For the Hoosiers, a Win Over Purdue Would Mean More Than Just the Old Oaken Bucket

Written by Nathan Comp

“It burns. It stings. It’s gut-wrenching,” said defensive line coach Mark Hagen.

“There’s no worse feeling than that,” said offensive lineman Wes Martin.

“When you have it, you take it for granted. When you lose it, you realize how special it really was and really is,” added Coach Tom Allen.

They’re not discussing “the one that got away.” Although, they are. It’s just not “the one” that you would expect.

“The one” is The Old Oaken Bucket. And last year, coming into the game just one win shy of a third straight bowl, Indiana left West Lafayette disappointed. Bowl-less, Bucket-less, and forced to spend December at home.

This year, they’ll look to flip the script – and send Purdue home for the holidays, while Indiana continues to practice and compete for their first bowl victory in 27 years.

The repercussions of a victory this weekend are substantial. For an Indiana team with 55 freshmen on their roster, an additional three weeks of practice time would be huge.

“That's huge for a young team, especially -- we've stated pretty clearly the youth that we have and how many guys are freshmen and sophomores that are on our team right now, and so that gives you an extra -- almost a whole extra spring in some ways of technique work and development,” Coach Allen described at media availability this Monday.

Not to mention the impact a rivalry game victory could do in terms of recruiting. For two major programs in the state of Indiana, both with 2nd year head coaches looking to flip the negative scripts associated with their schools, and both looking for a postseason berth with a victory this weekend – the comparisons go on an on. Being able to distinguish your program as the winner of the Bucket game can go a long way.

“Just in recruiting it's a big deal, you know, beating your rival. We want to be in a position where we're climbing and growing every single year, and then that's the objective is we build and keep recruiting and putting class upon class upon class, it's going to be critical. To me and our staff understands this, it's always the number one focus as a staff is recruiting because we're all a lot better coaches when we have better players. That's the truth.”

The final impact of a victory comes in the history books. First, a victory against Purdue would secure the first winning decade against the Boilermakers since the 1940s. The closest the Hoosiers have come to achieving this feat was a 5-5 split in the 1990’s. A victory would also ensure just the 12th bowl appearance in the program’s 122-year history. A win in this bowl game would be the first postseason win since 1991 and the first winning season since 2007, in which Austin Starr kicked Indiana into a bowl-berth, but the Hoosiers were defeated in the Insight bowl and finished the season 7-6.

Whenever the Bucket game is played, it doesn’t matter what has happened the previous 11 games of the season, you’re bound to see a thriller. But with both teams coming into the game with a postseason berth on the line, this one should be something special.

“We know what's at stake, and we know that winner gets to go play in a bowl game and the loser gets to stay home, so that's what we're playing for.”

They’re playing for more practices. They’re playing for recruiting. They’re playing for the postseason. They’re playing for the one that got away.

It’s Purdue week, and they’re playing for The Old Oaken Bucket.