Hoosiers eager to win the bucket vs. Purdue
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - On Saturday, Indiana played its best game since Zander Diamont took over as quarterback.
Coach Kevin Wilson isn't looking for moral victories.
"I think they've consistently shown they'll battle, but we got to keep playing well to win. Appreciate their effort, but at the same time it's not about effort, we got to win," Wilson said.
With rival Purdue coming to town Saturday for the Old Oaken Bucket game, an actual win is the only type Indiana's players want to taste.
"There's no such thing as a morale victory in this game," center Collin Rahrig said. "We need to come out and do what we're supposed, you know, it's to win the game."
Rahrig, a senior and South Bend native, knows the importance of this rivalry.
"You live next to everybody, and its either you're an IU guy or a Purdue guy. . You just go to the grocery store and you see people wearing Purdue hats or IU hats, so you kind of live it every day," Rahrig said. "You know it's just another game, but for some people it's the biggest game of the year."
Getting a victory on Saturday would not only get the Hoosiers in the win column in Big Ten play, it would make Wilson the first Indiana coach in 20 years to keep the bucket in Bloomington for consecutive seasons.
To Wilson, keeping the bucket would be a product of a bigger goal: becoming a winning program.
"That's why I'm excited about this week, to see if we can show that we start doing some things that good programs do, and start backing some things up," Wilson said.
The Hoosiers are eager for a strong close to the season by running back Tevin Coleman, who piled up 228 yards rushing on 28 carries at Ohio State - the third-most ever allowed by the Buckeyes and an Ohio Stadium record. His 90-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was the longest ever against Ohio State.
Coleman's performance brought his season total to 1,904 yards, making him the most prolific single-season rusher in Indiana history. Coleman now sits just 94 yards away from reaching 2,000 yards rushing, which would make him just the 18th player in Bowl Subdivision history to reach the feat.
"He's a great practice player, he's a great leader, he's great on the field, he's been student of the month here for the whole athletic department for the way he conducts himself, and then the best thing he does is the way he plays on Saturday," Wilson said. "To me he's going to be one of the all-time great Hoosiers and one of the all-time great kids I've coached, just because of the way he goes at it every day."