Well, the Big Ten race is officially on.
It starts now.
Ever since the end of last season, it looked like there was that one team in the league that someone was finally going to have to beat for everybody else to have any hope, that big red machine that clearly was the class of the conference, perhaps invincible, for all we know.
That's right.
Nebraska's loss to Northwestern was a game-changer.
Kidding, of course.
Purdue's duskish meeting Sunday with Wisconsin put two of the league's perceived big dogs head to head for their only scheduled meeting this regular season.
A loss for the Boilermakers would have meant a two-game hole to Wisconsin right out of the chute, a missed opportunity for another résumé win with opportunities from here on out looking sparse and Purdue's third home loss with the season barely halfway to its end.
A win would have meant all the opposite, and win is what Purdue got, in decided fashion, really.
This is a hell of a Wisconsin team, built around a Final Four core and tabbed long ago the odds-on favorite to win the conference, one of Purdue's foremost aspirations itself.
The Boilermaker victory signals the tumult to come this Big Ten season. No one's played more than four games and everyone now has a loss.
What Sunday showed in that context is that Purdue has just as good a chance as anybody and better than most. It may not have felt that way after it got routed by Minnesota in that overtime, but nothing really changed.
Purdue looked the part today of a potential champion in the face of another potential champion. The Boilermakers won this game handily, they did it with defense and by and large, it was Purdue that stopped Purdue. Had Purdue not stopped Purdue as often as it did, this might have been a 20-point win. That's a backhanded compliment of course. Purdue plays with fire every time it turns the ball over wholesale. It's remarkable it won the way it did today doing so.
Purdue looked good today, looked like a potential champion, but this is going to be a wild season to come.
Nebraska's already put a stamp on the Big Ten race. So have Minnesota and Penn State. Northwestern's going to beat some people to impact the Big Ten and there's a bunch of other teams that shouldn't be taken lightly.
There are going to be upsets. The team, maybe between these two, that does the best job sidestepping them is going to put itself in a nice spot.
For Purdue, that starts Thursday. Iowa is better than the shellacking it took in Mackey Arena. It won't be easy. Very few from here on out will be.
It starts now.
Ever since the end of last season, it looked like there was that one team in the league that someone was finally going to have to beat for everybody else to have any hope, that big red machine that clearly was the class of the conference, perhaps invincible, for all we know.
That's right.
Nebraska's loss to Northwestern was a game-changer.
Kidding, of course.
Purdue's duskish meeting Sunday with Wisconsin put two of the league's perceived big dogs head to head for their only scheduled meeting this regular season.
A loss for the Boilermakers would have meant a two-game hole to Wisconsin right out of the chute, a missed opportunity for another résumé win with opportunities from here on out looking sparse and Purdue's third home loss with the season barely halfway to its end.
A win would have meant all the opposite, and win is what Purdue got, in decided fashion, really.
This is a hell of a Wisconsin team, built around a Final Four core and tabbed long ago the odds-on favorite to win the conference, one of Purdue's foremost aspirations itself.
The Boilermaker victory signals the tumult to come this Big Ten season. No one's played more than four games and everyone now has a loss.
What Sunday showed in that context is that Purdue has just as good a chance as anybody and better than most. It may not have felt that way after it got routed by Minnesota in that overtime, but nothing really changed.
Purdue looked the part today of a potential champion in the face of another potential champion. The Boilermakers won this game handily, they did it with defense and by and large, it was Purdue that stopped Purdue. Had Purdue not stopped Purdue as often as it did, this might have been a 20-point win. That's a backhanded compliment of course. Purdue plays with fire every time it turns the ball over wholesale. It's remarkable it won the way it did today doing so.
Purdue looked good today, looked like a potential champion, but this is going to be a wild season to come.
Nebraska's already put a stamp on the Big Ten race. So have Minnesota and Penn State. Northwestern's going to beat some people to impact the Big Ten and there's a bunch of other teams that shouldn't be taken lightly.
There are going to be upsets. The team, maybe between these two, that does the best job sidestepping them is going to put itself in a nice spot.
For Purdue, that starts Thursday. Iowa is better than the shellacking it took in Mackey Arena. It won't be easy. Very few from here on out will be.
