Source: Justin Casterline / Getty
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.–The Purdue Boilermakers and Indiana Hoosiers battle for the Old Oaken Bucket this Saturday for the 98th time.
Purdue has won two straight games against Indiana in the series. Both teams enter the game with 3-8 records. The game will be at Ross-Ade Stadium on Purdue’s campus this year.
“You don’t ever want to end the season on a loss, so we’re looking to just build some positivity heading into the offseason. It’s one more time for us to play in front of Ross-Ade at our home field. It’s a trophy game. To win a trophy over a big rival would be huge for us entering the offseason,” said Purdue Head Football Coach Ryan Walters.
Indiana Head Football Coach Tom Allen says the Old Oaken Bucket game is special because of the tradition and pride it brings.
“Every single day this week, we’re going to have an alumni speaker that’s going to challenge our guys and teach them about this game and its history,” said Allen in a news conference Monday.
Both coaches acknowledged that the fan bases are frustrated, which is why they both want to give them something to feel good about on Saturday.
For Purdue, Quarterback Hudson Card and linebacker Nic Scourton were out for Saturday’s 23-15 loss to Northwestern.
“I would anticipate both of them being available,” Walters said Monday. “Which is awesome. We need them.”
Indiana will try to exploit a Purdue defense that’s giving up 30 points per game and 384 yards per contest. Hoosier redshirt freshman quarterback Brendan Sorsby has accounted for 14 touchdowns over the last five weeks. He also became the first Indiana quarterback since at least 1996 with multiple passing touchdowns of 60 plus yards in a single game when he had two of them against Penn State on October 28.
Allen says he’s also excited about the future.
“There are a lot of good football players that we have on our football team that have time in front of them to play. We also have a strong high school class that’s going to be coming in here. I still believe you have to have that foundation. We’re going to use the transfer portal, but I see us having less portal guys this year because we will have a lot of guys back for next year,” said Allen.
Kickoff for the Old Oaken Bucket Game between Indiana and Purdue is Saturday at noon. You can hear the game on 93.1 WIBC.
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