For IU football, one year is too long for Old Oaken Bucket trophy case to sit empty

Jordan Guskey | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption IU Coach Tom Allen talks Michigan loss, Purdue game Saturday The Hoosiers need to beat the Boilermakers to advance to postseason play.

Purdue at IU, noon Saturday, ESPN2

BLOOMINGTON – It used to just sit there and spin.

The Old Oaken Bucket had a home in Bloomington, in a showcase next to the drink station in IU’s locker room. It was a welcome sight every day for a group of Hoosiers who, for four years, owned bragging rights over their rivals from West Lafayette. Two of those four victories even earned trips to a bowl game.

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And then all of a sudden last season IU could do nothing but watch as a Jeff Brohm-led Purdue squad ran across the field, snatched the Bucket away and celebrated the Boilermakers’ first bowl berth since 2012. Indiana’s season was over. There wouldn’t be a third-straight bowl appearance, and unlike 2013 and 2014, there wasn’t even a season-ending win against the Boilermakers to hold the program over till the following fall.

“I think that anything in life, when you have it, you take it for granted,” IU coach Tom Allen said. “When you lose it, you realize how special it really was and really is. I think that can be true of a lot of things for sure, and I think it's definitely true in this rivalry.”

IU (5-6, 2-6 in Big Ten) has a chance to hand Purdue (5-6, 4-4) an early start to its offseason like the Boilermakers did the Hoosiers last season. A 31-24 final in what was Brohm’s and Allen’s first Bucket games as head coaches. It’s something Allen and the team talked about Monday. It’s something Allen said they’d talk about more and more every day.

Some of his players grew up around this game. Some didn’t. There are older players who understand the gravity of what’s at stake, and younger players who might not.

“My first two years here we beat them, so to me the rivalry wasn’t as important because as a young guy I was just thinking, ‘It’s Purdue, we beat them every year,’” said senior safety Jonathan Crawford, who called last year’s loss embarrassing. “And then when we lost it, that’s when it really hit me, that this is a big rivalry and we need to really make sure to keep the Bucket with us.”

If the empty showcase wasn’t enough, Allen constantly reminded the team during spring practice on how critical reclaiming the Bucket was to the program. He wouldn’t let it go.

“Coach Allen did a great job making sure everyone was locked in with, ‘What are we doing to beat Purdue?’” said senior receiver J-Shun Harris II, whose three ACL tears have forced him to miss each Bucket game since his first in 2014. “That’s been his motto ever since we lost it last year.”

IU receiver J-Shun Harris talks Purdue rivalry game IU needs a win against Purdue to get to six wins.

IU senior left guard Wes Martin said there are signs around Memorial Stadium the team sees that echo that message, too. No one in that building wants a repeat of that gut-wrenching feeling. None of them want to look up at the flagpole in Memorial Stadium and not see IU’s victory flag flying in the days, weeks and months following Saturday’s game.

Senior receiver Luke Timian said he tried not to think about the bitter taste that game left in his mouth as he prepared for other opponents this season, but that cringe-worthy feeling was the first thing that popped into his head this week.

Sophomore quarterback Peyton Ramsey, who wasn’t healthy enough to play Purdue in 2017, said he doesn’t feel the team has let it be a distraction.

“I think we’ve done a good job of trying to compartmentalize and not really look too far ahead,” Ramsey said. “But it’s obviously always in the back of our minds.”

The battle against No. 4 Michigan, one which IU led at halftime, and win against Maryland has Indiana as confident as ever this season. The offense showed it could be balanced against the Wolverines, the nation’s top-ranked defense, and the Hoosiers’ defense showed it could bend, not break and keep the team in the game.

Whether or not that continues against Purdue will be determined by IU’s ability to prepare for a team that has a knack for change from week-to-week, according to offensive coordinator Mike DeBord. Game-planning for linebacker Markus Bailey, who’s sixth in the Big Ten in tackles with 97, should also prove critical. The Hoosiers must take advantage of a defense that allows the second-most yards per game, 437.4, in the conference.

Offensively, Purdue trots out Rondale Moore, a freshman who has 1,023 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns, running back D.J. Knox’s 826 yards rushing and quarterback David Blough. Blough has this explosive offense clicking to the tune of 460.7 yards per game — good for 23rd in the nation. Allen's preaching turnovers to steal possessions.

IU receiver Luke Timian talks desire to win against Purdue The Hoosiers want the Old Oaken Bucket back in Bloomington.

“When you get an opportunity to play in the postseason and it comes down to the last game it’s really like if you’re not doing every single thing that you can to beat this team then you’re not really a real competitor in my opinion,” Timian said.

He’s among those who, if IU loses, will never play another game for the Hoosiers.

“This could be my last week ever being here,” Timian said. “You don’t want to say that but that’s really what it comes down to. It’s real.”

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.