So Purdue has injuries, and it's a valid excuse. I believe 11 players who would have been starters this year have gone down with season ending/affecting injuries. So Danny Hope is only in his second year, and it's a valid excuse. So Joe Tiller mentally checked out after Orton was gone and 2005 went down in flames, and it's a long road to recover from that, and it's a valid excuse.

I still don't care. This is where we find out just how much they care about football. If you don't beat Indiana at the end of the year, the coach must go. If you make a bowl game, even if it is a bad bowl game, you keep him.

It gets very interesting if they only get to 5 wins, which is likely. Realistically, the only chance at a win is Michigan at home, who they have beaten the previous two seasons and isn't that good. If they continue to look outmatched out there, I think you have to make a change. Right now, they look terrible and given how they have lost in two consecutive seasons to MAC schools, you have to consider them being uncompetitive in the Big Ten.

I'll make two predictions. The loser of the Purdue-Indiana game is fired. If Purdue only wins 5 games, the coaching staff gets a complete overhaul and Danny Hope will be very lucky to keep his job. It's time to officially end the Joe Tiller era and start over. It's not that hard to win 4 or 5 games a year for a Big Ten team. It can only get better.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's not?

DAMNIT!!

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You know me like that.

I think you are right here, but I think you can make a good argument that both need to be fire regardless of what happens in the bucket game.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

That McBurse kid looked pretty good with good size.

When Justin Green wasn't closing on him very fast, it looks like he had pretty good speed because Green is a track champion and one of the fastest guys on the D, a 4.4 guy.

Glad he only got 2 carries.

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You know me like that.

I agree, especially if both teams are 4-7 going into it. What is the big difference between 5-7 and 4-8?
He does. He has had some injury issues since the preseason but he's also been a chronic underachiever. I'll just be happy if he doesn't transfer. He's one of the highest rated recruits we've gotten in a while.
You should be. I'm sure he could have made up the 30 point difference between the two teams on Saturday.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think Hope will get another year, but he better have a good start next year.

I will say this is the second time in consecutive years he has done some weird things after games, this year he was mad at the Illinois coach Zook for scoring a touchdown near the end of the game, in the paper the players said they weren't mad about it, but Hope confronts Zook after the game. Last year when he should have been celeberating the win at Michigan, he bring a player to Rich Rodriguez and talks about he was suspended, the Purdue player should have been suspended after the game is over you give a forearm shot to a player in the head. A little weird.

Add to this is, before the season they brought up the attendance, I don't think that should fall on Hope, I would blame the non-conference oppenents, but they sometimes get on a coach for this.

This could be a small thing and may not matter, but it sounds like Minnesota is going to bring in a name coach and I almost if Purdue will feel we could have got that guy this year, instead of waiting, really don't know if that will matter just throwing it out.

Again, I don't think he will be fired, but Rick my question to you is can name the last coach Purdue fired? Tiller left the way he wanted too, Keady left when he wanted too, and I think Colletto just resigned, of course that could have been a your fired or resign and I think that was after upsetting Michigan.

The only thing that sucks more than one Boilermaker is two Boilermakers...

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

I wonder if we crossed paths in 96.

Well, he was throwing the ball up 30 points with 2 minutes to go. I don't think he was mad at them scoring but how they did it. I agree that the anger was misplaced.

I actually fully support what he did to Rich Rod. He would not have been suspended if not for Rich Rod calling it out in a press conference.
You can't lose to the MAC two years in a row. That's fireable right there.
Keady and Tiller weren't "fired" but they didn't leave how they wanted. Both of them were told that they were going to be the coach no more than one year. In hindsight, Tiller should have gone right away. Keady deserved a one year curtain call.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's official. I think Danny Hope should be fired at the end of the year. It sucks he had injuries but it's not like this was a national title contender before we lost them.

I don't know if it will happen or not but I have a lot of doubts about the future of the program. I think they will be better next year on more experience and hopefully less injuries but I'm ready to see what a totally new(non-Tiller based) regime can do.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

On to basketball...

Losing Robbie Hummel was a terrible blow to this team. It's going to forever haunt Purdue fans because they are going to be really good without him.

JaJuan Johnson is going to be an absolute beast this year. He's bulked up pretty good. I'll be very surprised if he isn't a late lottery pick in the NBA draft. I think he will develop into a Marcus Camby type player.
E'Twaun Moore continues to be a soild consistent contributor. He seems to have more explosive jumping ability this year but normally he's a player that very quietly puts up big numbers. He's statistically comparable to many of the best players in Purdue history.
Remember this name: Terone Johnson. He's going to be a star. Many people described him as one of the biggest hidden gems in the entire high school class. He'll be the third best player on the team this year.
Patrick Bade has gone from awkward freshman to solid contributor. He's easily the most improved player on the team. It looks like I'll have to find another player to say "I just hope he doesn't mess up too badly".
Travis Carroll looks pretty smooth for a freshman. He's going to be really good coming off the bench. He's significantly better than Bade was his first year. Bade is better this year. As Carroll gets more comfortable I think he'll provide us with tall depth that was sorely lacking last year. He can fill his role and let the other players play like the stars they are.
Lewis Jackson still can't shoot. It sucks because he could be dangerous if he could. Teams will sag off of him and neutralize him.
DJ Byrd and Ryne Smith look to be good options for some three point shooting. If a team goes zone against us expect them to factor in heavily.

This team will still be right there in the conference race but with how deep the conference is there is no way they can be considered the favorites. I don't really know who is.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Purdue is officially petitioning the NCAA for a 6th year of eligibility for Keith Smith. From the sounds of it they have a pretty good case.

The process of convincing myself that next year will somehow be different has already begun.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Let's go Fighting BRicks, with Love from Wisconsin.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Wow, Purdue pulled an Indiana today. But probably for the best in Brick's world, should help to get the coach fired.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

yeah, to give up 22 points in the 4th quarter was brutal. By the way, I didn't like what Wisconsin(and I live here now) did on the bomb pass late last week. Don't mind anybody running the football, and if they would have scored that way fine. You don't tee up the bomb.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

If they made a bowl game I would have fully supported him coming back.

The playcalling the fourth quarter was brutal. He seems to be a great motivator but I shake my head way too much at some of his coaching decisions.

It's going to be awesome when he is retained, and everyone convinces themselves that this year was just a fluke because of injuries and they are the pick to be a "surprise team" in the Big Ten. Then, they go 6-6 by finally beating the MAC teams on the schedule and everyone thinks things are great. I'd prefer if that was with a new coach but I'm not too confident that things will change.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I think Hope gets another year, don't know if it will matter, all the players that were lost to injury, could easily get hurt again next year, especially when it's ACL's, it's not the next year when your good, it's the year after, but an injury that can happen again, just look at Robbie Hummel. They lose Kerrigan to the NFL, Ricardo Allen looks like he could be something, so maybe some hope on defense, but the offense could be nothing.

I have to downgrade this team. They'll be lucky to be in the hunt for third best in the conference. Right now, Michigan State and Ohio State are clearly better and Illinois is better. I am not yet ready to buy into Minnesota. Wisconsin is always a solid upper half Big Ten team.

The problem is depth, which still would have been an issue with Hummel but is excruciatingly obvious without him. Johnson and Moore are both good enough to go for 30 points if the other team attempts to shut one down. That seems to be the common theme. A team decides they will shut Moore down and JaJuan Johnson goes off. If they decide to shut down JaJuan Johnson, they only slow him down and Moore does well. What will become obvious in the deep Big Ten is that the rest of the team is not up to par. Ryne Smith is capable at shooting the ball and defense but he's not a quality Big Ten third option. Jon Hart is injured and would hopefully be the best option to provide more offense. Terone Johnson will be a star but he may not be one this year. He's only a freshman but he's going to make up the future of the program. The game seems a little bit too fast for him now which is common for freshman. Lewis Jackson is an offensive liability because he can't shoot and teams can sag off of him. Kelsey Barlow has more physical talent than any player on the team but he makes too many dumb mistakes and hasn't yet figured it out.

They have no post depth which is going to kill them. It seems like Travis Carroll is going to get a bulk of the minutes but being a freshman he seems like he's not ready yet. Patrick Bade is firmly on the bench and I expect a transfer soon or at the end of the year.

I think this is still a top 20 team but I don't think they'll finish any higher than fourth in the Big Ten. If someone steps up and provides a third scoring option they've got an outside shot at being close to Michigan State and Ohio State.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Rebounding kills this team as well. Can't believe Purdue doesnt have a Brian Cardinal or a Brad Miller type to get the tough boards. They usually have one guy who looks like he should be playing football.

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This is the biggest failing of Matt Painter and something that he hopefully corrects in future recruiting. It's hard to find quality rebounding but all the other top Big Ten teams have found a way to have multiple that you can count on.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

For those of you who are bored at home Purdue plays today at 1pm central time on the Big Ten Network.

The game was moved to this time in case either Purdue or Michigan was playing in the Insight Bowl tonight.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Michigan has several players that look a lot like me on the basketball court.

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Fire Phil Emery

They seem to be playing as well as you could also.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This was probably the most enjoyable game of the year to watch because the other guys finally made a nice contribution. The two stars are always going to provide scoring but Smith, Byrd, and Terone Johnson must contribute to win any game in the Big Ten.

It also helped that the crowd at Michigan had no energy and it was more like a neutral site.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

In something that has surprised me Purdue seems to have found it's third scorer. Ryne Smith is averaging 16.7 in Big Ten games and has become the sharpshooting 3 point shooter that this team has needed for years. There were times in his career that I was thinking he would transfer because he won't ever play. He's now officially replaced Hummel's scoring capability. He's playing with such a confidence that I don't think it's a fluke but I expect the numbers to go down some.

Lewis Jackson and Terone Johnson also are starting to pick it up and for the first time since Hummel went down last year I am feeling like they have figured out how to play without him. I still don't think they are better than Illinois, Michigan State, or Ohio State but if things continue like this they may be able to compete with them.

They play at Minnesota a week from today, and that team is filled with height that can really take advantage of them. It should be a great test and if they can win a game like that I'll be very optimistic about what they can do. The teams they have played so far are all teams they should have beaten.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I should have said thanks earlier today as they won me money last night, that was a nice easy cover giving Penn State 6.5.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Congratulations. If you are making a play be careful of the Minnesota game next week. I think that could be big trouble for them as it's a terrible matchup. I'd stay away from betting either side.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Nope, won't do that forgot you made fun of Hillbillies

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Well to start the Purdue season, during the Spring Game, already most of the crowd letting out some boo's, for Purdue Pete's new look.

Was he carrying a sliderule?