  I don't know any details, but unlike Paterno, Bielema never passes up a chance to run up the score.

The Cheateyes recovered some dignity over Illinois, 17-7.

MSU beat Little Brother 28-14.

Iowa hung on to defeat Northwestern 41-31

Nebraska was idle.  So was Minnesota, but no one noticed.

Penn State leads the Leaders division.  MSU leads the Legends.

SHEDDING TEARS:

1.  Pitt--lost to Utah 26-14.  All 14 points were scored by the defense/special teams.
2.  Illinois--your best start in half a century and their worst in years, and you still couldn't seal the deal.
3.  Indiana--maybe you guys need to find another sport.  Maybe basketball?
4.  Georgia Tech--ranked 12th and lost to Virginia.
5.  Boise State--rolling along after defeating Colorado State 63-13.  And a snowball's chance in hell of making it to the BCS title game.  Can you believe that?  Beating a team 63-13 and NOT winning a title???  Unfortunately, I have felt that pain.

LOOKING AHEAD:

Penn State travels to Evanston for a 7PM game on BTN against the Wildcats, who have lost four in a row.  Some worried that Purdue might be a trap game.  It almost was.  Could this be Trap II?

So far, Northwestern's season has shaken out like this:

W  Boston College 24-17
W  Eastern Illinois 42-21
L  Army  14-21
L  Illinois 35-38
L  THEM 24-42
L  Iowa  31-41

They still have Indiana and Minnesota on their schedule for a couple of wins.  Maybe a win against Rice on Nov. 12th.  That's five.  To be bowl eligible, they need to come up with at least one win against Nebraska, Penn State, or Michigan State.  Strictly looking at the rankings, their best bet is to upset the Lions next Saturday.

That makes them even more dangerous.  Can McGloin find Lions instead of Wildcats on a dark night in Evanston?  Can our defense rattle the Prince of Persa?

Tune in next week for yet another cliffhanger of a game, the Penn State way.

Statistically Speaking: Boilermaker Edition

Here are the NCAA stats for Penn State and Purdue:

NCAA Stats Comparison
Category:	Penn St.	Purdue
Rushing	53	20
Passing Offense	82	93
Total Offense	81	50
Scoring Offense	93	42
Rushing Defense	17	59
Turnovers Gained	15	99
Passes Had Intercepted	60	6
Pass Defense	5	32
Net Punting	102	6
Punt Returns	79	49
Kickoff Returns	92	34
Turnover Margin	36	43
Fumbles Recovered	24	78
Passes Intercepted	13	92
Fumbles Lost	83	11
Turnovers Lost	84	5
Passing Efficiency	101	74
Pass Efficiency Defense	4	33
Total Defense	4	36
Scoring Defense	5	30
Fewest Penalties Per Game	30	113
Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game	33	114
Punt Return Yardage Defense	63	55
Kickoff Return Yardage Defense	54	113
Offense Third-down Efficiency	77	50
Offense Fourth-down Efficiency	5	22
Defense Third-down Efficiency	35	49
Defense Fourth-down Efficiency	100	71
Tackles for Loss	22	44
Offense Tackles for Loss	8	99
Pass Sacks	42	107
Pass Sacks Allowed	19	100
Time of Possession	39	51
First Downs	74	34
First Downs Allowed	7	67
Red Zone Efficiency	95	37
Red Zone Efficiency - Defense	119	106
Average NCAA Rank:	50.14	57.41
Weighted Avg. Rank:	48.58	43.17

The stats this week show an interesting reversal.  When you just look at the straight up average NCAA rank (add each rank for each category and then divide by the number of categories) Penn State ranks better than Purdue.  But when you look at the weighted ranking (i.e. give more weight to categories like total offense, total defense, and less emphasis on first downs allowed or yards penalized per game) and Purdue actually appears to have the edge.

Our ranking is inflated by the uniformly bad numbers on the offensive side of the ball.  Purdue is simply an average team--neither offense or defense is outstanding.  The Boilers are good at net punting (6th), passes had intercepted (6th) and turnovers lost (5th.)  They are ranked 11th in the country in fumbles lost, and after that, most of their rankings are above 25.

On the other side of the ball, Penn State is ranked in the top 25 (if not the top 10) in practically every defensive category except for red zone defense.  Fortunately for us, Purdue is almost as bad in red zone defense, so maybe we have a chance of scoring some TDs this week.

Purdue Pete Learns the Truth

Pre-Season Countdown: #8

The nominees for the eighth most difficult team to beat this upcoming season are Purdue (for their short documentary in chicken commercials,) Northwestern (for their role in Hitchcock's North by Northwestern) and Illinois ( for the most cartoonish head coach surname--Zook.)

And the winner is . . .

PURDUE.

In looking at the remaining schedule, these three teams not only occur in order in October, but they are fairly clearly a yard or two behind the others:  Ohio State, Alabama, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin.  If you don't believe me, check the various polls out so far.  All but Iowa seem to be making appearances in various spots in the Top 25.  You won't find any of these three teams even receiving votes.  (Truth be told, Northwestern got one point in the AP poll, but who outside of Evanston gives a fark?)

Oh Danny Boy!

In contrasting these three nominees, Purdue gets the nod for several reasons.  In regards to schedule, this home game is sandwiched between Iowa and a trip to Evanston.  Iowa has given us fits the past decade or so, and while it should be a game we win this season, there are no automatic W's when it comes to the corn boys.  As such, we might be emotionally down after that game depending on the result.  We certainly have tougher games to be looking ahead to than Northwestern.  No offense, wildcats.

Purdue's weakness is offense, which plays into what I perceive as our strength--our defense.  Gone is Joe Tiller and the spread run and gun.  Purdue ranked 105th in the nation last year  averaging 19.7 points per game.  To make matters worse, their D gave up 28.8 points per game.  However, they are returning most of their defensive unit (9 starters) but are without Ryan Kerrigan, the Washington Redskins first round draft pick.

Purdue is coming off a 4-8 season in 2010, which includes wins over Ball State and Western Illinois.  They lost to Toledo, but hey, that shit happens.  They did beat Northwestern (no offense wildcats, but that's kind of embarrassing) 20-17.  Their fourth win was against Minnesota. 

Despite finishing with six straight losses, they did seem to improve to some degree, only losing to Michigan State 35-31 and taking Indiana to OT while coming up short 34-31.

Danny "thanks for the memories" Hope, is 9-15 at Purdue and is in his third year.  Is third time the charm?  More likely, this will be strike three.  Most of the publications I have read put the Boilers around 9th in the Big Ten.  That's not as bad as it used to be since we now have 12 teams, but the twelfth team--Nebraska--is ranked ahead of them, so it's pretty much a wash there.

Penn State is 10-3-1 all time versus Purdue.

This game is homecoming for Penn State, and the Lions are 65-21-5 in homecoming games and have won 39 of the last 45.

Prediction:  While you never know for sure how a team will come together, it certainly doesn't look promising for the Boilermakers.  I think Penn State will be able to score against them, and I don't think they will offensively be able to move the ball consistently against us.  I look for an impressive homecoming victory--solid but not a blow out.