I thought about titling this post, "Purdue vs IU: Who Ya Got?" but really, if you're reading Boiled Sports, you're probably pulling for the Boilers. Or you're here to bash us. Which is fine. Bring it, bitches.

I kid, of course. We're all about the love here at BS. Unless we're pissed about something. Or feeling punchy. Or just feel like stirring the shit up. Okay, so we are proud and are definitely itching for a fight tonight.

We've stayed rather quiet today (especially Boilerdowd) and that's probably for a number of reasons. I mean, we're "due" for a loss, right? Purdue hasn't let up (at least not enough to lose) since early January. The Boilers are 12-1 in the Big Ten and up to a ranking of 14/15 in the nation. The many freshmen on the team are going to be beaten at some point, right? They're going to be outplayed. Outhustled. Painter is going to be outcoached. It has to happen at some point, right? I mean, it's only natural. Right? Or is it?

See, we (being typical Purdue fans) have been expecting some letdown losses and just general losses of focus basically, well, since Wofford slapped our boys around in December. After a decent but not overly-impressive non-conference schedule, it looked like the predictions were right: Purdue would be a solid team this year but definitely one of those "year or two away" kinds of teams. Big Ten success would probably have to wait.

But something clicked in these guys. Something got them focused and hustling and confident and... accurate. And Coach Painter kept them grounded... somehow. Maybe I'm saying this with such utter disbelief because whenever Purdue athletic teams have even gotten remotely good, the wheels have come flying off in catastrophic fashion.

Yet this team seems to be unaffected by the curse of letdowns. They are 4-0, if you can believe that, against top ten teams this season. Read that again. Can you even imagine the football team doing that? I mean, I think I'd poop my pants if they did.

Yet here we are. Of course, this doesn't mean they're going to win tonight. In fact, the odds are kind of against them, as I illustrated above. They're young, they're on the road... they're "due" for a loss, if you believe in that sort of thing. Oh, and IU is pretty damn good.

However, they can win if IU plays sloppy at all; if Kramer plays shutdown defense on Gordon; if the Hoosiers are at all distracted thinking about playing possibly their last game for Coach Sanctions; and if Coach Painter can keep the wheels on this one for 40 minutes.

No predictions here. I honestly believe it could go either way. No matter what, though, this season has turned into one hell of a ride. Thanks guys, we're really enjoying it.

Game on in less than an hour.