Boiler-ed

This just in from Iowa City ...

Wait, what??

Purdue 24, No. 2 Iowa 7.

Wait ... WHAT??

I SAID, "Purdue 24, No. 2 Iowa 7."

(Whatever sound the simultaneous dropping of thousands of jaws makes)

Because, listen, no one saw this coming, even if Iowa was sort of a counterfeit No. 2. No one saw a 3-2 Purdue team that had last checked in with a listless 20-13 loss to a Minnesota team that had just lost to a MAC school (Bowling Green) jumping up and laminating Iowa on the road. Iowa was supposed to laminate the Boilers. The Purdues were supposed to be a rest stop between Penn State and Wisconsin for the unbeaten Hawkeyes. 

Instead, edge rusher George Karlaftis lived in Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras' kitchen, the Hawkeyes' esteemed defense couldn't cover wide receiver David Bell (11 catches for 240 yards and a score), and the Purdue D intercepted Petras four times and limited the Hawkeyes to 271 yards.

Time of possession?

Purdue 34:46, Iowa 25:14.

Purdue quarterback Aidan O'Connell?

A very Purdue Quarterback-y 30-of-40 passing for 375 yards and two scores.

Initial assessment?

The hell did THAT come from?

Upon-further-review assessment?

Hey, look, the Boilers are 4-2 and maybe better than some teams to which more of us have paid attention up until now.

Those teams would include that team two hours down the road in Bloomington, where Indiana is 2-4 after losing its homecoming game 20-15 to No. 10 Michigan State. The Hoosiers' defense played valiantly but their offense did not, thanks in part to a coaching staff that did some really dumb stuff. Halfway through the season, the Indiana team of which so many people expectations has beaten only Idaho and (barely) Western Kentucky. 

Purdue, conversely, no one expected much of anything from. Which only goes to show, for like the eleventy-thousandth time, why college football is the best of all the games of autumn.