Oh Danny Boy...Saturday is a must win for you.

First appeared on November 12th, 2009
in The Lebanon Reporter

One can be certain there were many things Purdue’s rookie Head Coach Danny Hope expected to say in his first year. Tired phrases like “This was a learning experience” or “We demonstrated improvement” or perhaps even, “You throw the records out for the Oaken Bucket”. But surely not even Danny Hope himself, nor even the most optimistic of optimists for that matter, and yes this includes the President of the Optimists Club of West Lafayette should he be reading this now over his mug half full of steaming hot coffee, ever expected to be using the words “must win game” during Purdue’s 2009 football season. But that being said, sure as Nancy Pelosi rammed health care down the throats of the House last week, this Saturday’s match up at Ross Aide Stadium with Michigan State is just that. A must win game.
While the Big Ten was falling in love with that fickle temptress Iowa, Purdue was quietly overachieving; well overachieving as much as is possible while still having a 4-6 record. Purdue’s season can be summed up in a few words: inconsistent, amazing, ugly and baffling. Danny Hope rode in with zero expectations for year 1 and is suddenly two wins away from bowl eligibility. Somehow it all happened so quickly, almost as quick as Endora could turn her son-in-law Darren Stephens into an uninspired and overweight Tabby cat.
Of course Samantha could always fix the problem with a wiggle of her adorable little nose. Unfortunately for Danny Hope, when Sparty comes to West Lafayette Saturday it will take more than the wiggle of a witch’s nose to get the job done. On paper things don’t look good for Purdue, but when was the last time they did? While both teams are 3-3 in conference play, State has one of the top ranked offenses in the Big Ten and is the overall leader in total yardage. Conversely Purdue’s defense is not amongst the top ranked and leads in almost no categories.
Proverbially putting the cart before the horse for a moment, Purdue finishes the year in Bloomington. Imagine for a moment the possibility of a sexy Oaken Bucket game the outcome of which could propel the Boilers to a bowl bid. The drama that would exist if the Indiana Hoosiers were the only thing standing in Purdue’s path to a bowl game (wait, we’ve already been down that road haven’t we?).
Somehow Hope has to find a way to bury that talk for a week. Purdue needs to focus all its energies on beating Michigan State or this year simply goes down as “The last time we beat Michigan”. A forgotten season only to be revisited when the dust gets blown off the scrapbook 43 years from now as young wide-eyed Boiler fans want to learn more about the last Purdue team to win in the Big House.
The next two weeks possess multiple possibilities and still somehow the Boiler program lacks energy overall. From his slammed baseball cap and spread offense all the way down to his cowcatcher of a mustache, Hope is seen simply as a clone of Joe Tiller (by the way Danny-Magnum P.I. called, he wants his stache back). Hope has his work cut out for him if he wishes to escape the stereotype of being Joe Tiller Jr. Boiler fans somehow grew weary of Tiller’s perpetual bowl berths, so the pressure is on for Hope to carve out his own identity while winning enough games to keep his job simultaneously. Beating Michigan State Saturday would definitely be a step in the right direction.