Indiana University Athletics
Indiana, Purdue to Battle for Old Oaken Bucket
11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 13, 2006
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana football team (5-6, 3-4 Big Ten) wraps up the 2006 regular season when it takes on Purdue (7-4, 4-3) at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. on Saturday, Nov. 18. ESPN Classic will televise the game with a noon EST kickoff. Dave Barnett (play-by-play), Bill Curry (analyst) and Vince Welch (sideline) will call the action. The game can also be heard on the statewide IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Pete Compise and Joe Smith).
The longtime rivals will battle for the Old Oaken Bucket, the annual trophy awarded to the winner of the Indiana-Purdue game. Saturday's meeting marks the 82nd battle for the bucket and the 108th overall meeting in the series.
Both institutions had been meeting on the football field since 1891 when the Indiana and Purdue Alumni Clubs of Chicago held a joint meeting in 1925 to "discuss the possibility of undertaking worthy joint enterprise on behalf of the two schools." They located the Old Oaken Bucket on the old Bruner Farm between Kent and Hanover in southern Indiana. The region had been settled by the Bruner family in the 1840's, making today's bucket well over a century old.
Excellent repair work put the bucket, moss and mold-covered with some staves showing signs of decay, into good shape for its initial appearance, which ended in a 0-0 tie in 1925.
Scouting Purdue
Purdue enters Saturday with the league's top offense (12th nationally), averaging 420.7 yards per game. The Boilermakers lead the Big Ten with 288.7 yards per contest through the air (sixth nationally) and are averaging 26.7 points per game. Last weekend, Purdue used its potent attack to knock off Illinois, 42-31, becoming bowl eligible.
Sophomore quarterback Curtis Painter is the conference's top passer (seventh nationally), tossing for 282.2 yards every time out. He has thrown 16 touchdowns and is completing 58.3 percent of his passes. Junior wide receiver Dorien Bryant is the Big Ten leader with six receptions per game, 74.3 yards per game and has tacked on six scores. Five Boilermaker receivers have recorded at least two TDs.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior defensive end Anthony Spencer leads all defenders in the country with 26.5 tackles for loss, ranks second in the Big Ten with 9.5 sacks and sits ninth among league leaders with 7.5 tackles per game. He also is tied for the league lead with four forced fumbles and has added five pass breakups, one fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
The Purdue defense has recorded 28 sacks, 72 stops for loss and forced 21 takeaways (10 interceptions and 11 fumble recoveries) in 11 ballgames.
Senior Salute
Twenty-one Hoosiers will play in their final regular season contest when Indiana takes the field at Purdue including Tyler Altman, Scott Anderson, Tyson Beattie, Lance Bennett, Kenni Burns, Justin Frye, Jahkeen Gilmore, Troy Grosfield, Paul Haan, Kenny Kendal, Nick Luce, Chris Mangiero, Eric McClurg, Graeme McFarland, Will Meyers, Casey Nowinski, Patrick Oldham, Matt O'Neal, Jake Powers, Drew Robbins and Ryan Skelton.
Facing The Best
When Indiana hosted second-ranked Michigan, it marked the second time this season the Hoosiers faced an opponent ranked in the top two. IU fell to No. 1 Ohio State on Oct. 21 in Columbus. Indiana has faced two teams ranked in the top two in the same season three times. In 1948 the Hoosiers faced No. 1 Notre Dame (Nov. 6) and No. 1 Michigan (Nov. 13), while taking on No. 1 Michigan State (Oct. 28), No. 2 Iowa (Oct. 14) and Nov. 3 Ohio State (Nov. 11) in 1961. The Hoosiers also took on a pair of No. 1s in 1965, facing Texas (Oct. 2) and Michigan State (Nov. 13).
Ten times Indiana has faced two teams ranked among the top five in the same season, with the last coming in 1974 - No. 1 Ohio State (Oct. 19) and No. 3 Michigan (Oct. 2). The Hoosiers have never defeated a team ranked No. 1 or 2. The program's lone victory over a top-three team came on Nov. 25, 1967 - a 19-14 win over No. 3 Purdue to clinch a trip to the 1967 Rose Bowl.
Playing Takeaway
When junior cornerback Leslie Majors grabbed his first career interception vs. No. 2 Michigan, it marked the 10th time in 11 games this season the Indiana defense has forced at least one turnover. Overall, the Hoosiers have 17 takeaways with nine interceptions and eight fumble recoveries.
Career Day
Making his second consecutive start and his fifth start of the season against second-ranked Michigan, true freshman linebacker Will Patterson led the Hoosiers with a career-best 10 tackles. Patterson also notched career bests with five solo stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. On the season, the Indianapolis native (Lawrence North) has collected 37 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
