Iowa's Schedule, Worst to Best: No. 10 Purdue

I'm on vacation, but the Hlog is not. Through the power of time-stamping, while I'm gone this blog will publish a ranking of Iowa's 12 football games in 2013 in terms of being interesting.

To see the teams that have already been ranked, click here and scroll, my babies. Scroll.

No. 10. At Purdue. Nov. 9, Game #10.

Purdue football doesn't stir the soul. Even at Purdue.

Oh, there was a time when the Boilermakers were fresh and fun. Joe Tiller took the team to 10 bowls in 12 seasons, and one of them was a Rose Bowl when the quarterback was a rather talented dude named Drew Brees.

Basketball on grass, they called Purdue's pass-happy offense. Which I never understood, because there was no dribbling. Not intentionally, anway.

Tiller retired after the 2008 season, assistant Danny Hope got the big promotion, and the Boilers were boring for four years, never going better than 7-6. They were 4-8 in Tiller's final year, so the decline preceded the Era of Hope.

Hope got shelved after last season, when Purdue went 6-7. Enter Darrell Hazell from Kent State, which won 11 games last season. It's rebuilding.

Purdue will be in Iowa's division next season, but was Iowa's interdivisional rival according to the Big Ten. What that meant is that they played each other in all of the Legends/Leaders seasons. Last year, PU came to Iowa and upset the Hawkeyes, 27-24. A 46-yard, last-second field goal won it.

But Iowa is 17-6-1 in this series since 1983.

As a sportswriter, I don't like this series. One, we drive to West Lafayette. It's a long pull. Two, Ross-Ade Stadium is as charmless a venue as the Big Ten offers. Three, games against Purdue are seldom packed with importance.

But mainly it's that drive.

Here are three guys who thought Iowa would beat Purdue last year, and they explained why.