• Here's where Purdue is made either contender or pretender ...
Feb. 6: at Maryland
Feb. 9: vs. Michigan State*
Feb. 13: at Michigan
Feb. 16: vs. Northwestern*
Feb. 20: at Indiana*
Feb. 27: vs. Maryland
• That Feb. 9 Michigan State game is huge. In reality, it's just one game on the schedule, but Purdue has the game at home and is the more talented team. It would be good for the program to win that game. Purdue had MSU's number to a certain extent there for a while, but that turned around badly on them the past few years. That's not a true rivalry, but a certain blood-feud element seems to surround those games. Again it would be a good win for the program. To go further, that's the sort of game that will tell you something about Purdue, because of what Michigan State always is identity-wise. You have be tough to beat them and Purdue has to be tough to win this year.
• Unbalanced scheduling affects the league race but when you look at single plays, Purdue's breaks cancel out their non-breaks because ducking Columbus and East Lansing is canceled out to an extent by getting Penn State and Rutgers - two teams that stand to be terrible - only once. That's just the reality of this unbalanced set-up. The unbalance actually kind of balances out.
(I did not look at everyone's Big Ten schedule.)
Feb. 6: at Maryland
Feb. 9: vs. Michigan State*
Feb. 13: at Michigan
Feb. 16: vs. Northwestern*
Feb. 20: at Indiana*
Feb. 27: vs. Maryland
• That Feb. 9 Michigan State game is huge. In reality, it's just one game on the schedule, but Purdue has the game at home and is the more talented team. It would be good for the program to win that game. Purdue had MSU's number to a certain extent there for a while, but that turned around badly on them the past few years. That's not a true rivalry, but a certain blood-feud element seems to surround those games. Again it would be a good win for the program. To go further, that's the sort of game that will tell you something about Purdue, because of what Michigan State always is identity-wise. You have be tough to beat them and Purdue has to be tough to win this year.
• Unbalanced scheduling affects the league race but when you look at single plays, Purdue's breaks cancel out their non-breaks because ducking Columbus and East Lansing is canceled out to an extent by getting Penn State and Rutgers - two teams that stand to be terrible - only once. That's just the reality of this unbalanced set-up. The unbalance actually kind of balances out.
(I did not look at everyone's Big Ten schedule.)
