Express Thoughts: Sophomore standouts, Purdue’s crowd

GoldandBlack.com’s Express Thoughts from the Weekend column, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting, or whatever else comes to mind.

ON A FEW PURDUE SOPHOMORES

In this space before, I’ve kind of framed this season for Purdue as a tell on its player-development chops and most notable in that area are usually sophomores, for fairly obvious reasons. They say players usually make their biggest jumps between Years 1 and 2, though that may be more of a basketball thing.

Nevertheless, two players who you can earmark as litmus tests for this are Will Heldt and Jaron Tibbs, because both played some as freshmen last season and both now move into far more prominent roles.

It was an overmatched opponent and relatively low-stakes environment after Purdue’s first two touchdowns, but by this measure Week 1 was a smashing success.

Heldt looks ready to be that next featured-edge-rush guy that this coaching staff has a history of both developing and positioning to succeed. It was just Indiana State, but that sure looked like an NFL prospect and eventual All-Big Ten level of player on Saturday. (Keep in mind that “All-Big Ten” is now quite a mouthful now that every school in America is in the Big Ten.)

Tibbs may not quite be the budding star Heldt is, but he does have a real opportunity right away on a team that needs some receivers to emerge.

He met the moment Saturday, playing 30-plus snaps, catching everything that came his way, scoring a TD, blocking with zeal and just looking ready to play an important role in a variety of roles.

One of the many positive underlying happenings in Purdue’s virtually flawless opener.

ON SATURDAY’S ENVIRONMENT AT PURDUE

Purdue was 4-8 last season, but on Saturday, you’d never have known it.

Purdue was playing Indiana State, an FCS team and a middling one at that, but on Saturday, you’d never have known it.

Unless about 20,000 covert Michigan scouts got in, Purdue people packed Ross-Ade Stadium in a way that belied both circumstances and opponent. Those excellent ticket-sales numbers weren’t just people buying season packages for Notre Dame, or Nebraska fans buying tickets to six Purdue games just to get better seats for one. Remember, ticket-sale numbers and actual attendance are very different things.

They showed up this weekend.

This was legitimate excitement and an indication that people are responding to Ryan Walters and his returnees and interested in its newcomers.

Hearts and minds remain on the list of priority recruits at this stage for the program and by the look of it, that’s going well.

It’s a moment Purdue would love to prove to be just a beginning, because generating interest is one thing, but maintaining it can be the bigger challenge.

ON A B1G TV WEEKEND

This why there are now 18 teams in the Big Ten.

Thursday evening, Rutgers, Minnesota and Illinois played.

Friday night, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Saturday was a typical Saturday, except for Washington playing into the early morning hours EST.

That wall-to-wall programming from Thursday evening to early Sunday morning is the reason TV made the Big Ten expand west.

Then, USC played LSU in the Kickoff Classic showcase event in Las Vegas last night, dominating prime time in the premier televised-sports time slot of the week, one week before Sunday Night Football claims it.

That’s why TV pushed the Trojans to the Big Ten, shanking the Pac-12, leaving the Conference of Champions bleeding out on the beach.

That’s five straight prime times — and all Saturday — with Big Ten football on TV. Like 120 hours straight of Big Ten game days. That’s a lot of Taco Bell commercials.

Most of these games stunk in both prominence and outcome and weren’t exactly choice TV product, but football is football and America has a bit of a football problem.

Was this all worth the many absurdities that come with westward expansion, the competitive imbalances, the silly logistics, the cultural weirdness, etc.? Remember, there’s no immediate pot of gold here financially, just the prospect of more money when a billion-dollar media rights deal does back to the table.

Was it worth it?