No. 2 Indiana understands Friday night’s high stakes.
The Hoosiers need one win to break last season’s school-record victory total, to clinch their first Big Ten championship game berth and and maybe a first-round bye.
But rather than worry about the outside view, beating Purdue and keeping the Old Oaken Bucket.
鈥淎s soon as I got here, everyone was talking about the Oaken Bucket, the rivalry with Purdue,鈥� 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait to get a bite at the rivalry, to be able to experience it, to play in it against such a great team. It is such an honor to play Purdue.鈥�
While Mendoza is a newcomer to the Indiana-Purdue series, he’s no stranger to rivalries. He started and won the revered Cal-Stanford contest, dubbed the Big Game, each of the past two years.
Now the Heisman Trophy candidate finds himself playing in an even bigger game as Indiana (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten, No. 2 CFP) chases history and perhaps a national championship. The Hoosiers have never completed a perfect regular season and haven’t won a conference title since 1967, which is tied with Minnesota for the Big Ten’s longest active drought.
Both feats are looming as Curt Cignetti tries to become the first Indiana coach to win each of his first two games against Purdue (2-9, 0-8) since Hall of Famer Bo McMillin in 1934 and 1935. Just don’t ask Cignetti about those things.
鈥淚 respect what I see on tape. They鈥檙e playing hard, they鈥檙e making plays in games. They’re doing a good job up there coaching,鈥� he said. 鈥漌e鈥檝e got to go up there prepared and we鈥檝e got to play well. We鈥檙e going on the road to play a Big Ten team, an in-state rival. That鈥檚 all we鈥檙e thinking about.鈥�
The Boilermakers, in contrast, have struggled mightily They’ve lost nine straight overall and a school-record 17 straight league games, putting them on the cusp of their first back-to-back winless Big Ten seasons for the first time since going 0-3 in 1919 and 0-4 in 1920.
Ending those streaks, ruining what has so far been a perfect season for Indiana on national television in prime time and heading into the offseason with a win certainly would be worth more than a drop in The Bucket at Purdue.
鈥淲e’ll all go down as you leave this game as a win or loss versus your rival,鈥� Odom said. 鈥淭hat’s been the focus of what we’ve talked about.”
A century in the making
Purdue leads the series 77-43-6. It began in 1891 and has been played annually since 1920 with the exception of 2021, when the game was canceled twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this marks the 100th time the teams actually will play for the trophy.
Representatives from the two schools found the prized possession on a family farm in southern Indiana and after the decaying, mossy, mold-covered bucket was repaired, it was introduced in 1925, a game that ended in a 0-0 tie. Since then, the celebration includes adding an 鈥淚鈥� or a 鈥淧鈥� to the long chain that fits inside The Bucket.
Some of the more memorable moments include the bucket full of roses Drew Brees and his teammates captured after clinching the 2000 Big Ten title and Rose Bowl trips for Purdue in 1966 and Indiana in 1967. A win in 2022 also locked up the Boilermakers’ West Division title.
Indiana also honored late coach Terry Hoeppner by making a last-minute field goal to become bowl eligible in 2007, just five months after he died. And last year the Hoosiers made the playoffs after handing Purdue its worst loss in school history, 66-0.
Quarterback question
The Hoosiers could be dealing with a different wrinkle after Odom shook things up during Purdue’s 49-13 loss at Washington.
Starting quarterback Ryan Browne gave way to backup Malachi Singleton when things went awry and Odom rotated them the rest of the way. Odom had a bye week to consider a change and wasn’t dropping any hints about his thoughts against a defense allowing a meager 11.64 points per game.
鈥淲e’re excited how Malachi played against Washington, he did some good things,鈥� Odom said. 鈥淗e made some errors. We’re trying to get both those guys ready to play their best ball Friday night.鈥�
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