As he enters his second season at the helm, Purdue football coach Ryan Walters knows there is plenty of football to be played between the season opener August 31 and the regular season finale against Indiana.
However, that’s not stopping the second year head coach and Purdue football from already embracing the Old Oaken Bucket clash, as Purdue looks to pick up its fourth win in as many seasons later this season. The Boilermakers knocked off Indiana, closing out the 2023 season 4-8 in Tom Allen’s final game as head coach of the Hoosiers.
Throw in the fact the Hoosiers are led by first year coach Curt Cignetti, who fired the first shot across the bow shortly after being hired. In front of a raucous basketball crowd inside Assembly Hall, Cignetti grabbed a microphone and said, “I don’t plan on taking a back seat to anybody. Purdue sucks, but so does Michigan and Ohio State. Go IU.”
That comment quickly made its way back to Walters and Purdue football and was a talking point during this week’s Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.
Purdue football aims to go 4-0 against Hoosiers
Purdue football players Gus Hartwig and Kydran Jenkins don’t need any motivation when Indiana lines up across from the Boilermakers.
The two will look to close out their collegiate careers going an unblemished 4-0 against the Hoosiers.
“It would suck to lose this year,” Jenkins told the media at Big Ten Media Days.
For Hartwig, the opportunity to keep the Old Oaken Bucket in West Lafayette would mean a lot to the center.
“I think for me, personally, that is huge. From a pride perspective, if you can go five years playing them four times and not having lost, it would be something you can hang your hat on forever,” Hartwig said.
Purdue is no stranger to having the upper hand against Indiana, having won five straight from 2002-2006. The last time the Boilermakers fell to the Hoosiers was 2019.
However, when the two teams meet in November, there will be plenty of new faces on both sidelines that may not have a complete understanding of the rivalry. Walters said it is his job to make sure his team, which features 18 transfers, understand how important the Old Oaken Bucket is to Purdue football.
“How do you make that game important to them? We went all the way back to teaching everybody the fight song and making them take ownership over knowing every word and putting their own twist on the ending to the fight song. We have taught them what the demographics of West Lafayette are and what kind of working class is in the stadium at the game just so you have more of a familiarity and ownership of your role on the team,” Walters said.
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