My Two Cents: Forget All the Negatives When You're Cradling the Bucket
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It would be easy to start with all the bad stuff, because there was a ton it for Indiana on Saturday during its Old Oaken Bucket game at Purdue.
But when it was all over, the garbage didn't matter one bit. Indiana found a way to beat the Boilermakers 44-41 in double overtime, taking back the Old Oaken Bucket, which had resided too far north for the past couple of years.
You couldn't tell from the on-field postgame celebration that Indiana gave up a season-high 610 yards of offense to Purdue.
You couldn't tell from the hug-fest for everyone running around the Ross-Ade Stadium turf with the Bucket that kicker Logan Justus, who hadn't missed a field goal all year, missed three on Saturday and needed to be benched.
You couldn't tell from the rowdy music-blaring, fight-song-singing locker room that Indiana's defense let a third-string walk-on quarterback throw for 408 yards.
And why?
Because. It. Did. Not. Matter.
All that matters in a rivalry game is the final score, and Indiana came out on top. All those miscues, they can be dissected in a few days and worked on during bowl practices. Because Saturday night, on the fun bus ride back to Bloomington and the party that will certainly ensue when they get home, the win is all that matters.
And it matters because it means so much.
So, so much.
West Lafayette, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers offensive lineman Simon Stepaniak (72) bites one of the letters from the Old Oaken Bucket after the Hoosiers defeated the Purdue Boilermakers, 44-41, in 2 OT at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
History in the making, finally
With the win, Indiana finished the regular season with an 8-4 record. Only eight Indiana football teams in school history have won at least eight games, and it hasn't happened in 26 years. Only two IU teams have won nine — the 1945 and 1967 Big Ten champions — and Indiana will get a shot at that in a bowl game in five weeks or so.
That's what matters.
Winning this game was huge, if only for how terrible it would have been if they hadn't won. Indiana was clearly the better team on Saturday, but it kept letting Purdue hang around. And then, when IU stumbled, Purdue kept jumping. Blowing an 18-point lead was dreadful, and fighting through two nail-biting overtime periods was tough, too.
A loss would have been three in a row and sucked all the fun out of this turnaround season. And let's face it, 8-4 sounds way better than 7-5.
In fact, 8-4 sounds real good.
The Twitter trolls out there will want to harp on how bad Indiana played, and I'll let them. They can go kick their dogs and slap their wives — or vice versa —and crawl back down into the basement. They. Don't. Matter. Either.
Sure it was ugly at times, but even as bad as that defense played, they still make a huge third-down stop in the second overtime. Purdue settled for a field goal, and Indiana pounced, scoring a second OT touchdown to seal the deal. That one stop was the difference, too.
West Lafayette, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Peyton Ramsey (12) tries to scramble while being tackled for a loss by Purdue Boilermakers defensive end Derrick Barnes (55) in the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
Marveling at the grit of Peyton Ramsey
We really are running out of adjectives to describe all that Peyton Ramsey has done this season. The junior quarterback could have packed it in after losing his starting job, but he's stayed ready all year and rescued this team over and over.
He was really good again on Saturday, passing for 337 yards and three touchdowns, and scoring two more on the ground. In 22 career starts, it's the first time he's accounted for five touchdowns, and Indiana needed every one of them.
He got knocked around a lot again Saturday, getting sacked five times and taking a ton of big hits in the process. But he kept getting up, and kept winging it.
It's almost foolish that we think of him as a backup quarterback sometimes. This was his sixth career 300-yard game, and his sixth game with at least one rushing TD and one passing TD. He has 42 career touchdown passes now, which is good for fourth ALL-TIME in Indiana history, tied with the great Antwaan Randle-El.
He moved into FIFTH in IU history with 7,132 yards and he's now SECOND in school history with 613 completions.
Because he had lost as much as he had won prior to this season, it made a lot of sense to everyone — me included, admittedly — when Michael Penix Jr. beat him out for the quarterback job in fall camp.
But what we didn't take into account — me included, admittedly again — was how much Ramsey had gotten better himself in the offseason. He's far better than he was a year ago. His decisions-making is spot on, he's still crazy accurate, at least as long as he's throwing to the short side of the field or over the middle.
And most importantly, he's THE GUY in this Indiana locker room. He has the respect of everyone in the room, and he had it even when he wasn't playing.
That's why everyone is so happy for his success now, because all of his teammates know he could have bailed on them, but he didn't. He stuck it out, because these are his guys, too.
They are brothers.
They are winners.
And that's all that matters.
