The most interesting football game in these parts today will not be Notre Dame taking on (cue the spooky organ music) another MAC school, Miami (O.) ... or undefeated and freshly-ranked Indiana welcoming in some more baked goods, Charlotte ... or even Ball State's rivalry game at Central Michigan a week after The U made a paper wad out of the Cardinals in Miami.
No, sir. The most interesting game in these parts happens clear across the country tonight in Corvallis, Ore.
That's where Purdue lands, awash in a sea of Oregon State orange.
What makes Purdue-Oregon State worth watching is it's always intriguing to see how a team reacts to utter evisceration, which is what happened to the Purdues a week ago. In case you missed it, or are just trying to forget, the Boilermakers were humiliated at home by one of their oldest presumed rivals, Notre Dame. The final score was 66-7, and it might not have been that close.
It was at once Notre Dame's largest margin of victory in the 88-game series, and the worst defeat in the history of Purdue football, which goes back to 1893. And it was inexplicable. Although Notre Dame was favored by double digits and coming off its own humiliating home loss to Northern Illinois, Purdue was coming off a 49-0 win over Indiana State followed by a bye week to prepare for the Irish.
And yet it was no contest almost from the last bars of the national anthem. And while Notre Dame played more like the team it was supposed to be, most of the reason it was no contest is Purdue simply didn't show up.
How that happens against Notre Dame is ... well, inexplicable. What lingering effects it will have is what makes tonight so interesting.
Does Purdue show some fight tonight?
Will the residue of 66-7 immediately deflate the Boilers the first time Oregon State revs up a scoring drive?
Will they block? Will they (unlike a week ago) tackle? Will Hudson Card be spooked by the ghosts of all those thundering Notre Dame footsteps the first time the Beavers bring someone off the edge?
Psychology sometimes gets way too prominent a seat at the table when sports is the subject, but tonight it will be truly fascinating to see what effect 66-7 has on Purdue. Maybe the Boilers have put it behind them, which is no doubt what they've been saying all week in West Lafayette. Maybe they say they have, and believe it, until something goes wrong tonight.
Maybe they should have scheduled Directional Hyphen Tech State this week instead of a cross-country roadie to a major-conference school that, oh, by way, got spin-cycled in its own in-state rivalry game last week.
No. 9 Oregon 49, Oregon State 14. And that also happened on the loser's home field.
I'm thinking the Beavers are looking at Purdue tonight, and seeing an excellent opportunity to rinse last week's bitter from their mouths. I'm thinking Purdue might be seeing the same thing, if somewhat less capable of making it happen because ...
Well. Because even though we're still five weeks out from Halloween, hauntings happen.
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