Well, now, that would have been an awesome game in the SEC....amirite?? ESPN would have talked about it for two weeks.

Our Boilers did exactly what we asked of them in our predicto -- they proved us wrong. And we're giddy about it. No matter how you feel about things, it's a hell of a lot more fun to watch wins than losses and beating good teams is also something that gives you, as a fan, a measure of satisfaction. And yes, make no mistake, OSU is a good team. No, they're not field-rush-worthy, but hey, who is anyone to tell the Purdue fans who actually showed up what they should be allowed to do after beating Ohio State...again?

Danny Hope is now 2-0 officially against Ohio State with last year's games being vacated by OSU in the wake of the Tressel/Pryor tattoo nonsense. And he's legitimately undefeated against them at home. What is it about Ohio State that this program game-plans well for? Because over the past six years, Purdue is now 3-3 against the Bucknuts. Not many programs can say that.

The defense did what T-Mill (and all of us, honestly) asked them to do -- they stacked the box and dared OSU to throw. And Braxton Miller tried to oblige. Despite throwing for well under 50% completion percentage, he did manage two TDs through the air and nearly led the Bucks to a last-minute victory. But Bruce Gaston blocked yet another kick for the Boilers to keep the game tied at 20-20.

The Boilers then moved to midfield and I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking this might finally be the logical time to have Carson Wiggs try a 60+ yard field goal -- and then Robert Marve threw a terrible INT to close regulation. But Robert stood tall and the coaching staff, to their credit, stuck with him. He rewarded their faith by leading the Boilers in for the winning score in OT. I don't care how you feel about the QB situation or who should or should not be starting, but I think you have to feel good for Robert Marve. This guy finally gets his chance to shine and lead these guys and he pulled it off. Good for him.

To that point, we don't see how Marve can't start the next two games -- or at least the Iowa game.  He's earned that much and has looked better leading this team in crunch time, in our opinion.

B-dowd will be along later to provide his on-the-scene report as we were fortunate to have tickets in the high rollers area thanks to generous BS benefactor Ed. But I spoke to him as he was driving down 65 getting back to Indy for a dinner he needs to get to (the BS boys are in high demand -- book early!) and he said on the post-game radio show, they were still looking for Danny Hope 30-45 minutes after the game. They kept saying he was still down on the field with the fans. Our observation there? Danny Hope loves being coach so much and loves this program so much that he wanted to personally thank every one of them that was there. Gotta love him for that.

On that subject, those of you pining for Coach Hope to be replaced, I think you're going to have to get used to him for at the very least another year. This team is now 5-5, with two very winnable games remaining and really now has little excuse not to get to a bowl game. And not to go all H&R on you, but is it so crazy to think that Purdue actually could beat Iowa at home, IU on the road...and the bowl opponent if they got a good draw? That would be eight wins, folks. I don't think it's going to happen, but it's suddenly not complete nonsense. Amazing.

We're done trying to figure out what's going to happen with this team. I said a couple weeks ago that if they beat OSU that they would find a way to lose to Iowa the following week. That wouldn't shock me one bit and Purdue did actually match up well with what OSU's offense does (or doesn't do). But now it at least makes next weekend a game against Our Most Hated Rival with a lot riding on it. This class of seniors could clinch their first bowl game on senior day.

Enjoy it, everyone. Choo choo, muthas.