Rivalry Game to End Season

If you are a Purdue fan, there is no doubt that the Indiana Hoosiers are the one team that you cannot stand losing to. It is the biggest rival game of the year and the last game of the season. There is no doubt that both team will play their hardest since they have nothing else to look forward too. Both teams have a losing record, but none want to lose the last game, especially to their worst foe. Purdue (3-8) and Indiana (3-8) will face each other this weekend in what should be the best game of the year.

Purdue's offense will be led by seniors Curtis Painter and Kory Sheets. There is no question that Painter will start this game. I am not sure if Painter will play the whole game or if his shoulder is still hurting a little. If so, Justin Siller will come in and try to get the offense going. I predict that Kory Sheets will have a remarkable game. There is nothing holding him back. Playing against our biggest rival, the last game of the year, the last game of his career: Sheets has nothing to look forward to. So why wouldn't he play his best and leave Purdue on a good note. Senior Greg Orton has been a huge part in our passing game this year so expect him to contribute a lot.

The defense will be led by senior linebacker Anthony Heygood. Heygood has had a really incredible season this year. Our Boiler defense has all together had a really good year and has kept us in a lot of the games. There would be no reason for a defensive collapse this weekend. Expect a strong show from our Purdue defense, especially Anthony Heygood.

The Hoosier offense does not have a big star on their team. They don't even have a outstanding number one quarterback. Quarterbacks Kellen Lewis and Ben Chappell have thrown the ball almost the same number of times and for about the same yardage. They have 5 running backs that have carried the ball 50 times or more, and 6 wide receivers that have over 150 receiving yards. This team will not look towards just one guy to carry the team. Purdue won't have to worry about one guy making big plays the whole game. But then again, we cannot just focus on one man to shut down their offense. Indiana will keep our team guessing on defense the whole game since they run about as effectively as they can throw. I have no doubt that our defense can keep up with this offense though.

With our many talented senior graduating and head coach Joe Tiller retiring after this year, our Purdue Boilermakers will put on a show this weekend by beating the Indiana Hoosiers. There is nothing better than playing a big rival at home. Everyone should be at the game this weekend and cheer for our Boilermakers in the last football game of the year.

Rice one of the best college baseball teams in the nation has decided to play fall baseball games and it is paying off wonderfully. Teams are starting to begin games in fall instead of the 56 games that they play in the spring it would cut down that number to 52 making it easier on the players. Rice Coach Wayne Graham said, “Texas and us both are in the same position they took three weeks at least out of the schedule, and we both have to take nine days off for finals. Anyone who says playing 56 games in that short a time doesn't put stress on their academics, they don't have any academics. It's no good to play 56 games for us, in fact we probably ought to cut down to 50. But 52, we'll manage. Intra-squading yourselves for five weeks, it's hard to keep them motivated.” This is a very good point because playing that many games straight would put a huge strain on academics.

Rice has played two 14-innning exhibition games against the Texas Longhorns and have came out on top of each by the score of 13-6 each game. Freshman Anthony Rendon and Brock Holt are ready for the real thing said coach Graham. The feeble holt has been hitting the balls repeatedly and been fielding like a pro says Graham and Rendon has been doing a great job at third and may have the position if he keeps up his excellent fielding.

Jimmy Comerota, who played second last year, is going to take over first although he may be switching it up with the freshman later on down the road. He has been hitting the weight room during the offseason because he is much bigger and stronger and during the exhibition games has been hitting the ball in the gaps.

Junior Diego Seastrunk has been moved to catcher and will more than likely stay there the entire season. “There is no tool missing from his catching arsenal,” Graham said. “His hands behind the plate are excellent, he's just got to keep working on his blocking skills, because he can throw, there's no doubt about that.” With his strong arm it will be extremely hard for anyone to steal on him.

The pitching on the other hand is a little shaky because of the loss of seniors from last year. Ace Ryan Berry has improved substantially this season by improving his changeup and with his fierce curve and fastball he will be a force to be reckoned with. Graham has been saying that his team will rely on freshman lefty Taylor Wall who has a ferocious three pitch mix that can fool any hitter. Anthony Fazio will also be relied on and lefty Matt Evers will fill Cole St. Clair’s vacated spot as closer for the Owls.

The Rice Owls have a good chance of making it to the College World Series this year and leaving their mark on every team they play. They have a good lineup and a developing bullpen that could leave hitters wondering what just happened. Their defense is probably their strongest point because of their speed and exceptionally good freshman.

Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma

The Texas Tech Raiders have another challenging, maybe even the most formidable opponent, the Oklahoma Sooners. With two of the best offenses in College Football this should be one of the highest scoring games of the year. Texas Tech is averaging around 47 points a game while Oklahoma is averaging more than 50 points a game; this just proves that it will most likely be an extremely high scoring game. Texas Tech’s defense is the only thing that will possibly put them over the Oklahoma Sooners because the Sooners defense is not as quick and good as the Raiders defense. Although they are still really good and have a damn good defensive line that can pretty much own any offensive line except for maybe Texas Tech’s because they are just that good. The game will probably be one of the most watched games of the year because of the stakes that are on the line. If Texas Tech wins they could be put in front of Alabama as the number one team in the nation and if they lose then they could drop out of the running for a bid in a BCS bowl game. Oklahoma on the other hand needs to win the game to even be considered for a BCS bowl game because of their loss earlier this season. I believe that because of the way Texas Tech has been playing and because of the teams that they have beat in the last two games they will come away with the W and become the number on team in the nation.

Graham and Crabtree

Texas Tech’s quarterback and wider receiver tandem of Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree is one of the best, if not the best, in the nation and maybe ever. Both players are in the top five for the Heisman trophy because of their amazingly brilliant and prophetic season that they are having. Graham Harrell has thirty six touchdowns, four thousand yards passing, a 71.7 percent completion rating, and a passer rating of 169.18 passer rating which is extremely high for this late in the season. Harrell is having one of the most amazing seasons that a quarterback could have. Now Michael Crabtree is THE BEST wide receiver in college football and has the size, power, speed and hands to go by and run over anyone in the league. He has made too many unbelievable catches to even name and this just shows how great of an athlete he really is. Crabtree has seventy-eight receptions, over one thousand yards and eighteen touchdowns. His stats are great but really don’t show his entire arsenal which can only be seen when he plays. These two are a great tandem and have the stats to back it up.

Purdue's Next Challenge

This weekend the Purdue Boilermakers travel to play the unranked Iowa Hawkeyes. Just because Iowa isn't ranked doesn't mean they won't be a challenge. The Hawkeyes are one of the under rated teams this year. Their defense may be their only weak point on the team because their offense has done amazing this year.

The Hawkeyes leading running back Shonn Greene has led the team rushing for over 1300 yards this season. With 13 touchdowns and an average of 6.1 yards per carry, I would consider him one of the best running backs in the Big Ten. The only bad thing about him is that he is not that great of a catcher. He only has 8 catches this year for 49 yards. At least the Boilers don't have to worry about his catching the ball that much.

The biggest struggle that Purdue will have is containing their quarterback Ricky Stanzi. Stanzi has thrown for almost 1500 yards this season and has an average quarterback rating of 134.1 which is quite remarkable for this late into the season. On the bright side for the Boilermakers, he has only thrown for 10 touchdowns while throwing 7 interceptions.

A large part to Stanzi success has been his wide receivers. Iowa has 4 receivers with 200 or more receiving yards, all with an average of over 12 yards per catch. Purdue's defense needs to limit the big plays down field and force the quarterback to throw shorter passes. If we let them get a couple big plays down field, it will kill our team's morale.

If Purdue can stop the run and force their quarterback to throw shorter passes, our defense should be successful and it will be up to the Boilermaker offense to put points on the board. This is going to be a test for our defense and their ability to shut down their big play makers.

No Bowl Game for the Boilers

For only the second time in Coach Joe Tillers career of 12 years, his team has not made it to a bowl game. A sad occasion since this is the last year that Joe Tiller is going to be head coach. It is too bad that Joe Tiller's last season did not turn out the way that he or his players thought that it would.

"This definitely hurts," senior wide receiver Greg Orton said. "So far, this season has been really disappointing. It's another loss that really hurts. We're tired of losing." This was not been a very good season for the seniors on the team, but they are not giving up yet. "It's time to respond to the situation we're in," senior wide receiver Desmond Tardy said. "There's no bowl now, so we can either give up or come out still fighting. I believe everybody has the mindset to come out fighting." The seniors on the team are definitely not going to give up since this is going to be their last 2 games of football. They need to rally the rest of the team and encourage them not to get down or give up. The Boilers have a good chance to win both of the remaining games this year if they come together, play well, and don't give up.

Starting Quarterback Against Iowa?

Purdue head coach Joe Tiller has not yet said who the starting quarterback will be this weekend against Iowa. He believes that Curtis Painter has recovered enough from his shoulder injury that he should be able to start for the Boilermakers. If Painter is able to play this weekend, I would bet that he will be the starting quarterback for Purdue.

However, Painter has not recovered perfectly from his injury yet. It was just on Sunday that he was able to put his arm above his head and start throwing a couple of passes. He most likely will not play the entire game. He won't be able to throw the deep ball as well as he used to, but Tiller believes that he can still get the job done as quarterback.

Siller is recovering from a couple of injuries from the Michigan State game. He left the game with a hyper extended knee and a bruised sternum. The team doctors don't think the injuries are serious and they cleared him for practice on Sunday. There is no doubt that Justin Siller will be ready to play this weekend.

Quarterbacks Curtis Painter and Justin Siller are battling in practice to see which one is going to be able to perform the best this weekend at Iowa. Joe Tiller likes his senior quarterback Curtis Painter so if Painter has recovered enough and is able to play, he will be the starting quarterback for the Boilers. I would expect Justin Siller to take over a quarterback throughout the game.