As everyone knows, I love to kind of go off the beaten path for this segment. So this week’s matchup to watch in the Old Oaken Bucket Game will be Indiana’s focus against Purdue’s best shot.
The Old Oaken Bucket Game is the final hurdle for Indiana to clear for an undefeated regular season and a berth into the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis on December 6th. As fans and writers it is easy (and fun) to look ahead and make plans for the future. What hotel are people staying at? Is there a meet up the night before? What flight are you on? That’s the blue print in our heads. As fun as it may be, it’s not what Curt Cignetti and his team are focused on.
“Look, we are 100% focused on Purdue and nothing else.” Cignetti grumbled at a media member who asked about resting players and watching snap counts in the Bucket Game. “We have respect for Purdue. If you don’t respect your opponent, then you’re starting in a bad spot. I respect what I see on tape. They’re playing hard. They’re making plays. They’re in games. They’re doing a good job up there coaching, and we have to go up there prepared, and we got to play well. I mean, we’re going on the road to play a Big Ten football team, in-state rival. That’s all we’re thinking about.”
Cignetti has had the standard of one play at a time, each play has a life of it’s own. That focus will be tested on Friday night as the Hoosiers attempt to check a few boxes off their goals list. A win not only clinches the Old Oaken Bucket, but a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and an undefeated regular season.
Purdue does not have as much on the line Friday night, but nothing would be sweeter from them to dial back to 1989 and prevent the Hoosiers from winning the Bucket and a Heisman Trophy as well as put a damper on some postseason positioning. In 1989 the 5-5 Hoosiers took on a 2-8 Purdue team that was basically dead in the water. The Boilers rallied around the ‘No Bucket, No Bowl’ mindset and shocked the Hoosiers 15-14 in Bloomington, a loss that also cost Anthony Thompson the Heisman Trophy.
Throw the records out, put a pin in postseason plans and buckle in because anything can happen in this game.
“When you go back into the history of what this game means to the people of Purdue and this great university… The responsibility has been reminded to me throughout my time here in the last 10 months about how important this game is. It’s something we’ve spent time on this week, understanding the importance of playing for something bigger than ourselves.” Purdue head coach Barry Odom said on Monday.
The Hoosiers have gotten everyone’s best shot as of late. That comes with the territory of being the number two team in the country.