Let the barking begin.

1. They settle nothing...

So now Bama and Georgia are tied 1-1...When is game 3 to settle it?

2. Opt outs

Playoffs increase the opt outs, because they create more games, and increase the likelihood of players opting out, while also increasing opt outs in the non playoff bowl games

3. The rest of us

How are playoffs good for Purdue and the non blue bloods? The reduce the significance of bowl games that are not playoff games, and blow up our cherished ncaa football traditions

Nathaniel Peat


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Georgia wins their first national championship since 1980. Purdue’s last final four was 1980. 2022 is the year. See you knuckleheads in New Orleans.

Crazy day so far. Number 5 USC loses at Stanford. Texas Tech and Baylor in a 1 point game with 6 min left. Number 4 Auburn goes to Alabama tonight. Might be some chances to move up this week

There has been a lot of hemming and hawing about the impacts of the transfer portal. It have been recently reported that a total of 9 players from the NC have chosen to enter the portal, 7 from Alabama and 2 from Georgia.

In my view, most of the discourse seems to have been about a hypothetical of a George Karlaftis or David Bell type entering the portal.

However, I think the more likely scenario is that there is much more likely movement from recruits who initially go to Blue Bloods and then transfer down to a, pardon the expression, lesser school. However, I think it's very much too soon to have any firm takes on the implications of the NIL/Portal developments until we have more data.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...layers-enter-college-football-transfer-portal

34-31

DO NOT want to play them!

It's an early afternoon game on the road, this Saturday as the #3-ranked Purdue Boilermakers travel to Happy Valley to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in another key conference game. Tip coming up @ noon (Eastern) with television coverage on the Big Ten Network. The Boilers, who will drop in the rankings come Monday, are coming off a home loss to Wisconsin earlier this week and stand at a disappointing 1-2 in conference play. Penn State is 2-2, having won its last two after a three-game cancellation stretch due to COVID concerns.

If the Boilers are going to get back in the thick of the conference race, they'll need to get back on track with playing better/smarter basketball, starting today. During conference play, Purdue's shooting has been down, and the defense has been inconsistent at best. Former Purdue assistant, Micah Shrewsberry, coaches Penn State, and you can expect that he'll have part of his strategy ready to probe/exploit Purdue's shortcomings. On the court, the Niitany Lions have been anchored by Seth Lundy and John Harrar, who have combined to score 25.6 points per contest. Harrar can be a force on the glass if the Boilers aren't focused on him.

I expect this to be another spirited and competitive game - Penn State will battle, and the Boilers better be ready to match that intensity on both ends of the floor. I'd like to see Jaden Ivey get back to what he was doing earlier in the season with decision making in transition. Can Sasha Stefanovic have a break-out game away from Mackey? Can the Boilers get better production from the bench other than from the center position? Can Purdue get some momentum from its defensive effort today? Will Ethan Morton continue to get more playing time? A lot of questions, and hopefully the Boilers have some good answers.

It's still early January, but another loss today, and the season starts to unravel a little bit. Now, Purdue has won the last three games played at the Bryce Jordan Center. Can the Boilers make it four straight and get back to .500 in conference play? We shall see......

Boiler up, my friends.

Those two along with Madison, Ellis, Terry seems like a nice lineup. Hardin, Moore, Smith rounding out the 8 player rotation isn’t bad.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We may call ourselves "the Cradle of Quarterbacks," but as I have repeatedly said over the years, "presidents, coaches, and quarterbacks all get too much blame and too much credit. Without an offensive line, we will never be more than mediocre. The power teams in the conference all have good, if not great ones. OSU, UM, PSU, and especially Wisconsin and Iowa have good lines, year in and year out. Jim Colletto, for all his supposed faults, gave us a running game, which Tiller greatly benefitted from, along with OSU and Michigan dropping off the schedule and course, a style of offense new to the Big Ten.

If you saw last nights 36-35 game between the Chiefs and the Ravens, you have a great example. Mahomes and the Chiefs were throttled in last year's Super Bowl because they were using a patchwork line due to injuries. They have a completely new line and are on their way again. Baltimore ran the ball all night, and while they have Lamar Jackson, without a line and a so-so Chiefs defense, would not have been in the game to take advantage of that fumble bailing them out at the end were it not for their line.

With the exception of Brees, I would give Wisconsin any of our quarterbacks, including Orton for their offensive line during the last 25 years. We call ourselves Boilermakers, and standing there, we have as much size as the next team. But that's where it ends. Who was the last Purdue lineman who was a first team All Big Ten, HM or higher All-America, or drafted in the first three or four rounds of the draft? When you imagine a Boilermaker, you think "big, strong, nasty, dominating" (our mascots, BTW), not a "big, unathletic, two or low three star guy who isn't quick enough to pass block, or strong and agile enough to open holes for the run game. I mean no personal offense to any of our players, they give what they can, and it is up to the coaches to do the recruiting. But we aren't going to win with our skill players until we have a line and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Since I can't get in, I won't be coming by # 3 in the lockerroom.

You can’t lose at home to a top 25 team. Just CANNOT happen.

Fair to say they were overrated?

No interview access yet this week, so here's just a bunch of stuff I manufactured off looking at numbers, starting with the strong parallels between Grady Eifert 2018-2019 and Mason Gillis 2021-2022.

Section 112, Row 5. $75

Can only accept payment via Zelle or at the game itself. You'll need the Purdue Sports App so I can transfer the ticket to you.

Text me at 317-402-5624 if interested.

Just curious does he puts up the occasional mid range or three pointer while warming up.

What a turnaround she’s accomplished in a short period of time. Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t fire Versyp earlier since I’m sure we wouldn’t have hired her any earlier than we did. She is just a winner.

UGA didn't do well in their 1st encounter. I know they supposedly have a great defense and all, but yawn...🥱,as long as Saban and his posse keep recruiting NFL talent at every position, Alabama will be hard to overcome.
Ironic how they get 5* players at nearly every position. I heard news that Saban is concerned about NIL and with no controls, he might be outbid for top flight talent. It will likely be Oregon that purchases players with Phil Knight (Nike) buying a Natty Title away from Saban. I'm sure it is all perfectly legit. 😉

Till NCAA can figure a way to get parity in the NCAA game, it will be Alabama = NY Yankees then another big donor program like Oregon = LA Dodgers.
After that will be farm teams to supplement those two programs with portal transfers. Wonder what the landscape of college football will look like in 1-5 years from now?

B1G is dominating the top of the list in personal offensive efficiency:
1. Keegan Murray 134.0
2. Zach Edey 126.2
3. Kofi Cockburn 125.0
4. Tre Williams 124.4
You have to be used in at least 28% of possessions to be on this list so it is also clear that we are center dominant.

When you look at all players regardless of useage:
5. IT 140.3
8. EM 138.1
28. SS 132.6
83. ZE 126.2
Not ranked for some reason that I haven't determined (I think it is because his minutes are still less than 40% of total @33.5):
Mason Gillis 160.9 (Mason's FG, 3PT and FT % are insane!)

You might remember that Grady Eifert was on top of this list in his senior season. C'mon Mason! Like we need another reason to compare you with Grady! Mason has been the definition of letting the game come to him (on offense) and getting after it on defense and rebounding.

If you were wondering:
Ron Harper Jr 113.9
Ty Gordon 110.5 (#32 on the >28% useage list)
Johnny Davis 109.7 (#33 on the >28% useage list)
Jalen Pickett 106.3
So yes, we do bring out the best in the other team's star players.

Turn it to ESPN and check out the crowd at Stanford vs USC basketball game. Literally a junior high type crowd. USC is number 5.

USC terrible FT shooting and Ingram was great for Stanford.

After watching what happened going from a 51-38 lead trailing PSU 65-64, the biggest issue was not staying with the defensive rules. Had we done that we would have never trailed. Maybe it gets down to 2-3 points, but would have never trailed. Here is a summary of what I saw.

• Leading 51-38, Ivey goes for a steal leaving Johnson wide open for a corner three (51-41).
• Leading 59-51, Thompson loses Dread and is late closing on a wide open three (59-54).
• Leading 59-54, Williams helps too long and reaches for a steal on a screen making Sasha cover down and leaving Lundy wide open for a corner three (59-57).
• Leading 62-57, Gillis is caught giving too much help and he cannot close out giving Lee a wide open three (62-60)
• Leading 64-62, Gillis turns his back and runs to covering down on the post on the ball side leaving Lee wide open for a three (65-64)

Just force them to shoot a tough mid-range shot and worse case you are up 64-60. If they miss two of these shots and we get the rebound then we lead 64-56. Just trust the process. Like Painter said get better at what we do.

Michigan tested again this morning and can't do it.