Football Preview: Purdue at Michigan State - October 19 - Noon - BTN

After a week on the road for work, I'm getting this preview in just under the wire.  So let's make it short and sweet.  When I got home from New York, my wife said, "Why do you need to write a game preview anyway?  Can't you just say: 'The team sucks.  It's going to be the same as last week.  It's going to blow.'"

My wife has never spoken truer words.  What would lead any logical Purdue fan to think this game is going to be anything but yet another blowout?

Here's hoping MSU plays as badly as this Spartan looks

Why Purdue wins
Because Hell freezes over, pigs fly, and the Purdue offense becomes possessed by the spirits of the 2005 USC Trojans (I know, they aren't dead, just play along).  The Boilers love to make me look stupid, but I'm pretty sure I would relish them making me look like an idiot this afternoon, but it ain't happening.

Why Michigan State wins 
Because they are a vastly superior team, more disciplined, better coached, more talented.  Also, did  I mention that Purdue is horrible?

Player we're most concerned about since their stock photo may break our TV

My apathy with this Boilermaker team makes it hard to have any vitriol towards their opponents.  Other than the deformed Spartan pictured above, I couldn't find anything too shocking, but check out Taybor Pepper.

Does the team's math homework for them

While his name is also hilarious, have you ever seen such a scrawny looking player who wasn't a kicker?  Pepper is the long snapper, and apparently a pretty good one, but he looks like he's playing the wrong position or wrong sport.

On the other hand, I have to show major love to starting right tackle Fou Fonoti (not to be confused with Lou Malnati).  Don't you just want to have a beer and some cheesesticks with this guy?

The happiest guy on the team

Picks of the week

The Spartans are favored by 27.5.  It's hard to get excited for Purdue football, but Erik and I are both still big fans of our NFL teams.  This week, we'll be betting the number of wins in the last decade by our favorite team.

Erik's Bet (50)

Erik's Cleveland Browns have been even more disappointing than Purdue over the last decade, only winning 50 games.  Erik thinks the Boilers will get blown out but cover the spread by mustering more than twice as many points as last week.  Maybe he's counting on the defense scoring some of those points.

Michigan State 41 - Purdue 17
Kirk's Bet (84)
I finally picked correctly last week, but there's no joy in Mudville because all that meant was the Boilers really sucked against Nebraska.  I'll pick for an equal amount of suck this week and bet the 84 games that the Chicago Bears have won since the 2004 season.

Michigan State 38 - Purdue 10

Three Final Things

1.  As Erik mentioned, our MVP, Cody Webster, had a bad game last week.  I'll be looking to see a vastly improved performance, and I'm expecting to have the opportunity for a lot of kicks with the futile Purdue offense.  At least there's someone interesting to watch other than Etling.

2.  After destroying Purdue today, the Spartans will probably be ranked, so it's nice we can help them out with that.  We're such a giving team, shucks.

3. Boiler Up!

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