Purdue Boilermakers Game Day Vitals: Minnesota

I shouldn't feel this way, but right now I have mixed feelings about Saturday's football game. Yes, this is a game that we should win. Without question, I think Purdue is the much more talented football team and in recent memory it hasn't been much of a task for the Boilers to beat Minnesota.

But, after Purdue's meltdown in Columbus last weekend (which followed two ugly drubbings at home), I look at every other game this year as a question mark. Honestly, I don't know what to think of his game, because I have no idea what the hell Purdue is going to do. The football team has been as unpredictable as can be so far this year.

I mean, look at the evidence. We destroy an FCS team at home, then nearly beat the Domers (currently No. 5) in their own house. Next, we dismantle a MAC team at home, but then we only beat a a C-USA team by 10 at home (although we looked much better than that). Then comes two surprisingly awful showings at home against mediocre-to-good conference opponents. And to top it off, we almost beat the best team in the B1G (an undefeated team mind you) in their house! Really, we were so close to handing OSU its first loss in Ohio Stadium, and we blew it!

So, as you can see, Purdue has been all over the place this year. They have won when they were supposed to. They have lost when they were supposed to. They have lost when many figured they would win, and they nearly won a couple of games that many thought they would surely lose.

Therefore, I don't know what to expect from Purdue on Saturday. They are on the road against the Gophers and many will surely expect a win, and an easy win at that. But, I have to question which Purdue team will show up in Minneapolis. Will it be the good Purdue team who can easily win games that they are supposed to? Or will it be the god-awful Purdue team that looks like dead, confused and weak-hearted while massively dropping a surefire victory?

Who knows? I would like to think that Purdue will win this game. Even turning it into a blowout should not be an expectation that is out-of-reach. Hell, I would love to not have to worry about this game and instead already turn my attention to the next home game against PSU. But, I feel like I have done this already this season and been disappointed.

Oh, well. All we can do is wait for Saturday and see what happens. In the meantime, here is all of the important info you will need for this weekend's football game.

Opponent: Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-3, 0-3 B1G)

2011 record: 3-9 (2-6 B1G)

Bowl result: None

Last week: Lost 13-38 at Wisconsin

Date of game: Saturday, October 27, 2012

Kickoff time: 3:30 PM ET

Game location: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Purdue Sports Network (All 27 PSN channels can be found here), Sirius Channel 135 and XM Channel 194 (both are Minnesota feeds)

Series record: Minnesota leads 33-32-3

Series record in TCF Bank Stadium: Minnesota leads 1-0

Last meeting: Last year, Purdue won 45-17 at home against the Gophers.

Last meeting in TCF Bank Stadium: In their first matchup in Minnesota's new stadium, the Gophers beat Purdue 35-20 at home in 2009.

Last Purdue win: Last year at Purdue

Last Purdue win in TCF Bank Stadium: Although Purdue's last win on the road against Minnesota came in 2007, the Boilers have yet to win in the Gophers' new stadium.

Ticket information: Although Purdue students can purchase tickets to the game on purduesports.com, apparently they have all sold out already. The website isn't showing any option to buy student tickets for Saturday's game at this time. It isn't that surprising, though. TCF Bank Stadium hold on 50,000 people, so I don't think many Purdue student tickets were reserved in the first place. So, for student and non-student Boilermakers alike, those who wish to buy tickets to the game will have to go to StubHub. Here, it says that less than 300 tickets are left and price per ticket ranges from $20 to $150 based on section.

Opponent blog(s): The Daily Gopher is Minnesota's blog at SB Nation.

Weather at kickoff: Right now on weather.com, the Saturday forecast for Minneapolis says it will be cold, with a high of 43 and slight 7 mph winds. But, it should be a beautiful day otherwise, with partly cloudy skies and only a 10% chance of rain.

Other Week 9 B1G games:

• Iowa at Northwestern, Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on ESPN2
• Indiana at Illinois, Saturday at 12:00 PM ET on Big Ten Network
• Michigan State at No. 25 Wisconsin, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on ABC/ESPN2
• Ohio State at Penn State, Saturday at 5:30 PM ET on ESPN
• No. 22 Michigan at Nebraska, Saturday at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN2

(For the curious) Other noteworthy Week 9 FBS games:

• No. 2 Florida at No. 10 Georgia, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on CBS
• No. 14 Texas Tech at No. 3 Kansas State, Saturday at 3:30 PM ET on FOX
• No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma, Saturday at 8:00 PM ET on ABC
• No. 11 Mississippi State at No. 1 Alabama, Saturday at 8:30 PM ET on ESPN