Purdue Football Checks In At No. 76

The Boiling Point: With an important season looming, a lot of questions still linger for Purdue football.

It’s that time of year where magazines, newspapers and Web sites are running through the country’s football teams and slotting them accordingly. Well, after going 4-8 and Purdue coach Danny Hope not experiencing much success early on, everyone realizes this is a HUGE season for the Boilers, even presnapread.com.

"Ten years ago on this past Nov. 18, Drew Brees-led Purdue clinched a Rose Bowl berth by defeating Indiana, 41-13, capturing in the process the program’s fourth consecutive Old Oaken Bucket. Oh, those were the days – that was the program’s high-water point under the since-departed Joe Tiller, who compiled an 87-62 mark over 12 years in West Lafayette. Purdue celebrated the 10-year anniversary of that momentous occasion by coughing up an 11-point fourth quarter lead against Michigan State, ending its slim bowl hopes, and put some icing on the cake by losing to Indiana – at home, no less – to cap an ugly, injury-laden 2010 season. That makes three straight losing seasons for a program that experienced 10 non-losing seasons during Tiller’s dozen years in charge, which is an unwelcome feeling for a fan base that waited a long, long time for teams good enough to challenge the Big Ten’s best."

Presnapread.com has Purdue at No. 76 in its college football season preview. The dream season the site gives is going 8-4 and 5-3 in conference as Rob Henry stars at QB for the Boilers. The nightmare is wrapping another losing season by finishing 3-7 and 1-7 in the Big Ten.