Pat Fitzgerald played college football when a couple of the BS founders were in school, making us roughly the same age. Yet somehow he has seemed to age by 30 years recently.

At the start of the season he blamed declining attendance on…..kids being on their phones too much. Then a few weeks ago he was asked about his team’s atrocious production and his answer was to make a smart-ass, old man comment about how they just “play Wii” all week instead of preparing for the game and that there are “40,000 experts on twitter” (More than that, coach!) and that his email address is, and I quote, “hashtag I don’t care.”

Yikes. Pretending to be a detached old man really isn’t any better than being a detached old man, Fitzy-poo.

The ‘Cats haven’t scored a touchdown since October 5 in a 13-10 loss to Nebraska, yet are 2.5 point favorites at home against the hobbled Boilermakers (the O/U is just 39, which seems hilarious for a CFB game). Does a road game at a team that it feels like Purdue should beat seem reminiscent of a trip to Minneapolis last year? Sure, maybe. And Purdue continues to be banged up, as there is now word that David Bell may not play this weekend. We already know a walk-on will be starting at QB (Aidan O’Connell) with *checks notes* Aneesh serving as his backup, I think.

That said….if you believe in Brohmvember and you think what you saw against a feisty Nebraska last weekend was real, then you absolutely must believe this can be a win for Purdue. Brohm is 0-2 against Fitz and the Mildcats are 1-7. The opportunity is here, boys. Take this one, move to 4-6 and make everyone legitimately excited for the final two weeks of a season that felt all but lost in September. That right there is magic.

What do we think here?

“A walk on QB in his hometown against a traditionally strong defense having an off year…I think Purdue wins a close game with both teams scoring under 20, and NW scores their first touchdown of the century.” -Swamy

“Give me a scholarship QB and yes, it’s a win for Purdue. Walk-ons only, Northwestern sucks but I don’t think Purdue has practiced enough single-wing yet.” – Dave

“Purdue will win. QB whisperer vs a bad NU team. NU won’t score more than 17.” -Boilerdowd

“I think Purdue wins if Bell plays. If he sits, they probably lose.” –Michael

So here we are in 2019. A game against a bad team hinging on whether a freshman plays. That tells you a lot.

The consensus at BS seems to be that Purdue should win this game. But road games in the Big Ten are never a gimme so let’s see if Purdue can show out.