It's Time to Come Home: Indiana Marches into The Bucket Game With a Statement to Make

Written by Alec Keezer

It does feel a little weird for me to talk about the significance of The Bucket. 

I’m not from the great state of Indiana. I don’t live in the state anymore either. But, like any Hoosier I have my experience with Purdue. My first taste of IU basketball was the Thomas Bryant double foul game. I had to listen to Purdue students give it to Hoosier fans as we left the Assembly.

As a freshman at Indiana I made a couple unmemorable trips to Purdue. My only takeaway, the place is bland.

I’m a New Jersey kid. 

I don’t know what a Boilermaker is and I don’t really care to find out.

Here’s what I do know:

The 2024 Purdue Boilermakers Football team stinks.

I think their fans would tell you the same thing.

Currently sitting at 1-10 and dead last in the new 18 team B1G, the Boilermakers have had a season to forget.

Unfortunately for the Boilermakers, it’s about to get a lot worse.

There’s never a good time to play Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers.

I would say following a loss in a must-win scenario to make the College Football Playoff ranks near the bottom of the list.

The Hoosiers have to win this game, and they need to make it look good. Despite losing to #2 Ohio State on the road over the weekend, the #10 Hoosiers remained in the top 10 in every major poll. That (obviously) puts them in the College Football Playoff with the opportunity to control their own destiny. A loss to the #2 team in the country can be justified (and the rankings reflect that). 

A loss to Purdue would crush any playoff hopes the Hoosiers have.

The good news for Indiana is that they are the significantly better team that executes at a higher level than their counterparts up north. 

Indiana has better players, better coaches, better schemes, a better campus, better alumni, a bigger bag, and overall better vibes.

We do have to remember though, this is a rivalry game (Georgia Tech just took Georgia to eight overtimes).

As bad as Purdue has been (worst in the B1G, comically bad), they will still show up with a will and a desire to win.

Yes, this is a team that’s finishing up a brutal year, but it hasn’t been all negative for Purdue.

They’ve already confirmed Head Coach Ryan Walters will be back for the 2025 season. 

In theory, it’s a move that should help the team build momentum moving into the offseason, but we’ve seen Purdue’s recruiting momentum sputter in recent weeks (they just lost 2 impact recruits in the class of 2025), so who knows. It would be “program defining” if Purdue could find a way to steal this one from the Hoosiers, although it’s not like they haven’t had success against Indiana in the past. Purdue leads the all-time series by 30 wins. They’ve also won three straight matchups. Indiana’s last Bucket win was back in 2019. 

That Hoosier team was led by the incomparable Peyton Ramsey at QB and featured the entire current Alabama football staff as assistants under Tom Allen. I don’t really ever want to ever compare Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers to Tom Allen’s Hoosiers. To me, Cignetti’s Indiana is the next evolution in what a top flight football program looks like. Ideally, you’d like to not have to deal with evolutions to level up, but many times it’s necessary in order to reach your full potential.

Curt Cignetti has completely rewritten what it means to be associated with the Indiana Football Program, but none of that matters without the Bucket.

The Bucket not only symbolizes a trip to the College Football Playoff, but also state supremacy and a declaration that Indiana Football is done losing games to a team that should quite simply never be on its level.

Back in July I wrote A Wish List for Indiana Football. 

On it: 

Never lose to Purdue.

Is that realistic?

If that’s your question, allow me to rephrase.

Are YOU going to put limitations on Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Football?

The very same Indiana Football that is on the cusp of securing a College Football Playoff spot?

The very same Indiana Football that is gearing up for a 2030 matchup with College Football super power Notre Dame?

This game is about so much more than Purdue.

If Indiana is going to continue its evolution into a College Football powerhouse then it needs to win games like this. If Indiana wants to climb in the recruiting rankings, it needs to win games like this. If Indiana wants NIL funding to continue at the breakneck pace it’s on right now, it needs to win this game.

This game is about Curt Cignetti and his staff securing the future of Indiana Football.

The first step in securing that future is putting that Purdue “P” in the turf over and over and over again.

Bury them.

Don’t make it close.

The Bucket belongs in Bloomington.

It’s time to come home.