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PART V : BOY-LAH-MAY-KERS! |
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Sat 7 Oct Wake up in the Lebanon at 6am. Lebanon, Indiana. It's below freezing out-side as the sun starts to come up. It better heat up! We're quickly on the road north up to West Lafayette for a huge Big Ten match-up as Michigan are in town to battle Purdue. The winner of this game has the inside track to the Rose Bowl so there's a hell of a lot at stake. We get on campus at about 8.30pm. Why so early? It's an 11.30 am kickoff because of TV, so our shopping/staying out of the cold is brief and we head for the stadium to sample the tailgating (there's a lot folk down from Ann Arbor - best t-shirt is "Ann Arbor is a Whore") and the rest of the pre-game festivities. |
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Ross-Ade Stadium in all its glory. Almost 70, 000 are on hand to see the Michigan Wolverines jump out a 28-10 half-time lead on three TD passes by highly touted Drew Henson. |
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But the Boilermakers from Purdue are a resilient bunch led by Heisman Trophy candidate Drew Brees (#15). Brees and Purdue are fun to watch, as they spread the field and throw a lot (Brees once completed 55 passes in a game last year) so they are never out of it. |
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WR Vinny Sutherland (#14) goes in over the middle for the Boilermakers first TD. |
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After 2 rushing TD's in the 3rd quarter cut Michigan's lead to 31-23, WR John Standeford outruns 3 Wolverine defenders here to make it 31-29 with 6 minutes left. The try for two failed and the score was 31-29. |
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The Boilermakers then forced a punt and drove down field once again where they set up K Travis Dorsch for a 32 yard FG with 2:!1 left. However he missed it (barely) wide left and it looked like Michigan might escape with a win. But the inspired Boliers D, held again, and Brees once again got his team down field setting up a Dorsch 33 yard attempt with 4 seconds left. Once again it started to sail to the left, and looked worse than his previous one, but the zebras under the posts raised their arms and a mighty celebration kicked off!!! |
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PURDUE WIN 32-31!!! |
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The celebration was intense as fans stormed the field to rejoice in victory. But incredibly they couldn't get the posts down. Not even with the help of Spiderman on the crossbar would the posts tumble. After a good 15-20 minutes the crowd started to dwindle and police swooped in. Astonishingly the cops nicked poor old Spiderman!!! |
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4 down, 2 to go! (The "Free Spiderman" banner was on the flip side) |
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With the celebrations over, we're back on the Interstate heading north back to the Windy City. Make that the Snowy City, as when we stagger out of the ESPN bar late on Saturday night we are greeted with falling white stuff and a bit of a chill !!! Soldier Field awaits !!! |
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