Happy New Year!! Grab some aspirin and begin your B1G Festivities for the day!
Purdue (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten) vs. Oklahoma St (7-5, 5-4 Big 12)
Tuesday, January 1st, 12:00 EST, ESPNU Television
Wide receivers coach Pat Higgins will lead the Purdue Boilermakers into the Heart of Dallas Bowl to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys on January 1st. How in the world Purdue wound up in a New Years Day bowl game is beyond anyone’s comprehension, but I guess stranger things have happened.
We all know the Boilermaker story: Head Coach Danny Hope and his mustache were sent packing back on November 25th and former Buckeye assistant and Kent State head coach Darrell Hazell has assumed the post and will take control of the program on January 2nd. They come into the game with Robert Marve calling the signals of an offense that is inept at best yet somehow took the Buckeyes to overtime. Kawan Short is a legit star on the Purdue defensive line and is someone worth watching.
Oklahoma State comes into the game at 7-5 and if not for Mike Gundy’s team dropping its final two games and three of its final five, they would likely be in a much more prestigious bowl. Not that the Heart of Dallas isn’t prestigious and rich in tradition with it’s “Ticket City dot com Bowl” background, but I digress… Ok State comes in with a prolific passing attack led by quarterback J. W. Walsh and receiver Josh Stewart. An interesting stat: The Cowboys scored fewer than 30 points in just one game while going over 50 points four times.
We all witnessed the Purdue debacle in Ohio Stadium that resulted in Kenny Guiton leading a game tying touchdown drive that resulted in an overtime win. For some reason I don’t think that would happen twice. Oklahoma State can put up points, but they do it in the Big 12 where seemingly nobody believes in defense. An Ok State vs Ohio State game might have looked like “MACtion” on the scoreboard until the Silver Bullets settle in and adjust- although the last time they met it was pretty one sided.
On paper this looks like a Cowboy win all the way. But for some reason, every single BBC writer has selected Purdue (editors note… everyone but Jason selected TBPU). I trust their reasoning was similar to mine: The team responds knowing that new head coach Darrell Hazell is watching with a close eye and, again, who in the Big 12 plays any type of defense?
Let’s hope the Big Ten can score a win and kickoff New Years day on a good note!
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