Note: After appearing on "Gold and Black LIVE" at 2 p.m. Friday, Joe Tiller will speak at a Hammer Down Cancer event beginning at 4 p.m. at Krannert. It is open to the pubic and will include an informal question and answer session with the first session starting at 4:30 and the second session at 5:30. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for students and proceeds benefit the Purdue Center for Cancer Research and the local chapter for the National Football Foundation. Tiller also will attend Purdue's game against Michigan State on Saturday.

It is the answer to a trivia question…

Who is the only coach to defeat Nick Saban three consecutive times at the college level?

The answer is none other than Purdue's all-time winningest football coach Joe Tiller. And the story of the three Purdue wins from 1997-99 is a tale of a couple of dramatic come-from-behind ones, but it didn't end there.

Saban coached in East Lansing from 1995-99 and his lone victory over the Boilermakers came the year before Tiller arrived with a blowout 52-14 win over Coach Jim Colletto's squad to open the 1996 season. In '95, the teams fought to a 35-all tie at Ross-Ade. The '95 game is the answer to another trivia question: When was the last tie game Purdue played in?

As many longer-term Purdue fans remember like it was yesterday, the Boilermakers' 1997 comeback win was one of the greatest in school annals. Trailing 21-10 with 2:13 left in the game, Saban did two things that really helped the Boilermakers' slim hopes. First, he called a timeout, and then he trotted kicker Chris Gardner out to attempt a 39-yard field goal. The kick was blocked by Leo Perez and returned 62 yards by Rosevelt Colvin for a touchdown. Moments later, Chris Daniels recovered the onside kick at the Boilermaker 45. Several plays later, senior running back Edwin Watson plunged in the end zone from a yard out, which gave Purdue a 22-21 lead.

But, the game wasn't over.

In the waning seconds, the Spartans drove to the Purdue 26, and Gardner had a 43-yard attempt at the buzzer to win. He missed badly, and the celebration was on. In a second-guesser's dream, if Saban just goes for it on fourth down with 2:13 left, the Boilermakers' miracle finish likely would not have happened.

The following season in Spartan Stadium, the Boilermakers found themselves down again by 11 points in the fourth quarter. Trailing 24-13 with under seven minutes left, special teams standout Todd Stelma blocked a Michigan State punt, setting up a furious rally. Sophomore quarterback Drew Brees found Randall Lane with a short scoring pass to cut the deficit to 24-19 with 5:07 left. After the Boilermakers' defense made a huge stop, Brees hit Isaac Jones on the first of two memorable scoring passes to end the 1998 season. This one was a 6-yarder with 1:21 left to give Purdue a 25-24 win, and the other, of course, was the game-winner in the Alamo Bowl victory over No. 4 Kansas State.

While the '99 game wasn't close, it was pretty crazy. The fifth-ranked Spartans entered the game riding high, and the Boilermakers were on a two-game losing streak during a murderous October stretch of games, having been trounced at Michigan and then losing a heartbreaker at Ohio State. This time, the Boilermaker offense exploded. Brees completed 40 passes, 21 to Chris Daniels, and Purdue won relatively easily 52-28. Amazingly, Brees threw two pick-sixes that kept the game close, but then again when the totals were all in, Brees also had amassed 509 passing yards.

Tiller's domination over the Spartans continued after Saban left. That is after a one-year hiatus. In 2000, Purdue's Rose Bowl team was embarrassed by cellar-dwelling Michigan State in a 30-10 loss. The Spartans coach was former Boilermaker defensive back Bobby Williams. The defeat in essence postponed the Boilermakers' Rose Bowl clinching party a week until the team return to Ross-Ade to thump IU in the regular-season finale.

In 2001, the Boilermakers secured bowl eligbility by breaking a scoreless tie at halftime en route to a 24-14 win.

The following year in frigid Spartan Stadium, Kyle Orton came off the bench to deliver the game-winning scoring touchdown to John Standeford. Amazingly, the pass was Orton's his first play from scrimmage, as he replaced Brandon Kirsch who was injured on the preceeding play. To boot, the Boilermakers were down to their last chance, as Orton was starting at a fourth-and-eight situation. In the end, the Boilermakers had a memorable 40-37 win and the victory kept Purdue's bowl chances alive as a loss would have ended Purdue's streak of five-straight bowl appearances.

After a two-year break in the schedule, the 2005 game was another tight one. The Boilermakers were reeling from a six-game losing streak as the '05 campaign had disintegrated for Tiller and Co. And the Spartans entered the game with one of the nation's best offenses. Purdue used big plays by Jerod Void (a career long 64-yard scoring run) and Dorien Bryant (39-yard scoring reception) to stay in the contest. Void added two touchdown runs in the second half to help Purdue rally from a 21-14 halftime deficit to a 28-21 win.

In 2006, the Boilermakers were struggling entering Spartan Stadium. The offense had failed to score a touchdown in the previous two games in home losses to Wisconsin and Penn State, an offensive breach unseen in the Tiller Era to date. In this one, Tiller rolled the dice by replacing regular kicker Chris Summers, who also had been struggling, with Casey Welch for the game-winning 18-yard field goal with just under five minutes left. Purdue escaped with a 17-15 win in Welch's only field goal attempt of his career.

The Spartans, under new coach Mark Dantonio, clipped Purdue in 2007 and '08 in Tiller's final two years at the helm. Still, during the 10-year span from 1997-2006, there were enough memorable wins for the Boilermakers to last a good while. It may have to, because Purdue hasn't beaten Sparty since Welch's clutch kick.