Gold and Black Radio: Bye week and ND next for Purdue
Purdue football talk with host Derek Schultz and GoldandBlack.com beat writer Tom Dienhart as the duo looks back at the Boilermakers’ 49-0 win over Indiana State, what’s ahead in the bye week and a lurking battle with Notre Dame on Sept. 14. Thanks to sponsors Purdue Federal Credit Union, Whittaker Inn, Ripple and Company and East End Grill.
Excerpt from Brian Neubert’s Thoughts
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?
