Football Preview: Purdue vs. Iowa - November 9 - Noon - BTN

As I wrote earlier this week, watching this Boiler team has been an exercise in masochism.  My original recommendation was to watch the first quarter, see if Purdue can be competitive, and if not, have a nice little Saturday with the family and forget about this silly concussion-causing sport called football.  Sure, feel free to set your DVR, as that's what I'll be doing tomorrow just in case this one gets interesting.  But I'm done planning my Saturday schedule around Purdue football.

For this weekend at least

Why Purdue Wins
What will it take for Purdue to pull the upset and look like a respectable football program?

• No turnovers, and I'm looking at you rook.
• Outstanding punting.  There's going to be a lot of legwork on Saturday.
• Tough defense, mostly getting to the quarterback and limiting the Iowa passing game, but it's never surprising to see the Boilers beat in the rushing game.
• An offensive line.  Seriously, just stop someone.

Why Iowa Wins
The only Big Ten team worse at putting up points than Purdue are the Hawkeyes, but they are still much better.  Their defense is pretty decent, and look for them to cause Etling loads of problems.  Assuming Iowa can take care of the ball and bottle up the Boiler run game and bend, not break, they'll walk out of Ross-Ade with a win.

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

I'm running out of time on this post, so instead of making fun of an Iowa player, let's just pick on these guys.

Sadly this has been a similar scene at Ross-Ade this season

Picks of the week

The Hawkeyes are 15 point favorites.  We'll be betting the total number of points scored by the men's basketball team tonight.

Erik's Bet

Erik actually thinks Purdue will find the end zone on Saturday.  Maybe he's putting his faith in a Ricardo Allen pick six.  Either way, he's got Iowa narrowly beating the spread.

Iowa 24 - Purdue 7

Kirk's Bet
I've kind of prided myself on how many times I've failed to pick against the spread the last two seasons.  Remember professional gamblers, always bet with Erik, especially if it's opposite me.  In this case, I have little faith Purdue will make this one terribly close, but that should be a good sign for Boiler fans.  Now Purdue will cover, just to spite my pick.

Iowa 30 - Purdue 3

Three Final Things

1. Safety Landon Feichter should be back on the field tomorrow, mostly recovered after breaking his leg against Indiana State in early September.  That's a two-month recovery time - yikes that seems fast!

2. Will we see Rob Henry punt again on Saturday?  Some trick plays?  I sure hope so; we need something to keep us interested on our couches.

3. Boiler Up!

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