Football Recap: Iowa 38 - Purdue 14 - At Least We Scored

Well, we took a snap in the red zone for the first time since September 28th.  Yes, it was 5 full weeks between trips to the red zone.  Only 3 more weeks until this miserable season is over.

I like America.  I don't like red on my Purdue helmet.

As has become tradition here at GoBoilers.net during this awful season, we're going to forgo any real recap/analysis because nobody likes to read or write boring things about bad games.

Instead, here's a list of things that annoyed me during the game:

• I love the one fan that's yelling for the defense even though we're about to go down 38-7.  He paid for his ticket, he's showing his spirit, all is good.  Except for the fact that the BTN microphone was DIRECTLY in front of him, and with nobody else yelling, the second half was excruciating to the ears if you cared at all about what the announcers were saying.  Not sure why anyone would care what the notoriously awful BTN football announcers were saying, but why in the world could BTN not just turn down that mike?  Were they really that desperate for crowd noise?
• While I was one of the few still watching when Appleby and Anthrop hooked up for a TD at the end of the game, I didn't actually get to see it.  Apparently the cameraman was put to sleep and forgot to move the camera to show the completion.  By the time Anthrop had broken away for a sure touchdown, the cameraman finally cut to him.  I know it was late and the game was wrapped up, but c'mon BTN.  You've been around for several years now - can't you get a staff that can produce games above an intern-level?
• This didn't annoy me, but Thomas Meadows had a great onside kick at the end of the game.  Purdue didn't recover it, but we may need something like that if we're going to win another game.

 So, the question now is...

Is Purdue the worst BCS Conference team in the country?  Is Purdue the worst FBS team in the country?

Well, they're probably not the worst FBS team in the country.  Southern Miss, New Mexico State, Florida International, and Georgia State are all having just awful seasons and are consistently getting blown out by really bad teams.  None of them have at least competed against decent teams like Notre Dame and Michigan State.  But is Purdue the worst BCS Conference team?

Let's break down arguably the three worst BCS teams: UCONN, Cal, and Purdue.  All are having abysmal seasons. 

California
Sagarin Ranking (includes FCS schools): 114
BCS Ranking: 99
Best Win: Portland State 37-30
Closest Loss: Arizona 33-28
Worst Loss against bad opponent: Washington State 44-22
Biggest Blowout: @ Oregon 55-16
Common Opponent: @ Ohio State 52-34

UCONN
Sagarin Ranking: 158
BCS Ranking: 117
Best Win: None
Closest Loss: Michigan 24-21
Worst Loss against bad opponent: Towson 33-18
Biggest Blowout: @ Central Florida 62-17
Common Opponent: @ Cincinnati 41-16

Purdue
Sagarin Ranking: 168
BCS Ranking: 102
Best Win: Indiana State 20-14
Closest Loss: Notre Dame 31-24
Worst Loss against bad opponent: @ Cincinnati 42-7
Biggest Blowout: Ohio State 56-0
Common Opponent: See above 2 scores

Analysis 
Well, after a quick glance, we can throw out Cal right now.  They've been competitive in many more games and haven't played anyone (other than their win) outside Sagarin's top 50.  So let's compare Purdue and UCONN:

Sagarin: I like Sagarin's ratings, mainly because he was doing this long before computer rankings were popular.  I don't like his ranking of Purdue though.  UCONN 1 - Purdue 0
 
BCS: Other computers must like Purdue better - probably since they're not supposed to take into account margin of victory. UCONN 1 - Purdue 1

Best Win: Indiana State is one of the worst teams in FCS.  They don't have a single FCS or FBS win this year, yet they nearly beat Purdue.  UCONN was just too stupid to schedule them, so Purdue gets the point by default. Purdue 2 - UCONN 1 

Closest Loss: Michigan beat Notre Dame. UCONN played Michigan closer.  Point UCONN. Purdue 2 - UCONN 2

Worst Loss Against Bad Opponent: Towson's a pretty decent FCS team (ranked 81 in Sagarin's ratings).  But losing to any FCS school immediately disqualifies you from this category.  Purdue 3 - UCONN 2

Biggest Blowout: OSU is a top 5 team, came into West Lafayette, and shut out the Boilers.  Central Florida is in the top 20, the Huskies played them on the road, and they at least scored 17 points on them.  The embarrassment of losing a game like that at home gives the point to UCONN.  Purdue 3 - UCONN 3 

Common Opponent: So it comes down to this - both team's most exciting matchup of the year is a battle royale for the designation of the worst BCS team in the country.  No controversy on this line item though.  Purdue lost at Cincy by 35.  UCONN lost at Cincy by 25.  Game, Set, Match UCONN.   UCONN 4 - Purdue 3

Ok, so before I started that analysis, I really thought that UCONN was much worse and I was at least going to prove that "Hey, somebody has it worst than us!"  Unfortunately, I proved myself wrong.  How depressing.

Stay tuned over the next 24 hours to GoBoilers.net as we preview your Purdue "Worst Team in a BCS Conference" Boilermakers against the Penn State Nittany Lions.  Here's a preview of the preview:  Don't waste your time.  DVR it and watch it in 15 minutes while shotgunning 5 beers.  It will be much more enjoyable.  Then buy tickets for $0.40 apiece for the last home game so you can get one last look at the worst major team in the country and one of the worst Purdue football teams of all time.  At least seeing the band play is worth 40 cents, right?

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