The Irish will have a potent and versatile offensive attack which is Brian Kelly’s signature.  It will be interesting to see how Kelly either shelters or exposes Dayne Crist who has been held out of all contact drills this off season as he is recovering from a knee injury.  Keep in mind the Irish have not named a back up QB and if Crist goes down and Kelly looks to Nate Montana there’s no Rice on their depth chart for the underage drinking and pot smoking QB from NoCal to find in the Purdue secondary.   

Crist is familiar with this Purdue defense as he went 5 for 10 last year for 45 yards against the Boilers and led the Fighten’ on two touchdown drives.  Crist will have plenty of weapons to test the inexperienced Purdue secondary (zero returning starters) however most of the damage the Irish will reek will be on the ground.  Fourth year man Armando Allen will start in the back field; Robert Hughes and Cierre Wood will also see carries.  Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph will receive the bulk of the air attack and look for Theo Riddick on some end around action for the Irish spread offense.  Kelly will also mix in some wildcat formations which were so effective in West Lafayette a season ago. 

Last year the Irish ran for 167 yards on the Big Ten’s worst rush Defense however ND has a rebuilt Offensive Line and the Boilers have added former Rutgers Assistant Gary Emanuel to coach the Defensive line.  In 2009 he guided the 20^th ranked Rutgers rush defense and now he gets to work with two potential DLine first rounder’s, Short and Kerrigan; to quote the great Ochocinco…child please.

The keys to this game will be whether Purdue can create enough of a run threat to keep the Irish Defense honest and whether the Purdue Defense can slow the ND running attack to create 3^rd and longs and let the big dogs up front rush Crist.

 Trends:

- Notre Dame is 2-6 ATS at home in 2009

- Notre Dame is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games in September.

- Notre Dame is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games overall.

- Notre Dame is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. Big Ten.

- Notre Dame is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 as a favorite

- Purdue has given up 33.67 points per game to Spread Offenses in the Danny Hope Head Coaching Era.

- Purdue plays to the under 69 times in their last 108 games on grass.

-  2009 Score: ND 24 – Purdue 21

With the amount of question marks on each team’s defense, new starting quarterbacks for each offensive, and Notre Dame’s ATS struggles I have to go with the Boilermakers.  Marve will do enough with his legs to keep the Irish Linebackers honest and the Boilers have stressed the importance of the turnover battle this entire off season and I look for them to be on the plus side in that category.  Give me those 11 points Bookie and show me the money on Monday.

 The Purdue grass under trend is sexy…and look for some nerves to start out the season for each offense.  This game will be tight and both teams will be looking not to make the big mistake…this game plays to the under.

Picks:

Purdue: +11

Under:   54.5

 -LocksvilleUSA

The obvious headline for Danny Hope’s second Purdue Spring Game was the public debut of Miami Transfer Robert Marve.  To sum it up, while there were glimpses of his immense talent at many times he was overall less than spectacular.  In Purdue’s third scrimmage of the spring Marve had his least effective day going 11 for 22 and 160 yards including a 75 yard touchdown pass to an open Cortez Smith.  He had one interception off of a deflected pass late in the game.  Marve was, however, spectacular in the squads previous two scrimmages going a combined 39-55 (71%) with 439 yards, 4 td’s, and zero ints.  During the black and gold game – which consisted of the black team comprised of mostly starters going against a gold team of reserves – Marve made many bullet-like passes on out patterns.  QB’s were off limits for contact so it was difficult to gage his running skills.  Marve had many passes deflected during the game.  Most concerning, at times Marve seemed too willing to hold onto the ball in hopes that a big play would open up rather than take a short or midrange gain.

Caleb TerBush was a sturdy 13-18 for 147 yards and 2 TD’s.  He looked comfortable in the offense but clearly lacks the upside Marve has.  Boilermaker’s should be comfortable with him in a backup role.  Redshirt Freshman Rob Henry was 13-19 for 82 yards in action for mostly the gold team but some with the black team.  He also saw time as the outside man on the black’s kickoff coverage team.  He’s one of the fastest players on the team, will likely see action this fall in some capacity, and has a bright future behind center.

No frills on offense

Schematically Purdue was about as vanilla as possible offensively.  It’s thought that Purdue may incorporate more triple option looks into their shotgun sets to take advantage of their speed at quarterback, but none of that was on display Saturday.  Purdue also ran many sets from under center last season and in previous practices this spring, but were almost completely in the shotgun for the spring game.  Since Gary Nord and Hope have taken over the offense they’ve always said they are running “the Purdue offense.”  That certainly wasn’t the case all the time last year and likely won’t be this year.  However, the spring game offense looked very much like a Jim Chaney style offense.  Perhaps it’s due to the dearth of injuries at the running back position, or perhaps Nord doesn’t want to lead on to just how multiple the offense will be this fall.

Injuries overshadow game

Many of Purdue’s premier players were on the shelf for the spring game, including stars Keith Smith, Ryan Kerrigan, Jason Werner and Ralph Bolden.  Many other were sidelined.  Most, with a major exception being Bolden, should be full strength when fall camp opens.

Personnel:  Secondary more settled than offensive line

Two major personnel questions for the 2010 Boilermakers will be replacing all four starters in the defensive backfield and three offensive linemen.  The secondary seems to be shaping up with corners Josh Johnson and Charleton Williams and safties Chris Quinn and the injured Albert Evans likely to break fall camp as the number one secondary.  Junior college early enrollee CB Mike Eargle saw action with the black team but was giving minutes to Johnson.  Walk-on safety Logan Link played extensively in place of Evans and could push Quinn in the fall.  As always incoming freshman could play their way into the mix, but as of now a clear peaking order is set.  The offensive line is much more up for grabs.  6’-8”, 297 lbs. LT Dennis Kelly is a rock on the quarterbacks blind side and big Ken Plue will be healthy in the fall, but beyond that questions abound.  It’s a bad sign that Nick Mondek was moved over from defense as he was set to see significant time at DT, but OL coach Shawn Clark and Hope thought he could mix it up with the laundry list of potential starters on the offensive line.  Ideally a starting line would be in place and fall camp could be used to help develop continuity, but expect continued unrest with this unit.

Early enrollees look good

Technically four players from the 2010 recruiting classes were suited up for this year’s spring game in CB Mike Eargle, TE Gabe Holmes, TE De’Ron Flood, and LB Will Lucus.  Eargle is a JC transfer and Holmes was an ’09 clearinghouse casualty.  That being said, Holmes was used both next to the tackle and as a upright slot receiver for the black team as veteran TE’s Kyle Adams and Jeff Lindsey clowned around on the sideline for most of the second half.  Flood looked good for the gold team.  But most impressive has been the play of Will Lucus.  The three star prospect was headed for a redshirt this fall, but ended up playing nearly the entire game as the black team’s outside linebacker.  Two year starter Chris Carlino was moved to the outside in order to make room for Dwayne Beckford in the middle, but Carlino saw time with both the black and gold team on Saturday and is clearly behind Lucus.  Its still expected that veterans Joe Holland and injured Jason Werner will flank Beckford in the starting lineup, but Lucus looks to be the fourth linebacker and is certainly a budding star.

Siller

It appears to be all but a formality to get quarterback turned running back turned quarterback Justin Siller back for the fall.  He was on the sideline for the spring game as he has been at other times this spring.  He made his presence known at Where Else on Friday.  The only outstanding question will be how Hope and Co. plan on utilizing him in the fall.

Tiller and Hope reunite

The 10^th anniversary of the 2001 Rose Bowl team was celebrated between the third and fourth quarter on the Ross-Ade Stadium turf.  Tiller was announced along with his two former assistants who left and returned to Purdue, Gary Emmanual and Danny Hope.  The band is gettin’ back together.  Overall it was a great event with a solid turnout and a lot of Boilermaker lovin’.

Out of Conference: In a Groove

While rolling through the beginning of their schedule, Purdue faced their first tough opponent, then #11, Tennessee in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Championship.  This was a tug of war battle between two future Sweet 16 teams (Tennessee reached the Elite 8).  In the final 20 seconds of an exciting game, Freshman Kelsey Barlow had a chance to lock the game up with two free throws, but missed both.  He would redeem himself shortly thereafter by grabbing a huge defensive rebound with two seconds left following a missed Wayne Chism 3-pointer, giving Purdue a 73-72 victory.  The Boilers took home more than one trophy to West Lafayette: E’Twaun Moore was named tournament MVP of the Jam for his stellar play.  It was just a preview of his season-long excellence.

Purdue went on to beat two more solid teams, first helping the Big Ten win their first Big Ten/ACC Challenge by overcoming Wake Forest’s big men, 69-58 in West Lafayette.  A few weeks later, they travelled on the road to Alabama on the same night Bama’s Mark Ingraham was awarded the school’s first Heisman Trophy.  Purdue would spoil the celebration by coming from behind on the shoulders of senior Chris Kramer.  He had 2 consecutive steals that led to immediate layups that brought Purdue ahead of ‘Bama from what was once a 16 point deficit.  The ESPN announcer said these words, in the voice of Kramer, as the senior took over: “I am quicker then you, I am bigger then you, I’m stronger than you, I am better then you, and I want it more then you.”  He did, and it gave Purdue the tough come-from-behind road win.

After opening Big Ten play by dismantling Iowa, Purdue got ready for the game they had circled on their calendar for a year, West Virginia, a Final Four team-to-be.  Although many Boiler fans would have liked to be watching Purdue’s football team playing on January 1st, the basketball team gave fans a New Year’s treat.  Purdue demolished (the dictionary doesn’t have a word for what Purdue did to Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers) 77-62, as JaJuan Johnson’s 25 points and 10 rebounds was too much for West Va.  The game was not even as close as the score suggests.

Conference Play: The Skid

Purdue rolled over a depleted Minnesota squad, giving the Boilers a 14-0 start; matching their best ever start.  Purdue then hit a major skid and lost 3 games in a row: Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, home to Ohio State, and at Welsh-Ryan arena to Northwestern.  It should be noted that Robbie Hummel scored a career high 35 Points (29 in an unreal 1st half) against OSU, but eventual Player of the Year Evan Turner single handily beat an uninspired Purdue team with his 32 points.

Looking as though they had lost their confidence and ability to simply play basketball, the unlikliest of heroes took over the Illinois game in Champaign, his name: John Hart.  That same name wasn’t even in the scorer’s book, giving Purdue a technical foul in rare fashion.  Unphased, he scored a HUGE 14 points in 18 minutes, about 1000 times more than he averaged prior to this, and helped Purdue’s Boilermaker Special get back on the right track.

Conference Play: Life is Good, but not that good

Purdue rode that momentum, while picking up some more when Lewis Jackson returned from a foot injury.  They went on a 10 game winning streak defeating, among others, Wisconsin, the Hoosiers in Bloomington, the Spartans in East Lansing, a crucial game at Ohio State, and Illinois at home.  Unfortunately, it was the last game of the winning streak that would feel more like a loss.  The details aren’t necessary, it hurts too much to type.  Hummel tore his ACL, but Purdue rallied to beat Minnesota. 

Conference Play: The Push for the Big Ten Title

Although the next few games were rocky, Purdue managed to win a share (splitting with Evan Turner State and Michigan State) of its 1st Big Ten title in over a decade.  Following a loss at home to Michigan State, Purdue finished strong by pummeling rival IU and clinching at Penn State. 

The Conference Tournament: No Repeat

After avenging an earlier loss, Purdue beat Northwestern in Indy in the conference tournament.  They then faced a hot Minnesota team who was coming off a win against Michigan State.  Purdue had a first half to forget to open against Minnesota, trailing 37-11 at the break.  Purdue never recovered, and their subsequent NCAA seed would suffer.

The NCAA Tournament: Proving EVERYONE Wrong (Including Obama)

“I feel bad for Purdue”  -President Barack Obama

Every girl in your office pool picked Siena to beat Purdue.  It was trendy…it was wrong.  A Hummel-less #4 seeded Purdue team beat Siena by 12 in Spokane, Washington as JaJuan dropped 25 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.  The underdog Purdue squad met Texas A&M in the second round.  This became the Purdue senior show.  Keaton Grant and Chris Kramer would not end their career in the second round.  Grant played truly inspired basketball down the stretch energizing the Boilermakers who trailed at one point in the second half by more than 10.  However, it was Chris Kramer who made arguably the play of his career in overtime.  Somewhat ignoring Coach Matt Painter’s play call, Kramer crossed over his defender and drove past a host of Texas A&M defenders and layed up the ball over future NBA big man Bryan Davis, giving Purdue the win while punching their ticket to the Sweet 16. 

Although Purdue would lose a good game to Duke, the season gave Boiler fans so many great memories and hope for next year.  Andy Katz has next year’s team as #1 in the country in the way-too-early top 25. 

Thank you for a GREAT season Boilermakers!

Season Notables

• Chris Kramer and Keaton Grant ended their career as the winningest players in Purdue history
• Hummel and Moore were honorable mention All Americans
• Matt Painter was named Big Ten Coach of the Year
• Hummel and Moore were 1st Team all Big Ten; Johnson was 2nd Team; Kramer was Honorable Mention
• Barlow was named Big Ten All-Freshman Team
• Kramer set the Purdue steal record and also won his 2nd Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award
• Purdue holds the current longest streak for consecutive 1st round tournament wins (12, next best is Maryland with 10)
• Purdue reached as high as #3 in the country
• Purdue became the first EVER team to beat IU, MSU, OSU, ILL, and MINN on the road in the same season

-Fitz

You hope that some of his work ethic and passion for Purdue Basketball rubs off on every other player on this team.  Because if they play at all like Kramer did every game throughout his career, the Final Four is almost a foregone conclusion next year. Regardless, he is going to be sorely missed.

My Top 5 Chris Kramer moments:

1.”I want the ball”  – What Kramer demands for, he gets (go to 1:15 in video)

Fast Tube by Casper

2.Kramer’s first time finding that use of legs are not necessary to prove ownership of opposition

Fast Tube by Casper

3.Normal steals have become too rudimentary for Kramer; Again decides use of legs are not necessary

Fast Tube by Casper

4.Kramer decides to defeat Alabama through pure awesomeness

Fast Tube by Casper

5.Kramer sends word to Penn State quickly that the result of this game is not in question

Fast Tube by Casper

Honorable mentions: Kramer uses face of opposition against them, DJ White learns of Chris Kramer, This game is OVER

-Flood

Cowboy UP (GBI Tom Campbell)

Let me start this off with I hate Duke…I have hated Duke all my life…I hated them growing up because I am from Maryland and loved the terps…I partied when Duke lost to IU in the 2002 tourney and I partied harder when Maryland beat IU in the finals of that tourney.  Then I attended Purdue in the fall and gave up the terps but still kept the hate for the Dukies.  Since then I have placed some large bets on the Blue Devils because I do not let my fanhood get in the way of free cash…but no matter what happens tomorrow I will be hammered because of Bade and the Boiler drinking game and still hating Duke and coach gay.  By the way I’ll be at Jerry Remy’s bar in Boston.

Duke dominated Purdue on the stat board and killed us last year by opening up with a huge run and crushing it on the boards…the only major statistical advantage Purdue has is free throw shooting and that isn’t even true because our best free throw shooter will be chillin on the bench on crutches but none of that matters.  We have the heart…we want to show Obama that his bracket is worse than an autistic kid’s…and we have Kramer.  I know he is good for an awful drive and layup which gets swatted…but ask those three tamu defenders what happened in OT and they have no answer.

Can you name the last time Duke beat a 4 seed or higher in the dance?  The answer was 2001…I was dominating high school tennis that year…I was still rooting for Maryland that year…Bill Clinton ended his presidency that year…
Trends:
Duke is 4-11 against the spread in their last 15 tourney games as a favorite

Purdue is 7-3 ats as an underdog in their last 10 tourney games

Purdue is the astronaut school and Duke will be screaming Houston we have a problem all night tomorrow.

Get some Purdue…BTFU

Picks:

Purdue +8.5

Total Over 127

Fast Tube by Casper

I recommend that Duke’s training staff put this in their medical budget for the upcoming weekend.

- Nick H

Chris Kramer Drinks:

• 1 Drink every time they use any of the following terms: Little-big man, tough, tenacious, defensive-minded, ex-football star, heart, 4 year starter, Glue Guy, or any other name that you think would go on this list.
• 2 Drinks anytime they mention football or Huntington and Chris Kramer.
• 3 Drinks every time he makes a 3 pointer or they mention he was a 3 sport athlete in high school.
• 4 Drinks every time he gets a steal; HOWEVER, you must take someone else’s drink in order to achieve this.
• Unfortunately, he loves getting blocked once a game while taking it to the hole.  If one of your buddies is hitting on a girl during the game, swat his drink down and yell “What would Chris Kramer Do!?!” and then make him finish his beer.  If you couldn’t figure out this metaphor, drink until IU is good at basketball.
• Chug the rest of your beer every time they show a replay of THE LAYUP vs. Texas A&M.

E’Twaun Moore Drinks:

• 1 Drink every time they call him Smooge.
• 2 Drinks every time he dunks.
• Give out 3 Drinks every time he drains a triple while yelling “THREEEEE TWAUN!”
• Buy a round if he makes a buzzer beater (includes shot clock, half, or end of game).

JaJuan Johnson Drinks:

• 3 Drinks every three point play (aka and 1).
• Every time he blocks Zoubek or the Plumlee brothers, chug your beer and dump the rest on your head if you can’t finish (like the Dukies can’t).
• Every time he Dunks, finish your drink and slam it on the bar/table.

The rest of the team drinks:

• 2 Drinks for every LewJack assist.
• Punch someone in the shoulder until they finish their drink if they mention Kelsey Barlow’s dad played at Notre Dame.
• If Keaton Grant looks like he just came from a Snoop Dog concert (high as a kite), drink 3…so basically drink 3.
• At halftime, buy shots for people around you. 1 for every point Byrd, Smith, and Hart have.  Take 1 away for every foul Bade has.  If Bade has more fouls than those three players, kill yourself.
• Drink for every second it took me to figure out how to spell Coach K’s last name (37 seconds…I have slow internet).

WARNING: If you play by the following rules, you won’t remember the end of the game…Party on!

• When Patrick Bade commits his first foul, drink until his second foul (this will actually only allow you about 29 seconds of drinking).
• Every time you throw up in your mouth because Kyle Singler is so heinously ugly, take a shot of tequila to actually make yourself throw up.
• Every time Grad Assistant Bobby Buckets is shown on TV, drink his height in inches: 69 (haha, 69).
• Every time they show, or talk about, Gene Keady…drink (this should be about 473 times).
• Every time Hummel is mentioned, drink away your sorrows.  Every time they show him on TV (word is, he is going to Houston), pour one out for your dead homie (Torn ACL).

That’s all I can think of, but if you have more, post them in the comments section.  Have a memorable Friday night watching Purdue beat the Blue Devils…unless you’re playing this game, in which case you will remember nothing.

GO UGLY EARLY (Singler was born to that mantra)

-Fitz (unless this is my Mom reading, in which case, this was all written by Nick H because Fitz doesn’t drink)

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend.  THE FRITZER was able to grace us with his presence as he took off from his C-list celebrity lifestyle in the NYC.

The kid just was just built on cool and awesome.  By the way, I just started calling him THE FRITZER maybe 30 minutes ago.  He doesn’t know it yet, but he will appreciate it.

The PurdueOustiser.com crew had a very memorable weekend that was focused on two visits to CLYBAR. We were able to see our Boilermakers knock out a feisty Siena Saints team and tough nosed Texas A&M team.  The best part about the Siena game was we were able to meet some of THE FRITZER’s uncles who were also Purdue alums.  It was great to see Purdue fans of all generations cheering for the Old Gold & Black.

Today, the atmosphere at Clybar was very electric.  People had to wait in a line on Clybourn Avenue to get into this cozy bar in Lincoln Park Chicago.  I was there about an hour before the Purdue – Texas A&M tip and was stuck without a chair.  However, that really didn’t change the taste of the chicken quesadillas that I ate before the game.

Do you know what did change today?  All of the minds of the college basketball pundits who had the Boilermakers losing in the first round.  It’s amazing how people rise to the occasion when everyone is against them.  For those of you that missed the game today I hope you have DVR, because it was beyond awesome.  I wish I was smart enough to make up an adjective to describe this game.  I’m thinking about describing this game as AMASTIC.  Amazing and Fantastic.  I went on dictionary.com and found that this word does not exist.  Pretty cool thinking by an engineer who mispells his first name 2% of the time.  The letter “C” is silent in Nick, I’m usually good for about 1 mispelling a year and maybe two on a leap year.

My thoughts on the second round game versus the Aggies are very simple.  Kramer and Grant just wanted it more than their seniors.  Kramer led the team in scoring and made the final shot, but let’s not forget Grant’s relentless defense on the perimeter and big time defensive rebounds down the stretch.  It’s not very often where you shoot 41% from the field and get outrebounded and you still win.  But that is what happened today for our beloved Boilers and I will take it every time.  Kudos to Matt Painter who has done a helluva job coaching this team after the Robbie Hummel injury.  A lot of the guys who didn’t play much during the Big Ten regular season were instrumental in today’s victory.  Bade,Byrd, and Smith all saw significant playing time and were productive.  Painter played those guys a lot during the non-conference games and gave them valuable experience.  It sure paid off, and now the Boilers are marching to Houston with their second straight appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.

I also want to mention that Purdue is undefeated when I watch the game at Clybar (7-0) this year.  I’m debating on either going to  Houston to support the Boilers or scream at a television in a bar the same size as the bathroom at Hovde Hall.

I’ll keep you posted.

-Nick H

Picks

TAMU -2

Under 127.5

The numbers in the game point to Siena, Siena is coming in riding a 5 game win streak, Purdue had the worst half of their lives in their last game, Hummel is out, Lew Jack and Moore are both dinged up, and Bade still gets playing time.   The whole world is against the Boilers…and JJ is waiting for the Glenn Robinson “shock the world” text message.

The problem with all that noise is that the Boilers have heard it all week (including on the selection show) and I love it.  Kramer and the boys will be fired up and ready to play shutdown defense on a team that doesn’t shoot free throws well, doesn’t hit many 3’s, and also only plays their starting 5, one of whom is doubtful to play (Clarence Jackson). 

Give me heart and determination and pair that with a senor not wanting his last college game to be against the Siena Saints…Give me Chris Kramer and Purdue.

Picks:
Purdue -4
Under 130