I bet ABC is really sorry that they didn't put this game on. This may be the game of the week.

It's not often that you get a chance to watch a game where both the winning and losing coach is in jeopardy of being fired at the end of the year. A loss to IU would all but guarantee that Danny Hope is gone. I don't see how he would survive that. Bill Lynch has to be fired if IU wants to be taken seriously.

Rob Henry seems to be showing some signs of being a capable passer while being a huge threat running the ball. Ryan Kerrigan looks like he may be the defensive player of the year. It's really a shame that he's doing it on a 4 or 5 win team. I think he uses this as a last example to NFL scouts that he's deserving of a first round selection.

I think Purdue wins but it's closer than it should be and in general the game is bad for everyone else to watch.

If Purdue loses, I will leave the board for one day for every point Purdue loses by. I will still post in the "Kyle Orton challenge".

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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'm a Hoosier fan this weekend.

Hopefully the game is on Saturday. I probably won't be online Friday and I'd hate to miss any more time that Rick will be gone.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Boilermaker Rick, you can say Hope is gone if Purdue loses, but Purdue rarely fires coaches, especially lately, I don't think AD Burke has ever fired a coach at Purdue.

One thing to make Purdue people feel better, on Saturday during Michigan-Wisconsin, they were talking up Paul Chryst, that was one of the guys considered when Purdue was looking for a coach, could have had Chryst instead of Hope.

I don't think he is gone if they lose. He may be.

Even though they did it in a way to not look like it, he did fire Keady and Tiller. They did not retire completely voluntarily.
No thanks. There is a reason he's not gotten a head coaching job. When they did due diligence on him they discovered that he doesn't even recruit anyone but QB's. He would be a disaster recruiting.

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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 still think the jury should be out on Hope. If anyone has an excuse, it's him. I can understand the frustration, especially with the defense (I think Kerrigan is the best defensive player in the Big Ten), but I can't imagine any team surviving the plague he suffered on offense.

Lynch, on the other hand, wasted one of the better QBs in the conference and one of the best set of wide receivers in the nation. There is no reason whatsoever that Lynch should return, win in this game or no.

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Fire Phil Emery

The problem is that they weren't exactly lighting things up at the start of the year. They didn't have Ralph Bolden then either and he's the biggest loss on the team but pretty much everyone else was there for the Notre Dame game.

There is no excuse to lose to MAC teams in two straight years. Things happen and you get upset sometimes but twice in a row is unexcusable.

I guess I'm just worried that he seems to be learning on the job too much. If you look at Hope's resume prior to getting to Purdue would any Big Ten school hire him? He was the best option to get Tiller out gracefully and he had his chance to prove himself. The best thing you can say is he found some great hidden gems in recruiting. I don't know if you can build a program around that.

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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 the first time ever I think I actually want Purdue to win just to ensure Lynch is gone. Which probably means IU wins this one and Lynch gets an extension.

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

Boilermaker Rick, I think your right if you looked at Hope's resume, a Big 10 team would hire him, but when you look at Purdue's record in hiring football coaches, they don't go big, it's usually a guy you've never heard of.

I would say the same about IU, but they do bring in guy's that have had coaching expeirence from a Division 1 school, like Jerry Ginardo and Terry Hoepner, and I think if Hoepner wouldn't have had the health issues that ultimately took his life, IU would be a better team with a bowl game every year. Maybe not the big ones, but would be bowling.

yep, he always is...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

I agree completely. Hep had things going in the right direction, just very sad what happened to him. Hopefully they can find someone like him when Lynch is fired.

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

Can you really say this? Indiana has been to 9 bowls since 1967 and 1 since 1993. It's not like they were a former powerhouse on the gridiron.

I think it is. He is not saying they were going to become a powerhouse and start contending for the Big 10 every year. But I think Hep had things going in a direction that would have had them being bowl eligible most years and at least a respectable program instead of a doormat with a Boob for a head coach.

Obviously we will never know now.

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

Well, right. But someone in 1993 might have been saying the same thing, especially with the gifted Randle El at the helm and coming off 3 bowls in 4 years, but the bottom fell out then.

That's true Vince, I cannot argue with that. But you cannot determine what would have happened based on things in 1993 either, different staff, different administration, etc.

Who knows, maybe I just live in a dream world that actually thinks it is possible for IU to have a respectable football program.

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

WAKE UP RFDC!

Yeah, I guess it is like you thinking Iowa is actually going to be respectable in basketball anytime in the next 10 years.

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

I would be suprised if either IU or Purdue fired their coach.

Once you read the SI article on the BCS, I think both schools are secretly happy they seldom go to bowls. No costs and a share of the loot. Nice gig.

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Just to clarify on IU if Hoepner was still there, I wasn't saying it would be the Rose Bowl every year, but kinda of like Purdue's run when Tiller was there, a bowl game in most years, like the Little Caeser's Bowl, couple of Insight Bowls, Texas Bowl, and maybe some years one of the Florida Bowls. Who knows, 1 year may have been the Rose Bowl.

The author bungles the basic accounting in that piece. Quite badly, too.

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Fire Phil Emery

Maybe so, but I think the major point still holds.

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If you don't make bowls, you won't sell tickets, jerseys, etc. That money only gets split one way.

Bowls are pretty much only expensive as the teams want them to be. Some teams treat them as massive junkets, with players staying at resorts and close to 1,000 others coming along. Others are a bit more Spartan about things.

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Fire Phil Emery

If Danny Hope gets fired it will be because of the lagging attendance. At a place like Purdue that doesn't have a fan base that guarantees every game sells out the difference between a bad team and a bowl team that gets the fans excited can be worth $10-$20 million a season.

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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!

Not if you actually lose money going to a bowl. That was the point of the SI article, that teams like IU that never go bowling, are closer to break even than places that go to bowls

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I haven't seen the article but I think that is a strange way to look at it.

Last year, Purdue's average attendance was below 50k and I'm told it will be lower this year. That's nearly 15k down from the high attendance marks. If it were to go down to 40k you'd be looking at over 20k decrease. That doesn't even factor in how they have to discount tickets. My guess is that the bad records the past 2 or more years are going to cost them over $10 million this year. Going 8-5 and making a bowl game would pay for itself even if it costs more money to go to a bowl game.

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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!

One again, teams lose about as much money as they care to lose on bowls. It all depends on how they treat the experience.

Teams like IU break even because they have poor football facilities and don't upgrade them. If they got more money, they'd upgrade the facilities, and it would still look like they broke even. But that money went towards something tangible.

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Fire Phil Emery

IU has been upgrading their facilities over the last couple of years.

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

OK. Don't upgrade them as quickly as they would if they had more sackfuls of cash.

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Fire Phil Emery

So far so good, IU looks to not be interested in playing today. Purdue should win and hopefully put the final nail in the coffin of Lynch.

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

Well I knew it, the one time I actually want Purdue to win IU finds a way to pull it out.

Take that BRick!

Maybe we will both get our wish and both coaches will be gone soon.

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