Purdue is B1G West champs. Now comes difficult part: Beating Michigan in title game
Purdue is champion of the Big Ten West. Now comes the hard part: Beating Michigan in the Big Ten title game on Saturday. Does Purdue have a shot vs. the heavily favored (-16.5) Wolverines?
“Definitely,” said Purdue cornerback Cory Trice. “We definitely got a chance. Sure.”
Trice and his Boilermaker teammates have this shot because they won 30-16 at Indiana on Saturday to secure their first-ever Big Ten West title.
“It feels good to be able to come out in a big game like this and do the things that we did,” said Boilermaker wideout Charlie Jones. “Just makes me feel that much better about the decision I made coming to a program like Purdue with the guys that we have in our locker room, and to be able to get a great team win like this and do something that hasn’t been done before. So, it’s a pretty awesome feeling.”
Purdue will face a Michigan program that’s rolling, capping a 12-0 regular season with a 45-23 evisceration of Ohio State–its first win in Columbus since 2000 and second in succession vs. OSU.
“We’ll have our hands full,” said Purdue coach Jeff Brohm. “Michigan has played lights out this week. Very well-coached. Tremendous defense. I think their front four, plus basically their front seven, will be the most talented team we’ve played to date. They’re big. They’re stout. They rotate a lot of guys in. Good in the secondary. Just statistically one of the best defenses in the country.
“On offense, the running game, the tight ends, the O-line, really athletic, dynamic quarterback who can make plays outside the pocket, you know, extend plays, throw the football vertically.”
This is a program that has gone 24-2 overall the last two seasons and 17-1 in the Big Ten, winning consecutive Big Ten championships under Jim Harbaugh.
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The Wolverines beat Iowa 42-3 in last year’s Big Ten title game before falling 34-11 to Georgia in the College Football Playoff as a No. 2 seed. Michigan has its eyes on another CFP bid this season–which it should get win or lose on Saturday.
This trip to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis was unexpected for Purdue. The Boilermakers needed help to get a shot at winning the West. And, Nebraska provided it by knocking off Iowa on Black Friday in Iowa City. Purdue took advantage by notching a third win in a row in taking down Indiana. If the Boilermakers can shock the world and beat the Wolverines, they’ll head to the Rose Bowl.
“At the beginning of the year, no one really believed in us,” said Trice. “We just kept fighting, kept going and kept grinding and see where we would end up.”
For Jones, this will be his second league title game in a row. He was on the losing end vs. Michigan last year when he was a star for Iowa before transferring to Purdue in the offseason to play a sixth and final season.
“I’m excited,” said Jones. “It’s awesome. Coming here, being at Purdue and, like I say, just get another opportunity to be in the Big Ten championship.”
What will it be like for in-state Boilermaker running back Devin Mockobee–who had 99 yards rushing and a team-high five catches at Indiana–to run onto the Lucas Oil Stadium field?
“It hasn’t crossed my mind yet because I’m not gonna be able to tell you what’s it gonna feel like until it happens. So, we’ll see what happens.”
