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the program, I've dedicated my life and the lives of our assistant coach- es to. Everything from marketing to player development to recruiting, it's been a life commitment. That's what it takes at this level, and that's what it takes at Purdue. "If we had put a better product on the field at a focal point of the maker offense has enjoyed in 2012 has been the propensity for the big play, especially in the run game. Here's a look at the number of big plays (40 yards or more) for the Purdue attack and how it compares BOILERMAKERS One constant the Boiler- BIG-PLAY dating back to 2002: Rushing >40 7 2012 6 '10 5 '05, '02 4 '11, '09, '08 2 '07, '06, '04 0 '03 Passing >40 15 2004 12 '06 10 '02 9 '03 5 '12, '10, '08, '07, 4 '09 3 '05 2 '11 Indiana's passing game with receiver Shane Wynn has been impressive vs. like opponents. season that might have helped in some ways, but we came back here 3-1 playing Michigan at home and it was slim as far as at- tendance goes. I think it's more than just the play on the field. I think there's a lot of things that need to be addressed to rally up the fan base in a lot of ways. " Silver, a New York Times blogger, had an interesting take on Big Ten expansion, by examining the total number of football fans devoted to each team in the league by using a formula to calculate the totals in- volving population in surrounding cities and internet searches specifi- cally about college football. He finds that Purdue has 624,944 fans, ranking No. 46 of 120 HOW MANY FANS? Respected statistician Nate Indiana and Wisconsin): Indiana 2 28.0 39.4 -11.4 80.4 272 323.0 217.2 403.6 489.2 -2 evenly matched Indiana and Purdue are comes from a sta- tistical look at the five common conference opponents (Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State TALE OF THE TAPE A clearer indication of how RELEVANCE Category Wins Points Points allowed Point differential Rush offense Rush defense Pass offense Pass defense Total offense Total defense Turnover margin Purdue 2 18.4 28.4 -10 150.0 210.2 222.4 207.8 372.4 418.0 +2 FBS teams nationally, and 12th of the new 14-team Big Ten. Ohio State is No. 1, in the country and league, with about 3.1 million fans; Michigan (2.9 million) and Penn State (2.6) follow. Indiana, by comparison to Purdue, has just slightly more fans, according to Silver, at 636,954, two spots higher nationally than the Boilers. Maryland is last in the new league, with 474,059 fans; Rutgers is 10th with approximately 937,000. Silver questions the Big Ten's decisions, saying that although Rutgers and Maryland are in dense- ly populated areas, they compete with many other teams, profes- sional and amateur, for attention. "Although New York is the na- 535,000 and Colorado at 494,000. In conclusion, Silver questions the league. "The Big Ten may have ex- tion's largest media market, and al- though Rutgers is the most popu- lar team in the New York City area, its overall numbers were just aver- age by this method, "That's because only about 15 per- cent of New Yorkers are avid col- lege football fans, among the lower figures in the country. "Maryland does somewhat " Silver writes. panded its revenue pie, but it will be dividing it 14 ways rather than 12, and among family members that have less history of sitting down at the table with one anoth- er, footprint eastward, the conference may have taken a step in the wrong direction." worse still by this method. Al- though it is the predominant col- lege football program in Maryland, the state has little passion for col- lege football. And the program has little following outside Maryland's immediate borders, where higher- profile teams like Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Penn State tend to dominate. Rutgers are "not necessarily poor choices" compared to other poten- tial choices. Of Association of Amer- ican Universities — of the 14 Big Ten schools, only Nebraska is not a member of the academic institu- tion — in neighboring states, only Missouri has a fan base of over one million. Pittsburgh is at 831,000; Kansas at 768,000, Iowa State at Still, Silver thinks Maryland and " Nord was in the coaches box for the Illinois game and has been around the football offices and practice field lately, but his full-time return is unlikely to be soon. The fourth-year Offensive coordinator Gary NORD NOT CLOSE TO RETURN severely injured his back prior to the Iowa game, leaving him in the hospital. He's out now but has lim- ited mobility. "Gary is really having a tough time," Hope said after the Illinois coordinator win. "His role was to be with us to- day … as part of the family. I think it's a boost for our players and a boost for Coach Nord. observations to the Illinois game, but wide receiver coach Patrick Higgins called Purdue's offensive Nord was able to contribute his " GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 12 • 34 " he said. "In seeking to expand its