Purdue Scheduling Oddity

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Nomellini

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For many years I have been interested in Gopher history. As a kid, I remember that Purdue often came to Minneapolis but the Gophers rarely seemed to go to Purdue. So I did some digging. Ross-Ade opened in 1924 but the Gophers never played there until 1951. During those years, Purdue came to Minneapolis to play the Gophers 14 times! The Gophers lost their first 6 games at Ross-Ade before finally winning in 1974. Now the Gophers are 6-18 at Ross-Ade.
To those who attended Saturday's game, I would like to read about your experience with the fans and the quality of the stadium. On tv, the crowd seemed sparse at the start and tiny by the end of the third quarter.
 

Similar to Indiana. Didn't play them in Bloomington between 1928 and 1958 - 14 straight at home.

Just looking at the year-by-year schedule in the media guide, they only played 2-3 road games a bunch of years, and those were usually Wisconsin or Iowa in conference play, with Michigan and Northwestern mixed in.

Almost looks like a geographical split. Only played OSU four times between 1922 and 1943, all at home. Remember too that there were less conference games a season until the late 50s, when they bumped it up to 7.
 

I attended a game there last season. Announced crowd for that one was about 36K, but seemed like far less inside the stadium. It's a cool, old-school stadium, just like most in the Big Ten. Their fans are extremely friendly, but it's just a very depressed fanbase right now with all of the terrible football that they've been subjected to recently, combined with what seems like a total non-commitment to winning by their athletic administration. I really feel sorry for them. Our group was able to purchase some really nice seats (about the 20 yard line, maybe 30 rows from the field) within about 10 days or so of the game. Keep in mind that this was for a group of maybe 15 people.

I also recall that I could have entered the stadium without a ticket had I wanted to, as they have one of those school stores inside (think Goldy's Locker Room) which you can access through an outside door next to one of the stadium gates, and there was no one there to check my ticket. You then just enter the stadium proper after exiting the store, again with nobody around checking tickets. Kind of odd. They removed several thousand seats in one of the endzones a few years back and replaced it with a patio/beer garden-type thing, which seemed fairly popular, but IIRC you have to be a season ticket holder in order to access that area. This hurts how the crowd looks on TV in some respects because you have hundreds/thousands of people drinking beer that would otherwise be sitting in a seat somewhere.

One final note is that the town of West Lafayette has to be one of the more remote outposts in the B1G. It's basically surrounded by miles and miles of farmland and nothingness on all sides. We stayed in Danville, IL the night before, and it was basically a 60 mile drive on county rounds without any trace of civilization until you hit the town.
 

GoUgophers said:
One final note is that the town of West Lafayette has to be one of the more remote outposts in the B1G. It's basically surrounded by miles and miles of farmland and nothingness on all sides. We stayed in Danville, IL the night before, and it was basically a 60 mile drive on county rounds without any trace of civilization until you hit the town.
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60 miles? My God! How do people live like that, without being surrounded by concrete, honking car horns, and police sirens? It must take days to go 60 miles. Roughly the same amount of time to go a mile on the crosstown at any time of day.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather look at cornfields for an hour than the guy next to me picking his nose in stop-and-go, or the stray cat eating garbage out of the dumpster behind a Kwik Trip. Who could forget the wonderful aesthetic of the crack stacks as you approach Campus from the western suburbs?

May the Lord have mercy on the souls of those in the third world who don't live within walking distance of an Olive Garden.

Oh, city folk.
 

I think I'd argue that Happy Valley is more remote....and then there's Iowa City.
 


TheBulldog said:
60 miles? My God! How do people live like that, without being surrounded by concrete, honking car horns, and police sirens? It must take days to go 60 miles. Roughly the same amount of time to go a mile on the crosstown at any time of day.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather look at cornfields for an hour than the guy next to me picking his nose in stop-and-go, or the stray cat eating garbage out of the dumpster behind a Kwik Trip. Who could forget the wonderful aesthetic of the crack stacks as you approach Campus from the western suburbs?

May the Lord have mercy on the souls of those in the third world who don't live within walking distance of an Olive Garden.

Oh, city folk.
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Jesus ... what urban hell hole did you have the opportunity to experience?
 


TheBulldog said:
60 miles? My God! How do people live like that, without being surrounded by concrete, honking car horns, and police sirens? It must take days to go 60 miles. Roughly the same amount of time to go a mile on the crosstown at any time of day.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather look at cornfields for an hour than the guy next to me picking his nose in stop-and-go, or the stray cat eating garbage out of the dumpster behind a Kwik Trip. Who could forget the wonderful aesthetic of the crack stacks as you approach Campus from the western suburbs?

May the Lord have mercy on the souls of those in the third world who don't live within walking distance of an Olive Garden.

Oh, city folk.
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There isn't even an Olive Garden in Minneapolis lol.
 

TheBulldog said:
60 miles? My God! How do people live like that, without being surrounded by concrete, honking car horns, and police sirens? It must take days to go 60 miles. Roughly the same amount of time to go a mile on the crosstown at any time of day.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather look at cornfields for an hour than the guy next to me picking his nose in stop-and-go, or the stray cat eating garbage out of the dumpster behind a Kwik Trip. Who could forget the wonderful aesthetic of the crack stacks as you approach Campus from the western suburbs?

May the Lord have mercy on the souls of those in the third world who don't live within walking distance of an Olive Garden.

Oh, city folk.
Click to expand...

Rejected on FarmersOnly.com?
 



The crowd was, indeed, sparse. Even the night before, it was tough to tell it was a football weekend, and on game day, we arrived at a bar in Lafayette at 10:30 a.m. and were literally the only people there until almost noon. We were told be several Purdue fans that this is "fall break" so many students were away. But still, it's obvious the fan base is just worn down by so much losing. A complete 180 from my first-ever Gopher road trip to West Lafayette in 2000, when Drew Brees was on the cusp of leading them to the Rose Bowl and their fans weren't afraid of talking smack.

Before halftime:
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BawBYt3ljRg/VhvVAl9PDPI/AAAAAAAAH8M/09PcdQebAbs/s640-Ic42/IMG_20151010_171053.jpg"></img>

Going to the 4th quarter:
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qN740Ge2haU/VhvVEFVLiNI/AAAAAAAAH8U/3pLEzsJRop4/s640-Ic42/IMG_20151010_181137.jpg"></img>

Ross-Ade isn't anything special. Removing the south bleachers and installing a patio area where you can drink and take pictures with the giant drum was more of a "lipstick on a pig" move. Here's a rendering of what they want to do:

<img src="http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/purdueexponent.org/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/d/5b/d5b9dbc6-1040-11e5-b497-7f805c2a871f/5579922b7262e.image.jpg?resize=760%2C432"></img>
 

If you were around for the 90's against Purdue was a nightmare. 3 years of Drew Breese. Field lines at the Dump. Driving the field in 18 seconds for a field goal in the Dump. I think it could have been Indiana, a last minute drive to the 35 and fourth and whatever. Coach Mason chose to keep ? Adam Bailey on the bench and went for a Failed Mary. Any time we beat Purdue is a great win. Doesn't matter TCF or Ross Ade.
 

I believe this is the 2nd year in a row that Purdue has had a home game scheduled during their "fall break." Apparently, they would prefer to be on the road that week, but the B1G has not been accomodating.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I believe this is the 2nd year in a row that Purdue has had a home game scheduled during their "fall break." Apparently, they would prefer to be on the road that week, but the B1G has not been accomodating.
I noticed this on JC Online when I was reading a game preview last week.
• How much will fall break impact attendance Saturday? FYI, Purdue asked Minnesota to switch this game to Oct. 24 when the schedule was released in 2013 because the teams share the same bye week. The Gophers said no
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Click to expand...
 



husker70 said:
If you were around for the 90's against Purdue was a nightmare. 3 years of Drew Breese. Field lines at the Dump. Driving the field in 18 seconds for a field goal in the Dump. I think it could have been Indiana, a last minute drive to the 35 and fourth and whatever. Coach Mason chose to keep ? Adam Bailey on the bench and went for a Failed Mary. Any time we beat Purdue is a great win. Doesn't matter TCF or Ross Ade.
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Agreed. We had a decade of problems beating Purdue. At least until we called option with Cupito at the Dome!
 


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