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THE AUTHORITY ON PURDUE ATHLETICS VOLUME 22, EX 14 • DEC. 8, 2011 In this issue: • Pages 1-3: This Week At Purdue Seniors Get Final Chance At Title Purdue is Detroit-bound BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com T hey keep talking about becoming champions. It started in a meeting before the season with Coach Danny Hope, and at every phase as the 2011 season progressed, Purdue's seniors reiterated the goal they set for themselves and the Boilermakers. Even after they saw several chances slip away — the Leaders Division championship and, with it, the Big Ten championship — they continued to stress their mission. It's been one they've been waiting to accomplish for some time. Some came to the university in 2007, others in 2008, on the heels of Joe Tiller's stellar run as head coach. One, Charlton Williams, actually played in the 2007 Motor City Bowl, the game that capped Tiller's run of reaching a bowl in 10-of-11 seasons. Several others, including current fifth-year seniors Joe Holland and Justin Siller, were at the game watching on the sideline. It's there, at Detroit's Ford Field, where they'll end their Senior linebacker Joe Holland has had a busy week: He learned of Purdue's bowl destination and opponent, accepted a scholarship award in New York City and was named an academic All-American. Tom Campbell careers. Where they'll have one final opportunity to become champions on the field. PUBLISHING SCHEDULE UPDATE The December/January issue of Gold & Black Il- lustrated will mail Dec. 16 from Chicago. The next issue (15) of GBI EXPRESS will post on Dec. 21. Issue 16 will post on Dec. 29 instead of Jan. 9 in order to provide you will complete Little Caesars Pizza Bowl coverage. Our weekly Monday basketball issues of GBI EXPRESS will begin on Jan. 16 and continue through the Final Four. GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com Who: Purdue (6-6) vs. Western Michigan (7-5) What: Little Caesars Pizza Bowl When: 4:30 p.m., Dec. 27 Where: Ford Field, Detroit Coaches: Danny Hope (15-21); Bill Cubit (47-38) Players to watch: Boilermakers — CB Ricardo Allen (three interceptions); DT Kawann Short (6.5 sacks); LB Dwayne Beckford (91 tackles); Broncos — QB Alex Carder (312.2 passing yards per game); WR Jordan White (nation-best 1,646 receiving yards); DT Drew Nowak (MAC Defensive POY, 1.67 TFL per game) THE PARTICULARS Purdue accepted an invitation to play in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on Dec. 27. The Boiler- makers, who became bowl eligible by beating Indiana in the regular-season fi- nale, will play Mid-Ameri- can Conference member Western Michigan (7-5) at 4:30 p.m. The last time the Boilermakers played in a bowl in Detroit, they beat another Michigan MAC school, Central Michigan. "For us being seniors, (a bowl game) extends our Purdue career a whole extra month, which is a big deal," Holland said. "I don't think any of us were ready for our careers to be over yet. It's some- thing we've been working toward for a long time. Purdue has a standard of winning. That's why we all came here. We were kind of hoping to re-es- tablish that standard and continue getting Purdue back to bowl games." The bowl destination • Pages 10-11: Ranking Purdue's Bowls • Page 14: Recruiting Updates 0 Inside The NUMBERS try to turn that number to 1 this weekend, as they play in the NCAA Tournament Regional in Minneapolis. Final Four appearances by the Purdue volleyball team in its history. The Boilermakers will .533 2 9 19 Boilermakers have won eight. That ranks them, in terms of percentage, third in the Big Ten, behind only Iowa and Penn State. Purdue's bowl record in 15 games, as the Seasons in which the women's basketball team has twice defeated a top-five opponent. In the Championship season of '98- 99, Purdue beat three top-fives; it defeated two during the '03-04. The current Boilers will get a chance to do the double this season, as they host No. 3 Notre Dame after beating No. 4 Texas A&M. Purdue's football team was the ninth Big Ten team selected for a bowl game out of the 10 con- ference-eligible teams. utes in a loss at Xavier on Saturday. The lead surrendered by the men's basketball team in the last 10-plus min- was a bit of a surprise. Many of the early projections had the Boilermakers land- ing in Dallas for the TicketCity Bowl. Then, former Penn State GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED • VOLUME 22, EXPRESS 14 • 1