Throwback Thursday: A Wild 1991 Bucket Game is One to Remember

Vaughn Dunbar (26) carries the ball against Purdue Image: Indiana University Archives

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

We are continuing our social distancing Throwback Thursday series as we take a look back at the 1991 Old Oaken Bucket Game that took place in Bloomington in front of an announced crowd of 51,596. We would like to thank Dr. Galen Clavio for sharing these games on his YouTube channel.

The Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket is usually a wild affair, but the 1991 edition was an extraordinarily wild game. It featured illegal kicks, a second-half shutout, interceptions that bounced off of two players’ heads and many missed field goals.

The Hoosiers entered the game at 5-4-1 and looking to clinch a bowl berth with a win, while the Boilermakers were assured of not going to the postseason at 4-6. This game was wacky from the start as the opening kickoff went out of bounds and continued to become wackier as the day progressed.

The Boilermakers opened the scoring when Indiana forced a fumble and tried to recover it, but like a superball, the football skipped along the old-school AstroTurf eluding Hoosier hands before it was scooped up by at the Purdue 45-yard line by Boilermaker wide receiver Ernest Calloway who sprinted the rest of the way for a touchdown, however Purdue kicker Joe O’Leary missed the extra point. It was a totally fluke play and it could have haunted the Hoosiers. However, Indiana went on to dominate the rest of the first half.

The Hoosiers scored 24-straight points after the fumble recovery. Scott Bonnell pulled the Hoosiers with in 6-3 with 3:33 left in the first quarter. The Hoosiers continued the momentum into the second quarter when they took a drive 92 yards in 12 plays to take a 10-6 lead on a 12-yard touchdown run by Vaughn Dunbar with 12:22 left in the second quarter.

Purdue tried to answer the bell, but an O’Leary field goal was blocked Harry Wardlow and Indiana would deliver another blow. This time the Hoosiers took to the air as quarterback Trent Green hit receiver Thomas Lewis for a 35-yard touchdown pass to put the Hoosiers up 17-6 with 3:59 left in the first half.

The two teams traded turnovers on the next two drives. James Summerall recovered a Purdue fumble at the Purdue 44-yard line. On the very next play Green was intercepted by Boilermaker linebacker Eric Beatty. The back-to-back turnovers were just the beginning of a crazy sequence. On that drive Purdue was called for an illegal kick on fourth-down. This resulted in a loss of down and a huge yardage loss for the Boilermakers that set Indiana’s offense up at the Purdue 13-yard line. The Hoosiers would go for what could be a knockout punch as Green hit Eddie Thomas on a 13-yard touchdown pass to put IU up 24-6 with 26 seconds to go in the half.

It was the end of a losing season for the Boilermakers and the Hoosiers were looking for some revenge after Purdue had taken the last Bucket Game in Blomington in 1989. A game which Purdue players kept IU out of a bowl game and probably cost Anthony Thompson the Heisman Trophy. ‘No Bucket, No Bowl, No Heisman’ was the reported mantra for that game. So at 24-6, it looked as if Indiana would get their payback…As former Hoosier coach Lee Corso would say, ‘Not so fast my friend’.

The second half continued the wildness that was the first. Indiana started the half with the ball but turned the ball over on an interception that hit off the top of the intended receiver’s helmet, then off a Purdue player’s helmet and right into the hands of another Purdue defender. When IU football fans groan ‘This is Indiana Football’, this is what they mean.

The Hoosiers would limit the damage however as Purdue had to settle for an O’Leary field goal to make it 24-9 with 10:15 left in the third quarter.  On the next drive Indiana was primed to score again and squash the potential Purdue rally, but All-American running back Vaugh Dunbar fumbled at the Boilermaker five-yard line.

The Boilermakers would score again with as they drove the length of the field. On a fourth-and-goal play, Purdue quarterback Eric Hunter found Ryan Grigson for a touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and the score stood at 24-15 Indiana.

Disaster struck again on the ensuing kickoff as Dunbar coughed up the ball at his own 25-yard line, however Purdue failed to capitalize as O’Leary missed yet another kick.

Purdue would score early in the fourth quarter as Hunter found receiver Tedman Brown for a touchdown. O’Leary hit the extra point to bring Purdue within 24-22 with 12:06 left to play.

You can hear the Purdue crowd take over Memorial Stadium as momentum was Black and Gold. The teams were at a stalemate the rest of the way until Eric Hunter led the Boilermaker offense to the IU 17-yard line. Purdue was forced to spike the ball on third-and-two with 28 seconds left to go. After two Bill Mallory time outs, Purdue was set to attempt a game-winning, Bucket clinching 35-yard field goal.

O’Leary had already missed three kicks on the day, two short field goals and an extra point. As the ball was snapped back the crowd in Memorial Stadium went silent, but after O’Leary’s foot hit the ball and it started drifting to the right the noise came back. The kick was no good, wide right. The Hoosiers took back the Old Oaken Bucket and punched their ticket to the Copper Bowl where they’d beat the Baylor Bears 24-0.

Notes:

• The Hoosiers finished the 1991 season 7-4-1, tied for 3rd in the Big Ten (5-3)