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game. It's a chance for the winner of the game to put lip- stick on a pig of season, so to speak. The fact that both teams enter the contest with a losing record is near normal for the rivalry. And it likely won't make it any less intense. In Bucket contests dating back 50 years (to the 1962 season), the game has been played, as it is this year, with both teams entering the contest with losing records 17 times, with the series in the middle of a five-game "streak" when the contest pits two under .500 teams. That is the longest concurrent downturn since the Kennedy Admin- istration. In many ways this is your typical Old Oaken Bucket entered the contest, as it is now, one game short of .500 just twice (in 2002 and 2011) and has won both of those games. The Hoosiers have twice laced it up during the same time period while being a game under .500 (2009 and '10) and won one of those games, a 34-31 overtime victory in Ross-Ade Stadium two years ago. The adage that one can "throw out the record Specifically, over the same 50-year period, Purdue has FIVE POINTS TO PONDER 1 2 3 4 memory of Coach Terry Hoeppner with a last-second win. In the last 50 games, Purdue has entered the contest, as it will books" in this game doesn't necessarily hold true. Only 22 percent (11 times) of the time in the last 50 years has the team with the worse record entering the contest emerged victorious; seven of those games it has been Indiana. The last time a team with an inferior record won was in 2007 when the Hoosiers earned a bowl trip in this year, with a better record 32 times, winning 24. Indiana has not had the better record entering a Bucket game since 1993. Since '62, the Hoosiers have had the better mark entering the game just nine times, winning five. Not surprisingly, eight of those came during the Bill Mallory Era, begging the question one final time: Just why did the Hoosiers get rid of him back in '96? — Alan Karpick 5 staff's status have on the team and staff? What impact, if any, on Purdue does the tentativeness of its coaching Ralph Bolden, if he can't play due to a bad hamstring? Can Purdue take full advantage of In- diana's atrocious run defense without Will the Boilermaker defense main- tain its recent momentum against the highest-powered passing offense it's seen since Marshall? Purdue hasn't inter- cepted a pass since the Ohio State game. Can Purdue get a win on Senior Day? It's 0-for-3 in its last three, none of those games being against unbeatable opponents. or Monday? If Purdue's go- ing to make a coaching move, common sense says it must happen in short order. — Brian Neubert What hap- pens Sunday STATISTICALLY SPEAKING PURDUE Offense Rank Averages Rushing 64 Passing 67 Scoring 70 163.2 228.6 27.5 Defense Rank Averages Rushing 85 Passing 40 Scoring 69 181.2 216.5 28.5 Out of 120 FBS schools INDIANA Offense Rank Averages Rushing 96 Passing 19 Scoring 51 127.8 307.8 30.4 Defense Rank Averages Rushing 117 Passing 43 Scoring 98 235.5 219.4 33.4 GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 12 • 10