Michigan Not a Big Threat

This weekend the Boilermakers host the Michigan Wolverines. I think that Purdue should come away with a win this time. The struggling Wolverines are only 2-6 right now and on a 4-game losing streak. With the Boilers at home this game, I feel that Purdue's losing streak is about to be snapped.

Michigan has a struggling offense that Purdue's defense should be able to shut down. Our Boiler defense has done extremely well against the top 25 teams that we have played lately, it is just our offense's inability to put points on the board that we have failed to come away with a victory for a while. Both of Michigan's quarterbacks are completing just over 50% of their passes and only go for an average of 5 yards per attempt. Only 2 Michigan receivers have caught over 20 passes this season compared to Purdue's 5 receivers. Both of their quarterbacks seem to throw a lot of interceptions and don't seem to get into the end zone that often. They are suffering the same passing illness that we are right now. Their throwing game should not be a problem for our defense at all.

The Wolverine running game is their strong point, however. Michigan has 3 running backs that have carried the ball for over 150 yards with Sam McGuffie leading the team with 470 yards. Michigan likes to share the ball with many running backs compared to our very own Kory Sheets who has ran for 806 yards by himself. If Purdue's defensive line and linebackers are able to shut down the Wolverine running game, Michigan will have a hard time coming away with many points against the Boilermakers. I predict that the Boilers will win this game, but it will be an offensive struggle the entire game. Hopefully our new quarterback Justin Siller will be able to make our offense more productive and come away with a win.

Heisman Update

The top Heisman contender has changed almost as much as the Purdue Football team loses (sorry Purdue Fans…lmfao). The top contender usually changes each week and really has just became constant in the last week because of his teams great success. The top Heisman hopeful right now is the Texas Longhorns Colt McCoy who has had incredible season not to mention his team is number one team in college football according to the Associated Press and USA Today’s Coaches Polls. Although his team has won eight straight and just recently blew out the old number sixth ranked team. Although his leadership and stats show that he is the man for the award there is still four games left and the runner-up behind Colt McCoy is Texas Techs Red Raider, Graham Harrell. His numbers speak for themselves because with four games left he already has 3100 passing yards and 28 touchdowns. If he keeps putting up these great numbers for the rest of the season and the team goes undefeated then I believe that he could pass Colt McCoy and become the Heisman winner. Both players have a good chance of winning the great award although I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Colt McCoy will walk away with it because the Texas Longhorns are unstoppable.

Winding Up

The College Football regular season is starting to reach towards its end of life this year, with only four games left for most teams (not including bowl games). This means that teams are trying to make an impression on the public so that they can get their bowl dreams to actually come alive and become realities. One team that has turned itself around is the Virginia Cavaliers after being blown out by Southern California 52-7 on their home opener and then losing their next two of three to Connecticut and Duke. These three loses made them one and three. Since this pitiful record they have been undefeated and now are five and three and are atop their conference, ACC coastal, although they have four games left and who knows what could happen they are sure improving quite well. Florida State is another team who is improving well and becoming quite a good football team. After they had lost their third game some college football analysts thought that they had gone back to their old ways and become the Florida State Football team that always rolled over and died after a good start. Although with an ACC Atlantic lead in the conference and a strong showing against Miami and Virginia Tech the Florida State Seminoles are ranked 15th in the AP Poll with only five games left. These five games will be a test of will power and determination because of the difficulty of the remainder of their season. The first team they will face is Georgia Tech, at Georgia Tech; this will be a difficult game because of the size and quickness of Georgia’s defense and also because they have Jonathan Dwyer who is averaging six yards a carry this late in the season. Their next two games are not as difficult not because of the teams but because of the home field advantage that the Seminole fans give their team in Doake Campbell Stadium. Then they go to Maryland and play which will be their second toughest opponent; with number one being the last game of the regular season the Florida Gators. This team is one of the best in the nation with a loss only to Ole Miss because of a last second drive. Florida State has one of the toughest last stretches in the nation to go through but if they succeed and win they could be potential to be a top runner for the BCS Championship Bowl Game. These teams are two of the more improved teams in football and where there is always someone improving, we just gotta know who is declining.

Year of the Tiger…NOT!!!

Well if I know one thing it’s that it is not the year of the tiger in college football because the two well known tiger teams are declining and going fast. But by far the most nationally known team that is declining is LSU, I mean what the hell happened to the DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPS. National champs are not supposed to fall this hard and this fast, but I guess it just was not LSU’s year. Although they are just five and two they still are just the shell of the team that beat THE Ohio State Buckeyes last year for the National Championship title. Sure they lost All-American players such as DE (defensive end) Glenn Dorsey, FS (free safety) Craig Steltz, and TB (tailback) Jacob Hester. They were just thought to replace this talent with more talent from the offseason but after the blowout by Florida where the Tigers lost by thirty points; it showed the team that their system is not working well enough because with four interception returned for touchdowns; that’s just one stat that can be looked over. Another struggling team that was optimistic about where they would be this far into the season is the Auburn Tigers. After having such a taught, menacing defense and their new spread offense they were supposed to be a forced to be reckoned with, although this is not the fact because their offense is just terrible and their defense finally buckled after the lost to West Virginia. After becoming three and o the Auburn Tigers have lost four of their last five and need a turnaround if they want to be even noticed for a bowl game. It’s just not these two teams time to become a helluva team.

Brandon Taylor Commits to Purdue

Brandon Taylor, a 6-foot-1, 290-pound defensive tackle, from Miami, Florida verbally committed to Purdue after visiting over the weekend despite seeing the Boilermakers lose 6-17 to the Minnesota Gophers. When asked about the Boiler's loss, Taylor responded, "It really didn't bother me, because I saw they were playing really hard," Taylor said. "What I really liked was that the coach wasn't really hard on them, but he still motivated them." Brandon Taylor likes the coaches here at Purdue, especially Danny Hope, who will take over for Joe Tiller next season. "It went pretty well. I think he's a good guy," Taylor said about his meeting with Danny Hope. "I felt comfortable being around him. And I'm confident he's going to take this team to the next level." Brandon Taylor is one of eight players to verbally commit to play for the Boilermakers next year.

Brandon Taylor is the son of Lawrence Taylor who was a hall of fame linebacker for the New York Giants. Taylor has been under pressure all his life to play well since he is the son of a star football player. Taylor has started the past 2 years at his high school playing defensive tackle and offensive guard, and he has done remarkably well. In just 6 games, he has recorded 40 tackles and 7 sacks. Taylor hopefully will be a key addition to the Boilers football team next year who will make many plays for the defense.

Controversy Continues

Purdue's quarterback controversy is still not over even though Joey Elliott is out for the season with a separated shoulder. During the 6-17 loss to Minnesota, starter Curtis Painter was pulled out early in the game and replaced with third string quarterback, Justin Siller. Even though Painter was only in long enough to complete 6 passes, he was still able to throw an interception without a touchdown. Painter was replaced with Siller because Curtis Painter supposedly recieved a slight separation of his right throwing shoulder. A minor injury like this is one that many quarterbacks are able to play through. Maybe Painter is done and looking for an excuse for playing so bad.

Justin Siller went into the game and was able to make his first collegiate appearance. He didn't do too bad for his first game at the college level. He had 10 completions out of 17 attempts for 73 yards, however; he was unable to produce a touchdown and threw an interception. One thing that Siller has that Painter lacks is his ability to make a play on the ground. Siller is a lot more agile and quicker than Painter. He was able to avoid a couple of sacks by either running the ball for a gain of a couple yards or using his feel to buy enough time for one of his receivers to get open to make a catch. He rushed for 41 yards but officially only rushed for 17 yards after you subtract the yards that he was sacked for. Siller is able to make these plays on the ground since he is a former running back that was converted to a quarterback when quarterback Joey Elliott was put on the injured list for the rest of the season.

The Boilers have a good chance to win this upcoming game since the struggling Michigan Wolverines are 2-6 this season. Purdue needs a win badly to break this losing streak and get some confidence back. Will the injured veteran or the young rookie be the starting quarterback this weekend? I guess we will have to wait and watch the football game this weekend to find out.

Sheets Off Limits to Media

After Purdue's loss to Northwestern, the Boilermaker's star running back Kory Sheets made some comments to the press that Tiller was not proud of. Sheets criticized his quarterback Curtis Painter in some of the after-game talks with the press. He blames Painter for not looking to him in his flat routes and Sheets claims he is wide open most of the time, which is true. Painter has been overlooking Sheets since he is always looking downfield, trying to go downfield for the big play. Kory Sheets states that Painter has too much going through his head during the time of the play and forgets to look to Sheets for the short option pass.

Not only does Sheets criticize his quarterback Curtis Painter, but he also criticizes the play calling by the coaches. He wonders why the coaches still would rather throw the ball even though they are getting nowhere with passes and giving up turnovers. Kory Sheets says that they need to run the ball more often to be more productive. "Right now, Painter hasn't been consistent. ... I'm being real consistent, I think they have to start looking at me for some answers and giving me the ball and let me carry the team, instead of keep putting the ball in Painter's hands," Kory Sheets stated to the press after their loss. Sheets has made it clear that he wants the ball more and he believes that the Boilermakers will play better the more touches he gets.

Head coach Joe Tiller is not mad enough to suspend Sheets or anything for his remarks or anything. Tiller has been putting up with Sheet's mouth for years and knows that he has a big mouth. "We all know Kory pretty well. Anything Kory says doesn't surprise any of us, players or coaches. Kory is liable to say anything at any time," Tiller states. "I have an issue with what he says, somewhat. The other side of the coin, he's playing hard. I think his heart is in the right place. I think he's frustrated. I think it manifested itself in some comments. I don't think he's malicious or thinks anything really bad about his teammates. Am I happy with some of the comments? No. But I know Kory. And I know Kory is competitive and wants to win. So do I." Coach Tiller understands where Sheets is coming from, but put him off limits to the press so he doesn't say anything that he will regret. He is just releasing some of the stress from being on a losing streak when he believes that they should be able to play a lot better than they are playing right now. We will have to wait and see if Joe Tiller listened to Kory Sheets thoughts of giving him the ball more often.

University of Connecticut Considered Front Runners in Women’s College Hoops

The UCONN Huskies are considered the top contender during the Pre-Season of Women’s college Hoops. The Huskies have four of seven players back that had significant playing time. Their acquired all-star freshman Heather Buck, who averaged 27 points and 16 rebounds, will be a great addition to the team because of her size and foot-skills in the paint. Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty are also freshman this year and play at the guards spot. These three players will probably not see so much playing time because of the deep pool of talent that UCONN has at almost every position. Number one Scorer Maya Moore said to espn, “We're going to have that mind-set of nothing is too hard for us, we're going to do it together and everybody's going to hold their own, and when we all do that, I don't think we're going to lose.” This is a true leader speaking and from what I can see from this team, I could really see them going undefeated this year because of the Superstar players that they have. The Women UCONN Huskies’ are like the Tar Heels of Men’s basketball they are just always so damn good.

Tar Heels looking To Be Number one in Preseason Polls

The Tar Heels are looking to be number one in the AP polls when the basketball season kicks off and begins its journey to the Big Dance (this is the NCAA Tournament for college basketball that is a single elimination tournament that gets the best team in the nation, or tries too.) The returning stars from last year are player of the year winner Tyler Hansbrough, one of the top point guards in Ty Lawson, and one of the best shooters in Wayne Ellington. Although, Marcus Ginyard is injured from a foot fracture that has been surgically repaired, he will be out for eight weeks or so. The Tar Heels deep bench should keep this loss to a minimum and although the leadership is lost the team still has leaders such as Hansbrough and Ty Lawson. What makes this team is great is the amount of scorers that they have on this team. For instance, if you wanted to go to a low post threat you could dish it to Tyler Hansbrough, who has great foot work in the paint and also not a bad jumper. Another example is that if you wanted to put the ball in the hands of a player that could drive toward the basket you could just give the ball to Ty Lawson or Danny Green who both have amazing vision and can see lanes before they are even there. Then there’s the option of shooting the mid-range jumper and the man for that is either Ty Lawson who has a sweet jay or you could go to Tyler Hansbrough, who also has a very nice mid-range shot. The three would be another possibility of this team as Wayne Ellington and Danny Green both shoot about fifty percent behind the arc, and if on fire are really unstoppable. This is why the North Carolina Tar Heels are ranked number one at the beginning of the season because they are a multi-dimensional team and can hurt you from anywhere on the floor. The only problem that I think they could use some work on is their defense because sometimes the players miss their defensive assignments and also commit fouls that put them in foul trouble which then leads to time off the floor for the players that they need. There are a few teams that are on the Heels of this amazing ballclub. Connecticut will be a force to be reckoned with because of mostly the Return of Coach Jim Calhoun and players Hasheem Thabeet and A.J. price who are both game changers in their own way. Louisville is another team to be worried about because of almost all returning starters and the improvement rate of players under Rick Patino in the offseason Louisville will be great around the perimeter with 3 three point threats and if freshman Samardo Samuels lives up to his hype then they could have a dominating inside force. All in all, the Tar Heels are a real title contender and I could see them going very deep into the tournament and maybe even…winning the whole thing.

Elliott Out For Season

During the second quarter of Purdue's 26-48 loss against the Northwestern Wildcats, the Boilermaker's back-up quarterback Joey Elliott separated his throwing shoulder. Painter was pulled less than 5 minutes into the second quarter and replaced with Elliott. Elliott was scrambling for a first down and slid right into a defenders helmet. The injury will most likely require surgery and if they do take the option of surgery, Elliott will most likely be out for the rest of the season with a season-ending separated shoulder.

Curtis Painter went back into the game for the injured Joey Elliott, but was a disappointment for the team. Painter ended up going 26 for 41 passes with 273 passing yards and one touchdown, but he also threw 3 interceptions to the Wildcats defense. 2 of these interceptions were off of tipped passes, which was Painter's excuse for having so many turnovers during the game. He needs to learn to be more accurate in his passes. If he is more accurate and can put the ball on the money, then defenders won't have a chance to tip the ball or get an interception. Making smart passes should be his main priority in running the offense. He can't afford to turn the ball over to opposing teams and giving them great field position at the same time. Curtis Painter will still be criticized by fans who are devastated by the tragic injury of quarterback Joey Elliott.

Carson Wiggs Disappoints

In last weekends football beating from Northwestern, Purdue's kicker, Carson Wiggs, did not display his best performance. Although Wiggs was able to make 2 field goals from 20 and 37 yards out, he was unable to come away with one of the gimme extra points after a touchdown. This was one of the things that Summers occasionally did and is a big part of the reason that the fans started to boo and dislike Summers. A football team needs a kicker that they can depend on and is consistent. How can a kicker make a 53 yard field goal and then miss an extra point from only a couple yards away? If Carson Wiggs doesn't step up and become more consistent, fans may start disliking him for the same reasons as Chris Summers.

Mackey Madness

Mackey Madness was on Friday October 17, 2008 and showed an array of things from Dunk Contests to Three Point Contests to Inner Squad scrimmages. The Dunk contest was a spectacle to watch although there were far more misses than makes. Matt Painter, head coach for the boilers, jokingly said to the crowd after the slam dunk contest, “I promise you we will play better (this season) than we dunked tonight." This being said the three point contest was won by the two person team of Keaton Grant and Jodi Howell who lit up the three point line with ten three-pointers in around 60 seconds beating out the duo of Robbie Hummel and FahKara Malone. After this even the inner-squad scrimmages of the men’s and woman’s basketball teams. The men’s team showed a strong showing from freshman Lewis Jackson and John Hart and showed very impressive showings as did JaJuan Johnson and a few other starters. The men’s team looks as good as ever and with improved leadership are going to be a force to be reckoned with. The girls’ team is also looking very good and will hopefully be able to make a strong showing this season. Mackey Madness was a really good showing as too how hyped the 08-09 basketball season is going to be because being rated number on in the preseason NIT tournament and eighteenth in the AP(associated press).

Purdue's Next Challenge

This weekend the Northwestern Wildcats football team hosts the Purdue Boilermakers. Although the Wildcats are not ranked, they are a very good football squad. Northwestern has a very impressive record of 5-1 with a recent loss to the ranked 20 Michigan State last weekend. The Wildcats may be good, but I think the Boilermakers can pull off a win this weekend.

Northwestern and Purdue's ground game is about equal according to their stats. Northwestern is barely ahead of Purdue in rushing yards, but Purdue leads in rushing touchdowns. We should expect Kory Sheets and Northwestern's running back Tyrell Sutton to be battling it out on the ground for most of the game.

If Purdue wants a win, they will need to capitalize on the Wildcats weakest point which is their passing game. Northwestern's quarterback C.J. Bacher is a very weak quarterback that should not be a starter in college football. Although he has 1,300 yards so far this season, he has thrown for only 7 touchdowns and given up 8 interceptions. I think that any quarterback who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns this far into the season should be benched. If Purdue can shut down their running game and force Bacher to throw the ball, then our secondary should be able to come up with some big plays this game.

I expect Purdue to win this weekend against the Northwestern Wildcats. It may be an offensive struggle, but Purdue now has a trustworthy kicker in Carson Wiggs, and he should be able to put the game away with a victory for the Boilers.

Purdue Has Found Its Kicker

Carson Wiggs is Purdue's trustworthy kicker. Wiggs made his starting debut in the 3-16 loss against Ohio State. Although Wiggs only went 1 of 2, there is nothing he should be ashamed of. Both of the kicks were from huge distances. He missed the 1st field goal at the end of the first half when his 51 yard attempt. He was them able to redeem himself when he nailed a 53 yarder in the 3rd quarter. 53 yards is a long ways. Not very many kickers can make one from that distance, especially not very many freshman.

Wigg's 53 yard field goal was a special one. Not only was the kick his first field goal of his college career, but it set a Purdue as the longest field goal ever made. He beat the previous record of 51 yards that was held by 3 different kickers. Now that everyone knows that he has the distance as well as the accuracy, Carson Wiggs will be the new starting kicker for the Purdue Boilermakers.

Former place kicker, Chris Summers, struggled during the loss to Ohio State. During one of his punts, Summers took his eye off the ball which resulted in a slow punt. The slow punt gave the Buckeye defense enough time to get the block which resulted in a defensive touchdown for Ohio State. This was the only touchdown of the game. With Summers continuing to struggle as the season goes on, he may be replaced for good. We will wait to see if Summers finally breaks his bad luck streak and if our star freshman kicker is able to put more points on the board for the Boilers.

Texas New Number 1, Can They Hold On??

The Texas Longhorns defeated the formerly number 1 team, the Oklahoma Sooners, in a 45-35 victory. Even with Oklahoma's embarrassing loss at home, the Sooners only dropped 3 spots in the AP rankings. Oklahoma is ranked 4th in the nation currently, but who knows what can happen nowadays. College football teams are being upset left and right. There is no telling who could be the number 1 team next week. The pressure is on the Texas Longhorns to hold thier spot as the top team in the country as long as they can.

Texas may have a tough time hosting their next opponent, Missouri, who is ranked 11th. Missouri has a record of 5-1, but they just suffered a loss to the ranked Oklahoma State in a close defeat of 23-28. Missouri is led by their quarterback Chase Daniels who has thrown for over 2,000 yards this season. He needs to be careful, however. He has 16 touchdowns, but also has thrown 4 interceptions. If he isn't careful about where he throws the ball, the Longhorn defense has the ability to pick him off several times. A key player for Missouri's success is the running back Derrick Washington who is just over 500 yards for the season. During their defeat to Oklahoma State, Washington was held to 11 yards in 8 carries which is truly pathetic for a starting half back. Missouri will need to establish a running game to keep Texas guessing on what defensive formation to use. If the Missouri offensive line does not give Washington any running room, the Texas defensive line will eat him alive.

I think Missouri will struggle to score many points against this Longhorn defense, but that is not the biggest problem that they will have to face. The biggest challenge will be trying to stop Texas from scoring. I think that this game will be a blowout in favor of Texas, especially with the Longhorns playing at home. There have been a lot of upsets lately so we will have to watch and see if Texas is able to hold on and remain the number 1 team in the country.

Big Ten and SWAC conference are Represented by the plays of Two NFL’ers

I had to post this story because it is really amazing and does not have to do with college sports but I’m going to tie it into college sports…so here goes. Alright Marlin Jackson, from University of Michigan, and Robert Mathis, from University of Alabama A&M, came up big for the Colts on Sunday and showed their school proud by helping the Colts come back from a 17-27 score with only four minutes to go in the game. The first play happened when Houston’s quarterback, Sage Rosenfels, took the ball in and went to run for the first time and as he was getting tackled he reached for the first time and Marlin Jackson stripped it and as the ball was bouncing around it was scooped up by Gary Brackett of the Colts and ran back 68 yards for a score which then made the score 24 to 27 after the field goal, with only 3:36 left in the game. Then the second play after the kickoff Rosenfel rolled out right and Mathis with his great closing speed got up in Rosenfels face and somehow stripped the ball while he tackled him. Then with his athleticism he jumped up from the ground and pounced on the bouncing football. After this fumble recover the Colts were on the Houston 20 and then with a handoff to Addai he broke out left and then towards the middle and made it to the 5 yard line. Peyton to Reggie was the next play and its result was a five yard pass for a touchdown. This put the score 31 to 27 Colts and with a Colts interception on Houston’s next drive it stayed this way. Marlin Jackson and Robert Mathis represented their Alma matter well and showed what being from the Midwest and South is all about.

Boilermakers Lose to the Nittany Lions

It was a sad day to see Purdue fall to the record of two wins and three losses, but we played Penn St. so really there was not a chance in hell that we could have won. Ha Ha Ha. Some one told me before the game, “Come on Cody there are always miracles.” I was like, “with Purdue the Last Miracle that happened was winning the Motor City Bowl last year when we won by a Field Goal, against an okay team.” Then that person said, “Whatever, have some faith in your team.” And I said, “How can I have faith in a team that does not even have faith in itself.” With this comment my friend shut up and said nothing to me about miracles for the rest of the game. I agree that this is an extremely mean comment to make about my team but come on they can even play a full game of defense or offense for that matter. I just wish they would believe in themselves because then maybe we would actually win some games. But any way it was a slaughterfest and the Nittany Lions were doing all the killing. The game began as a battle to the death because both defenses were playing well and there were many three and outs for both offenses. But the slaughtering began in the second quarter when Penn St. quarter marched his team from their own twenty eight to the one yard line of Purdue to have it punched in by Penn’s running back Daryll Clark. After this touchdown Purdue just fell apart and could not get anything going until they scored in the fourth quarter with 5 min remaining and the score became 20 to 6 Penn St. leading and that was the final score. Purdue played like “crap” yet again and although they only lost by fourteen to very high ranking team; I believe deep down that if they had the mindset they could have beat Penn because Penn made some early mistakes that Purdue could have capitalized on and scored. Next week’s game against Minnesota should not be as heart breaking as the last two.

Just In…Top 150 Football Recruits from Class of 2009

Published just this week were ESPN’s top 150 players from the class of 2009. The number one rated player is Matt Barkley who is a Quarterback from Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. The things that put him at number one are his accuracy, fancy footwork, almost-perfect mentality and how he already has the size and mindset of a college quarterback. He has signed with USC and will be attending the school in fall of 2009. Another player that will become an immediate help for their team is Russel Shepard who has signed with the LSU Tigers. He is a very versatile player and does not just play one position; he can play wide receiver or quarterback. He is extremely fast and unprecedented in his quickness because he can turn on a dime. He also does not take to many big hits because he plays smart and stays low to the ground in order to break tackles. His quickness gives him a faster first step then most players and this make him a huge threat for anyone who will play LSU next year. The number the three player in the nation, Aaron Murray, has verbally committed to Georgia and, pending his signing, should be an effective backup for their junior quarterback, Matthew Stafford. Although it is unknown if Stafford will go to the NFL this year which then could open up a spot for Aaron Murray to show to the world how damn good he is. He as an incredibly strong arm and the quickest release ever seen by the scouts (yes faster than Payton and Brady) but the best thing about him is his size and athleticism he is 6’1” and weighs only 195 and runs an extremely blazing 4.8 forty which for a quarterback that is like Michael Vick speed. He has only one weakness is that he is “sort of” injury prone” and has a little problem with accuracy. Other than his little problems he is one hell of a quarterback and deserves his ranking of third in the nation. Many other players are on this list I just do not have the time to mention all of them, so sorry if I did not mention your favorite High School Superstar or just overall favorite player.

Blown Out of Proportion

LSU's defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois' remark against Florida quarterback Tim Tebow should not have been made such a big deal. Ricky Jean-Francois said "If we get a good shot on [Tebow], we're going to try our best to take him out of the game, with his size and his heart, it's hard to get a clean shot. I think every lineman wants to get a good hit on a Heisman Trophy winner."

Florida fans and coaches are taking this message a little too personally saying that it is unsportsmanlike. This is a game of football. If you get a chance for a clean hit on someone especially the quarterback, they are going to take it and hit him as hard as they can. Ricky Jean-Francois responded to the criticism for his remarks saying, "By taking him out of the game, I meant as a defense we are going to try to make him ineffective. I'm sorry that my initial comments were interpreted another way." The LSU Tigers do not wish to intentianally injure the star quarterback, but they will give him a big hit if they get the chance. A dirty hit is out of the question. LSU won't play like that. A good clean hit is all that they will do to Tim Tebow.

Dan Mullen said Tuesday. "Intentionally injuring other players is not part of the game that we teach here." I think that what Mullen said is worse than what the LSU players are saying. What the LSU defensive line is saying is just competitive trash talking to the other team. But what Mullen is saying is criticising the LSU coaches for teaching thier players to play dirty and intentionally hurting someone. That was a low blow that the Florida coach should never have made. One thing that you can count on however, is that this LSU-Florida game will be a very heated and physical one.

Summers Will Kick No More

Chris Summers had the worst display of placekicking I have seen in college football. He did not make a single kick. Summers missed 2 field goals, 36 and 45 yard attempts, and an extra point. Are you kidding me? He missed an extra point. Those are gimme points. Middle school kickers can even make those. Boilermaker fans were booing Summers when he failed to hit anything during the 20-6 loss to Penn State over the weekend.

Head coach Joe Tiller says that Chris Summers will not kick against the number 11 Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend, but that he will still be the punter since he has been doing a great job at that so far. Freshman Carson Wiggs will be the starting placekicker for the Boilers from now on. It will not be his first appearance however. Wiggs has been kicking off for Purdue all year. He also came in to attempt a 60 yard field goal a couple weeks back. He barely miss it too. The kick was on target but was a couple yards short. Tiller states that Wiggs has a big leg and has faith that he can get the job done.

Joe Tiller even said that Summers has been struggling more than just in games, but in practice as well. He has missed several field goal attempts in practice. How is a kicker suppose to hit a big time field goal if he can't even make one in practice without pressure or anyone trying to block the kick? He can't, and that is why Carson Wiggs is the Boilermakers kicker. We will have to watch Purdue play Ohio State this weekend and see if Carson Wiggs is up to the challenge.

Painter Benched?

Purdue suffered a rough loss of 6-20 to Penn State over the weekend. The Boilermaker offense struggled to get anything going their way. Senior Curtis Painter was eventually pulled out of the game in the fourth quarter and replaced with the fan favorite, junior Joey Elliott.

Painter continued to struggle throughout the game, not being about to make any big plays through the air. He only completed 13 passes out of 22 attempts. He was able to produce 112 passing yards, but he threw no touchdowns and 1 interception. With this letdown by the star quarterback, head coach Joe Tiller decided to put in back-up quarterback Joey Elliott to try and jump start the Boilermaker offense. This was a start. Elliott completed 3 passes out of 5 attempts resulting in 46 yards and set up the only touchdown that Purdue was able to produce all game which was a 1 yard run by running back Kory Sheets. If you were at the game, you could tell that the fans wanted Elliott on the field instead of Painter. Purdue fans were booing Curtis Painter when he would make a bad choice or a horrible throw, especially after his interception. I remember at the game, as soon as Elliott made the completion near the end zone and Sheets was able to power run it in the end zone for six, the Purdue student section began cheering "Joey, Joey, Joey."

Since Curtis Painter is leading the Big Ten conference in passing yards, head coach Joe Tiller says that Painter is still his starting quarterback since he has the most experience and gives Purdue the best chance to win football games. The Boilermaker football fans may disagree, but he is the coach and gets to decide things like that. We will wait and see if Joey Elliott makes another appearance and replaces starter Curtis Painter.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS ANYONE!!!!

Okay if any of my fellow Boilermaker fans are getting pissed at how poorly the Purdue Football team is then now’s your time to get excited for Purdue Basketball. On Oct. 17^th there is the midnight madness or inner scrimmage of the Purdue Basketball Team. After this scrimmage I will be writing a very long type of hype up/scouting report of the Purdue Basketball Team. I should also have an Interview with John Hart (freshman SG) of the Purdue Basketball Team. So be ready for the Interview…I promise it will be good.