It’s Bucket Week! Indiana heads to West Lafayette Saturday to battle the Boilers for the Old Oaken Bucket. This year, there is no bowl eligibility on the line. There is no Big Ten Championship at stake. There is no ranking in the mix. It’s just a good old fashioned rivalry game.

Purdue won the last two and Indiana the four before that. Coach Tom Allen has yet to beat the Boilers and I’m sure it’s weighing on him. The pressure is surely self-imposed; Allen has AD Fred Glass’s full support. Indiana has definitely shown improvement over the previous years. This year, the Hoosiers were bowl eligible far earlier than they have been in a long time and can still reach eight wins, the most since Bill Mallory. Recruiting has definitely improved as well. For the first time in Allen’s coaching tenure, Indiana is recruiting four-star athletes. It’s pretty evident that Allen and hopefully offensive coordinator Kalen Deboer have earned a pay raise.

However, winning on Saturday is imperative for the Hoosiers. Yeah, they are still going to a bowl. Yes, they will still have a winning record. But, backing into a bowl game with three straight losses is not ideal for the direction of the program or potential offseason recruiting. If there was ever a winnable Oaken Bucket game, it’s this one. The Boilers are depleted and have been all year. They are definitely limping to the end of the season. They are starting freshmen all over the field and are still without one of the best receivers in college football, Rondale Moore. (still week to week)

Coach Allen’s reflects on last year’s loss, “It was a very, very difficult offseason to have to sit there and kind of have that over your head, in your heart. But that’s just being real. That’s the truth. It’s been something that we obviously have been setting aside, when the time is right. Now is the time.”

I can’t imagine what effect another loss this year, and the third in a row to end the season would have on the players and coaches. Good news for the Hoosiers, though.

The Hoosiers are getting standout wide receiver Whop Philyor back this week, and it looks like Ty Fryfogle will be good to go. Stevie Scott and lineman Matthew Bedford are questionable, but both are more replaceable than Philyor. The Hoosiers are short playmakers, and Peyton Ramsey desperately missed Philyor in the second half last weekend.

Now, I don’t want to seem like I’m calling for Allen’s head if IU loses to Purdue. Far from it. I see the improvements and the movement in the right direction. IU, for once, is beating the teams that they should beat. In the past, it seemed that even when IU was the better team, they played down to the level of the opponent. Not so this year. However, we as fans, need to temper our excitement a little. Indiana’s seven wins came against teams all with losing records and a combined record of 19-59. And, in the two big games that tested IU’s improvement, Ohio State and Michigan, IU lost by a combined score of 90-24. Those two games showed a clear difference in athletes and the need for better recruiting. Of course, Indiana played Penn State in a tightly contested game giving the fans glimpses of what this team can do. IU doesn’t need a loss to impede the progress and slow the ascent to college football respectability.

The Old Oaken Bucket game starts at Noon Saturday on ESPN2.

I am a 1993 graduate from Indiana University. I have been a teacher, athletic director and assistant principal for the past 20 years. I write for Sports Media Pass and Break the Fourth covering the Indiana Hoosiers, MMA, Music and Comics.