Indiana football hasn’t had a ton of recent rivalry success aside from the rather prominent 66-0 drubbing the Hoosiers handed the Boilermakers last season to reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket.
The program, then
led by Tom Allen, lost the prior three matchups with some pretty lopsided margins favoring the team to the north. Then there was 2019, Indiana’s most successful non-COVID season under Allen and the last time the Hoosiers beat the Boilers in West Lafayette.
That season was a lot of things for Indiana. It was the true coming out party for Michael Penix Jr., who played like one of the Big Ten’s best quarterbacks when he saw the field but notably didn’t that fateful November Saturday after suffering one of multiple season-ending injuries earlier that year.
In stepped Peyton Ramsey, Indiana’s starter for the 2018 season who’d been supplanted by Penix Jr. during camp. He’d end up starting the majority of the season, seven of the 11 games he took snaps in. He was pretty great too, tossing 13 touchdowns to five interceptions while adding 252 yards and seven scores on the ground.
He proved critical when Indiana, seeking its eighth win, made the trip up north to face its then-weak rivals on their home turf. As bucket games usually go, this one was weird.
The Hoosiers stormed out to an early 21-10 lead at the half with Ramsey passing to Whop Philyor in the first quarter and taking it in himself in the second before a handoff to Sampson James up the middle at the goalline. They kept that margin through the third quarter, going up 28-10 before Purdue answered with a 1-yard touchdown run from Zander Horvath to stay within 11 points.
The Boilers went on to mount a furious comeback in the fourth quarter that Indiana could only answer with a field goal. Walk-on quarterback Aidan O’Connell led Purdue all the way down the field, finding David Bell for a 20-yard touchdown and Brycen Hopkins for the 2-point conversion.
Overtime.
Ramsey responded with his own 20+ yarder to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine in the first overtime before an improbable catch from Jackson Anthrop on a deflection on third and forever set the Boilermakers up in the red zone. Facing fourth and goal, O’Connell found Hopkins again to even things up.
At that point, it looked like Indiana’d doomed itself to another loss to a team it had every reason to beat late. Anthrop’s grab and the late fourth down conversion had destiny written all over it. Another overtime.
But Purdue wasn’t as fortuitous. The Boilers’ offense stalled before the staff kicked a field goal, relying on its defense to keep Ramsey and the Hoosiers out of the endzone.
Ramsey’s first pass, to Ronnie Walker Jr., went for ten yards down to Purdue’s 15. His next two, both meant for Miles Marshall, fell incomplete. Facing 3rd and 10, and yet another overtime, Ramsey found Peyton Hendershot over the middle. He took the pass and nearly got the ball over the line himself, meeting four black jerseys with inches to go.
This is where Ramsey thrives. He’d put his body on the line throughout the season to pick up yards. Now, more than ever, Indiana needed it.
Ramsey lined up and took the snap, catching the most minute opening to the right where he was met by Boiler safety Brennan Thieneman. With some help from Ahrod Lloyd, Ramsey proved too strong for the Black and Gold. The mass, a smattering of black and white jerseys, obscured the view from the broadcast, but not for Westbrook-Ikhine or Hendershot, who turned to see Ramsey cross the line and threw their arms in the air.
Touchdown, Indiana. Bucket, Indiana.
It was an effort that’d become Jalen Hurtsian after the current Philadelphia Eagles star replaced a different future first round lefty, Tua Tagovailoa, in the SEC championship against Georgia and powered his way (with some help) to several first downs and touchdowns.
As Ramsey and the Hoosiers ran to the endzone, they were met by program stalwart Mark Deal, who’d wasted no time reclaiming the bucket from Purdue’s custody. The bucket, and Ramsey, were carried off the field that day in West Lafayette.
Indiana returns to Ross-Ade Stadium on Friday looking to retain, rather than reclaim, the Old Oaken Bucket.
