Well after a season of what the hell is going on in the Big Ten West, Purdue rose above the muck to be the Hunger Games style tribute to take on the vastly superior eastern foe. This year that eastern slot is filled by Michigan for the second straight season. This game means way, way more for Michigan. They are sixty minutes away from the CFP and while a loss to Purdue shouldn’t knock them out, the Boilers are unranked so it could be enough to knock them from the top four. Meanwhile the upstart Spoilmakers hope to grab their first league crown in more than two decades.
How did Michigan get here?
They beat Ohio State. Okay, yes, more went into it than that. Michigan got a huge win against Penn State, 41-17, to keep their hopes alive midseason. They survived surprisingly frisky Illinois and Maryland at home. The Turtles lost by just seven and the Illini lost by just two. A road trip to Iowa City also caused a few headaches but again Michigan advanced.
In a 12-0 mark so far the Wolverines are pretty much drama free. Yes the quarterback battle in the offseason between J.J. McCarthy and Cade McNamara was solved a few weeks in and now with Cade banged it up it is completely buried. The injury to Blake Corum against Illinois and being rushed back perhaps too quickly against Ohio State will prevent him from playing again this season but Michigan is plenty deep at the tailback position.
All in all, going 12-0 is never easy but on the surface level, Michigan made it look easy. You know they were busting their butts every practice and breaking down film and putting in hours of game plan prep but we don’t really see that, we just have the 12 game sample and in nine out of the 12 games it was a cakewalk. The other three weren’t walkovers, but they still dominated much of the play. At no point this year did Michigan feel overwhelmed. They are a solid, solid team.
How did Purdue get here?
Rack up tiebreakers and get some help from Nebraska. Once Wisconsin lost to Iowa for their fourth league loss, Purdue was back in the race. Thanks to an early season upset of Minnesota and a late season upset of Illinois, Purdue had tiebreakers over two key contenders. Iowa blew out Purdue but the Hawks had losses to Ohio State, Michigan, and Illinois, meaning Iowa’s hold over the west was tenuous at best. On Black Friday the Cornhuskers knocked off the Hawks to save all of us from having to watch them in Indy a second straight year. The next day Purdue took care of rival Indiana and then cashed in their tiebreaker over Illinois to get to Indy.
Nothing about this season was easy for Purdue. They collapsed late against Penn State and Syracuse. They nearly lost at home to FAU. Wisconsin beat them for the 79th season in a row. Iowa beat them by 21…IOWA. But they won seven of their final nine games, which included those aforementioned Gopher and Illini wins. Are they the best team in the division? Probably not – full health Minnesota would get my vote. Are they the most deserving? Nah, I don’t think so. Illinois’s game against Michigan shows how high their ceiling is. Are they here through luck? Yes. Did they persevere and not quit on the season? YES! And that’s why the Boilers should feel good. After the Iowa game they could’ve easily packed it in against Illinois, Northwestern, or Indiana but they didn’t. That is commendable.
Who will win…and why?
Michigan. They are an elite team and Purdue isn’t. Worse, QB Aidan O’Connell is dealing with the unimaginable, the loss of his brother, and isn’t even practicing with the team. Purdue has had some magical upsets and some magical moments, none bigger than the Tyler Trent-led upset of Ohio State. But it is a different animal playing for someone and something and playing through something. Everyone grieves differently, we have no clue what the Purdue signal caller’s state of mind will be in this one.
How to watch?
- Date: Saturday, December 3rd
- Time: 7 pm, central
- TV: Fox
- Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
Gambling Guide:
- UM -15.5, Over / Under 54
Unfortunately due to the terrible situation O’Connell is going through, I don’t expect Purdue to hang much in this game. Michigan should win by plenty. What about the over though? Hmm. If Michigan puts up just 40, can Purdue score two touchdowns? Yeah, I think they can. Realistically, I could see Michigan having 49 to 52 points and then Purdue just has to chip in a bit. Mark me down for the over too.
Lightning Round for Non-Readers:
Michigan/Purdue – UM, Over
Random Musing:
Did you know the Big Ten West has never won the title game? After three ridiculous Legends vs Leaders match ups (Wisconsin winning two, Michigan State the final one) the geographic divisions were then re-organized due to adding Maryland and Rutgers. That means in the last nine title games, the East is 9-0. Let’s rank the games from best to worst:
- 2015: MSU 16, Iowa 13 – Iowa’s best chance for the CFP. Also the closest title game of the east / west split.
- 2017: OSU 27, Wisconsin 21 – UW entered 12-0 and sixty minutes away from the CFP. Down 21-10 at half, the Badgers made a go of things in the second but still came up just short.
- 2016: PSU 38, Wisconsin 31 – Neither team was sneaking into the CFP and Penn State played like total crap in the first half, trailing 28-14 at halftime. Wisconsin scored just 3 points in the second half to be stunned by Penn State. Those Lions would then go on to lose one of the craziest Rose Bowls of all time, 52-49.
- 2019: OSU 34, Wisconsin 21 – The two-loss Badgers had a surprise 21-7 lead at halftime over the undefeated Bucks. Problem is they didn’t score in the second half and OSU headed off to the CFP.
- 2020: OSU 22, Northwestern 10 – The plucky Wildcats held a 10-6 lead at half and their defense played well all game but like the 2019 game, the western rep was shutout in the second half.
- 2018: OSU 45, Northwestern 24 – Down 24-7 at halftime, NU put in a solid third quarter to make the game 31-21 but the Buckeyes pulled away in the final frame.
- 2022 – Michigan ???, Purdue ??? – I don’t know what happens Saturday but the game has to be better than last year’s or the god-awful 2014 version.
- 2021 – Michigan 42, Iowa 3 – Iowa’s defense played fantastic in the second and third quarter but the offense could do nothing and eventually the D got exhausted and gave up 21 points in the fourth quarter.
- 2014 – OSU 59, Wisconsin 0 – Despite making the title game, fans couldn’t stand Gary Andersen as the program and coach just weren’t compatible. Four days later he left for Oregon State because he couldn’t recruit with the challenging academics at Wisconsin. Meanwhile Barry, Bret, and Paul had no challenges in getting solid guys. No doubt Gary knew he was leaving and put in no effort leading up to the title game.
Big Ten and Counting 