I can't let the lights issue go, so I just want to make one point before getting into some links. Here are the BCS programs in each conference that have permanent lights at their stadium. As you can see, Purdue is well behind the rest of college football in this, an issue that regardless of you agree with Burke or not, is troubling. In college football if you're not improving, you're dying.

I'm not asking for seven 8pm kickoffs, either. This does allow for flexibility for those 3:30 mid-afternoon kickoffs, which at least meet Burke's approval according to the Michigan game this year.

Big Ten (7)

Indiana, Illinois, Penn State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Minnesota

ACC (11)

Miami*, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest.

Big East (14)

Syracuse (Dome), Pittsburgh*, South Florida*, Louisville, Boise State, Temple*, San Diego State*, Navy, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Rutgers, Central Florida, Houston, SMU

SEC (14)

Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas (has two stadiums, technically), Auburn, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Missouri, Texas A&M

Big 12 (10)

Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, West Virginia, TCU, Texas Tech

Pac 12 (11)

Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Utah, Washington* (2012 season only), Washington State

* = shares stadium with NFL team

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Like many other members of the graduating 2012 class, Robbie Hummel finds himself without a job. However, he has been bouncing back and forth between Indianapolis and Tippecanoe County preparing for the biggest job offer he will have: The NBA.

Hummel has won the support of Boilermakers all over the nation, earned the respect from coaches in the Big Ten and other conferences, and has impressed columnists, analysts, and writers from ESPN to those at SB Nation. And as much as I could sit here and rant about how much Robbie has impressed me none of that really matters anymore. What matters is how much he has impressed NBA scouts.

Hummel had a prolific career at Purdue. It could be compared to what Charlie Sheen did during his meltdown a few years back: winning. Robbie is a winner who is composed of grit, spit, and hard-work. He has good size for the SF position, 6'8" 215 lbs. and is a solid shooter, rebounder, a great leader, hustles like nobody’s business, and, this may be his best quality, a true student of the game. He is a willing and quick learner.

Scouts know what they can expect from Hummel. He isn't super raw, like a player such as Anthony Davis from Kentucky or Andre Drummond from Connecticut, yet he doesn’t possess that superior athleticism that they have. One thing that everyone knows is that Hummel is efficient. In 32 minutes per game Hummel averaged 16.4 PTS, shot 38% from behind the arc and 42% from the floor, and averaged 7.2 rebounds. John Hollinger gave Hummel a PER (player efficiency rating) of 25.62, which was 4th in the Big Ten behind Indiana's Cody Zeller, Ohio State's Jared Sullinger, and Northwestern's John Shurna. Like I said, teams will know what they are going to get with Robbie: a player with solid shooting and rebounding capabilities, and a whole lot of heart.

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This is getting ridiculous. Once again, Morgan Burke continues to be completely in the dark (pun intended) when it comes to having permanent lights at Ross-Ade Stadium. As we can see with today's first note:

Burke talks lights, night games | JCOnline Blogs
This deserves a breakdown...

Purdue will be the only conference school not to host a true night football game in 2012. Well, sort of.

The Oct. 6 matchup between the Boilermakers and Michigan starts at 4 p.m., and portable lights will have to brought in to Ross-Ade Stadium since the game won’t end until around 7:30.

"I probably could’ve had a night game with Michigan but I lobbied them for late afternoon so it wouldn’t be late for our people to get home," Burke said.

So late for our people to get home. Like it was late last year when we played Notre Dame, or late for the 14,000+ people that come to a MIDWEEK basketball game that can start at 9pm with the chance of bad weather? Ironically, this is the one game I WANTED a noon kickoff since Miami is playing Notre Dame in Chicago that night and Mrs. T-Mill and I were planning the double. Now we can't. Thanks, Morgan!

Anyway, it is a SATURDAY NIGHT!!!! Most alums don't have to work the next morning and no kids have school. It's the best time to have a night game.

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This morning the Big Ten Conference released the 2015 and 2016 conference football schedules, thus completing most of our schedule for the next four years. As expected, Northwestern will make a return after a four year absence, and we knew six of the other games thanks to OMHR and our own division. the only mystery was who would be the eighth team. Well, we caught a massive break. Instead of Nebraska, Michigan, or Michigan State we get Minnesota!

Here is the schedule for 2015:

Sept. 5 - at Marshall
Sept. 12 - INDIANA STATE
Sept. 19 - NOTRE DAME
Sept. 26 - BOWLING GREEN
Oct. 3 - OHIO STATE
Oct. 17 - IOWA
Oct. 24 - at Penn State
Oct. 31 - at Northwestern
Nov. 7 - MINNESOTA
Nov. 14 - at Wisconsin
Nov. 21 - ILLINOIS
Nov. 28 - at Indiana

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Let's kick the week off right with some Boilermakings Links:

Purdue football Beckford, Ross back on scholarship | Journal and Courier | jconline.com
Receiver O.J. Ross and linebacker Dwayne Beckford are back on scholarship and are expected to be part of Purdue's football team during the 2012 season, coach Danny Hope said Friday.

B1G 2012 // Iowa Cocktail Party Preview - Off Tackle Empire
OMHR!!!!!!!!

Big Ten post-spring power rankings - Big Ten Blog - ESPN
The book is closed on spring football in the Big Ten, but what did the chapters reveal?

BaseballAmerica.com: Draft: Early Draft Preview: 2012 Draft: Top 100 Prospects
Kevin Plawecki is rated as the No. 67 prospect nationally according to Baseball America.

BaseballAmerica.com: Draft: Early Draft Preview: 2012 Draft: Prospects No. 101-200
Cameron Perkins is rated the No. 145 prospect according to Baseball America

Tracking the conference tourneys | Perfect Game USA
Here is Perfect Game's look at the various conference tournaments. Other than the Big Ten, we're interested in the MVC (for RPI purposes), Horizon and MAC (possible first round preview), SEC (Auburn for RPI purposes), and Conference USA (East Carolina and Southern Miss RPI-wise)

Boilermakers Finish in Tenth Place at NCAA Ann Arbor Regional
The Purdue men's golf team failed to make the cut to advance on to nationals.

Pac-12 football series taking shape | JCOnline Blogs
It looks as if the Colorado Buffaloes are on the Purdue schedule in 2016 and 2017.

Plawecki Among 35 Semifinalists Nationally For Dick Howser Trophy
Already a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award, Purdue baseball's Kevin Plawecki has also been selected the among the 35 semifinalists nationally for the Dick Howser Trophy, an award given to the top player in college baseball.

College Football Relegation In Action: 2006 - SBNation.com
Let's take a look at how relegation would actually work in college football, with years of simulations ready to go.

Our Boilermakers did themselves no favors this weekend. Since clinching the Big Ten title last Saturday, the Boilers are 1-3 in league play. The lone win was Thursday night over Iowa. That victory ended up being very important, as Indiana finished the year by winning its last five conference games. Purdue ended up winning the outright title by a single game over the Hoosiers.

Purdue finished the regular season at 41-12 overall, but the two losses to Iowa this weekend dealt a severe blow to our RPI. Iowa is bad, and now is not the time to lose a series to a bad team. The Michigan loss last weekend was another bad loss, as Purdue went 2-3 since clinching the title. Other teams around us int eh rankings struggled this weekend, but at least they were playing better teams.

Fortunately, I still think we're okay for hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament. Boyd's World has our RPI at No. 15, down from No. 7 before the Iowa series. That's very good since there are 16 regional hosts. We also have the advantage of being a northern team. If possible, the NCAA likes to spread the regionals around and give one to a northern team if possible. A northern regional is also an advantage, as we're more likely to play a northern team or two that they want to keep close to home.

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