What’s your favorite memory?
It’s staff roundtable time. I asked the staff to give me a favorite moment from the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry? Let’s see what they had to say.
Ledman:
I’ve got good memories and bad ones from the Old Oaken Bucket. A great one is Tiller’s last Bucket game when he took down the Hoosiers 62-10. It was a great punctuation to a great career at Purdue. There was no way the team was going to allow Tiller to walk out of Ross-Ade Stadium losing his final game, and to IU no less. That just wasn’t going to happen.
As far as bad memories, I recall going to the IU game in Bloomington the year that Coach Hep passed away. It was an emotional moment for IU fans as they desperately wanted to win this one for Hep. They did. I was in the student section along with one other Purdue student and our mutual IU student friend. We stood there like rocks in the sea as the IU students flooded all around us as they rushed the field. That wasn’t fun but it certainly was memorable.
It’s also impossible not to at least mention the Rose Bowl season when a victory against IU clinched the trip to the Rose Bowl.
Ryan:
I think I have to go with the 2017 bucket game. I was a sophomore in college and it was the first year under Jeff Brohm. Both Purdue and Indiana came in at 5-6 needing a win to get to a bowl game. Purdue won 31-24 but the game wasn’t all that close. This was also the first year for Indiana under Tom Allen so that added bragging rights was nice. It’s years like this year that I miss that 2017 squad with the trick plays, fake punts, and, well, wins. I seriously doubt Purdue wins 2024’s bucket game but hopefully the Boilermakers aren’t down long.
Jed:
Tiller’s last Bucket game was probably the best of my bucket memories given how much of a butt kicking that it was.
A close second will be this season’s Bucket game after it leads to Ryan Walters being dismissed from his duties.