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Finallllllly. The bucket. Has come back. To West Lafayette.
After a four year long hiatus thanks to the ineptitude of that guy who was here before Jeff Brohm, Purdue finally has possession of the Old Oaken Bucket again. It can’t be overstated the massive turnaround that Brohm has completed in just one year. For those of you that need a reminder, remember that Darrell Hazell, in four seasons as the head coach, won a total of 9 games. Nine games in four years, with these same players. Jeff Brohm came in and has won six games in his first season and is taking Purdue to a bowl game for the first time since 2012.
One player on offense deserves special recognition. Markell Jones had a quiet year. The former breakout freshman star from 2015 had seen his total yards dropped each season since his first. Today though Markell Jones harkened back to 2015 as he ran for 217 yards to help Purdue run the clock and grind down Indiana’s defense.
It doesn’t really matter how Purdue scored or the fact that they tried to choke it away at the end by allowing IU to score two quick touchdowns and recover an onside kick. That will all be a post-script as we look back on this season and this game. Purdue recovered the second on side kick when it mattered to hold onto the victory and send Purdue bowling.
This game was for Joe Tiller, this game was for Bob DeMoss, this game was for all the seniors the last four years who struggled under incompetent leadership and coaching and saw their talent wasted. This is for the fans who stuck around and watched each and every wrongheaded decision under Danny Hope and Darrell Hazell. This is for each one of you who come to this site day in and day out looking for signs of hope about this team and the future.
As we await word now on where Purdue will go bowling and who they play let’s not forget the huge accomplishment this is just to get back to 6-6. Jeff Brohm is a magician. Much more to come. For now though, let’s drink it in that the Bucket is home and the Boilermakers are going bowling.