A Bucket of history

 They could have Purdue-ed it up. Let's begin there today.

 Let's start with the acknowledgement that yesterday was all set up for the Boilermakers to drop history spang on their foot, because (take it from a guy who grew up in a Boiler household) that would have been so Purdue of them. As soon as Nebraska whipped Iowa, you could almost see it happening: The Boilers coming to Bloomington needing only a win against sadsack Indiana to reach the Big Ten championship game for the first time, and the Hoosiers kicking their bitter rivals in the cherries to ruin it all.

But you know what?

That didn't happen.

Know what else?

It didn't happen because Purdue is just that good.

At 8-4, the Boilers are what their record says they are, which is a solid football team that wasn't going to let history slip away. Oh, they futzed around for a half and trailed 7-3 at the break (uh-oh!), but then they rolled in the second half, outscoring the Hoosiers 24-3 until Indiana scored a garbage-time TD on the last play of the game. 

So, 30-16 at the end, and if you're an IU fan you can indulge in your what-ifs. Like, what if quarterback Dexter Williams, who beat Michigan State on the road last week and was giving Purdue fits early, hadn't gone down with a knee injury?

Well ... then it would have been a 30-20 final. Or 30-24, to be generous.

Bottom line, Purdue was Purdue and Indiana was Indiana, and that was that. Jaylin Lucas ripped off a 71-yard touchdown to put Indiana up early, but after that he gained 29 yards on eight carries -- a mirror held up to Indiana in general, because the Hoosiers went almost as quietly once Williams went down.

Purdue, meanwhile, got 290 yards and two touchdowns from Aidan O'Connell, and breakout freshman Devin Mockobee ran for 99 yards and another score, and most of that that happened in the second half. And the Boilers had both the Bucket and a bucket of history as the Big Ten West champs.

Next Saturday, they'll be in Lucas Oil Stadium, playing for the conference title.

On the opposite sideline will be unbeaten Michigan, which embarrassed Ohio State in the Horseshoe in what the Wolverines and Buckeyes like to call The Game, but which turned out to be The Beatdown instead.

Just about everyone thinks next Saturday will be Beatdown Two. But maybe not.

Because in a season where Purdue didn't Purdue it up, who knows?