Hawkeye Football – Between Rivalry Games

I made the trip down to West Lafayette for the Iowa vs Purdue game. Some may recall we had Homework for the Purdue game and I wanted to be there in person to turn it in.  After a solid Friday night out and two breakfasts within a four hour period at the Triple XXX Restaurant, I was ready, rivalry angry, and shaking like a little girl in the cold.

We scalped great tickets right outside Ross Ade Stadium for under face value. They were on the 50 yard line, 20-some rows up and right behind  ”the King“.  You can see the back of his Pharaoh hat in the picture below.  Right off the bat, I was losing steam on my hatred for our B1G assigned rival.  First, there is Danny Hope who is sporting the poster-stache for Movember.  Then, the Boilermakers had a touching Senior Day tribute to a lost teammate.   Finally, you just felt bad for all the empty seats.  Purdue was coming off a huge win against OSU, fighting for a Bowl and playing their final home game.  I was surprised by the poor turnout.  I have never been to a Hawkeye game at Kinnick with that many empty seats.

The bars at Purdue like the Go Ugly Early theme, which seems like a no brainer at an engineering school. The game itself waited a drive or two before it went ugly. Then it took ugly home to meet the parents, married ugly and had ugly little kids. But, a win is a win and a road win it even better. Hopefully, the road win streak reaches 2 on Black Friday against Nebraska.

Just a few loose observations from the weekend

• Purdue Football players seem to be in some weird Pirates of the Caribbean phase
• Jakes Roadhouse gives free hotdog to drunk people, that will get into heaven
• I predict $12 white gas station sunglasses to be the next trend with college kids
• I have become a cold weather wussy
• Chad Ericksen doesn’t remember me
• Harry’s Chocolate Shoppe is a decent place to drink beer and stream the Iowa 3A Football Championship Game (go Vikes)
• I would have enjoyed the Breakfast Club at Purdue
• Watching 9 live college football games in 12 weekends is fun, but exhausting
• Iowa State still sucks