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Looking at History of Old Oaken Bucket Game, Part 3
The 100th Old Oaken Bucket game will likely be a memorable one for the second-ranked Indiana Hoosiers, who could wrap up an undefeated regular season with a victory Friday night at Ross-Ade Stadium.
Like this season’s edition, often the Old Oaken Bucket game has been a one-sided rivalry with one school enduring a tough season. But there have been some memorable moments in the series. Here’s a few of them.
1936
The headline in the Lafayette Journal and Courier said it all: “30,000 Wild-Eyed Fans See Most Spectacular of All Old Oaken Bucket Battles.”
After a scoreless first half inside Ross-Ade Stadium, Purdue and Indiana combined for 40 points over the final 30 minutes and settled for a 20-20 tie.
Purdue’s Cecil Isbell, later an NFL standout quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, threw three touchdown passes and kicked two extra points to offset three TD tosses by Indiana’s Vern Huffman. Isbell also rushed for 94 yards on 16 carries.
Purdue was denied victory when a successful Isbell kick was taken off the scoreboard due to a holding call. Indiana had a chance to take a 14-13 lead, but Purdue blocked an extra-point try.
The Hoosiers took a 20-13 lead into the final minutes, but Isbell drove the Boilermakers 77 yards to forge the tie with just over a minute to play.
The tie also marked the last game as Purdue head coach for Noble Kizer, who would pass away at age 40 four years later due to a kidney ailment.
1943
Journal and Courier sports editor Gordon Graham had a way with words, none better than the lead paragraph to his game story describing the undefeated Boilermakers’ 7-0 victory in Bloomington.
“The only punch Indiana was able to display in the immediate vicinity of Purdue’s goal line … was a roundhouse right to Sam Vacanti’s jaw, swung by John Cannady on the last play of the game.”
The Hoosiers had four tries from inside the 1-yard line but failed to score in the final seconds.
Purdue’s lone scoring drive started after future College Football Hall of Famer Chalmers “Bump” Elliott intercepted a pass at the Boilermaker 5 in the first quarter. Vacanti capped the drive with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Frank Bauman, and Stan Dubicki’s kick made it 7-0.
The victory improved Purdue’s record in the Bucket game to 11-6-2.
1952
Driving 66 yards in what Graham described as “an alley of mud” thanks to heavy rain, Purdue earned a share of its fourth Big Ten championship.
Purdue rallied from a 16-14 deficit led by quarterback Dale Samuels in his final collegiate game. Rex Brock scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 24-yard run with 4:22 remaining.
Indiana’s attempt to win the game was short-circuited when coach Bernie Crimmins called a timeout that he didn’t have with 15 seconds to play and the ball at the Purdue 2. The Hoosiers turned the ball over on downs one play later.
The victory was Purdue’s fifth in a row in the series, an unbeaten streak that would grow to 14 games (13 wins, 1 tie).
Purdue was denied its first Rose Bowl berth, though, when a majority of Big Ten athletic directors voted for co-champion Wisconsin.
1966
A 34-point second quarter left no doubt that Purdue was going to make its first Rose Bowl trip.
The 51-6 rout was on when Bob Griese and Jim Finley combined on an 80-yard touchdown pass on Purdue’s first play from scrimmage. The Boilermakers went into halftime up 41-0 by scoring three touchdowns in the final three minutes.
It was 51-0 before coach Jack Mollenkopf went to his bench with 20 minutes remaining.
The Boilermakers’ only losses that season were to top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State. The Spartans won the Big Ten title but under the no repeat rule at that time, they were ineligible to play in the Rose Bowl.
1967
This time Indiana celebrated its first Rose Bowl berth with a 19-14 victory in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers at 9-1 finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten title with Purdue and Minnesota. Purdue was ineligible to return to Pasadena while Minnesota had represented the Big Ten in the 1961 game.
Indiana pulled off a remarkable season by winning seven games by margins of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 and 7 points.
Older Purdue fans always believed that Leroy Keyes’ rib injury in the first quarter was the difference. The real culprit was four lost fumbles, including one at the Indiana 1.
1968
Revenge was sweet for Keyes, who scored four touchdowns and accounted for 289 yards of total offense in his final game, a 38-35 victory in Ross-Ade Stadium.
For most of the game, Indiana was seemingly going to spoil Keyes’ going away party. The Hoosiers led 28-10 in the third quarter and 35-24 with seven minutes to play.
Somehow Keyes got behind the Indiana secondary on a second-and-21 play. Mike Phipps, who owned one of the strongest arms in Purdue football history, launched the ball 65 yards to the waiting Keyes, who walked into the end zone to cut the deficit to 35-31.
Phipps began the final drive with completions of 13 yards to Bob Dillingham, 14 to Keyes and another 11 to Keyes to put Purdue in Indiana territory. On first-and-10 at the Hoosiers 27, Phipps completed a 26-yard pass to Greg Fenner. Keyes scored the game winner with 95 seconds to go.
1979
The winningest season in Boilermaker football history continued with a 37-21 victory in Bloomington.
Mark Herrmann’s Memorial Stadium record 269 yards passing was part of a Purdue offense that piled up 539 yards. Ben McCall added 148 yards rushing. Mike Augustyniak, who was turned away from Indiana by coach Lee Corso, rushed for 76 yards and three touchdowns.
The Boilermakers would record their 10th victory a month later against Tennessee in the Bluebonnet Bowl. The Hoosiers accepted a Holiday Bowl berth against BYU and claimed the school’s first postseason victory, 38-37, to finish 8-4.
1980
The largest crowd to ever watch a football game in Indiana – 71,629 – witnessed a thrilling ending.
Ben McCall had given the Boilermakers a 24-17 lead with 8:56 to play. Indiana pulled within 24-23 with 17 seconds to go, and coach Lee Corso went for the win.
The long arms of Purdue linebacker Mike Marks batted away the two-point pass attempt from Tim Clifford.
Indiana senior Lonnie Johnson rushed for 220 yards on 36 carries and scored two touchdowns.
Playing his final home game, All-American quarterback Mark Herrmann was 13 of 14 in the second half for 252 yards and a touchdown. Herrmann became the first Purdue quarterback since Bob Griese to defeat Indiana three consecutive times.
1989
Indiana suffered three losses in one day, while Purdue coach Fred Akers kept his job after the 15-14 victory in Bloomington.
Larry Sullivan’s third field goal, a 32-yarder with 2:51 to play gave the Boilermakers a one-point lead.
When Scott Bonnell missed a 26-yard field goal with 1:25 remaining, the Hoosiers lost possession of the Old Oaken Bucket and a berth in the Freedom Bowl by finishing 5-6. The defeat also likely cost running back Anthony Thompson the Heisman Trophy.
2007
The Hoosiers were determined to win for their late coach, Terry Hoeppner, who passed away from complications from brain cancer before the season.
“When we took the field, you definitely could tell they were a little more amped up,” Purdue tight end Dustin Keller said. “They were playing with more of a purpose than we were, especially in the first half.”
Indiana led 24-3 in the third quarter but needed Austin Starr’s career-long 49-yard field goal with 30 seconds left to pull off a 27-24 victory in Bloomington.
The victory allowed the Hoosiers to fulfill Hoeppner’s goal to “Play 13,” and become bowl eligible for the first time since 1993. Oklahoma State outlasted Indiana 49-33 at the Insight Bowl to finish 7-6.
Purdue gave Joe Tiller his final bowl victory, edging Central Michigan 51-48 in the Motor City Bowl to finish 8-5.
2008
Tiller could not have scripted his final game as a head coach, watching his Boilermakers dismantle Indiana 62-10 in Ross-Ade Stadium.
Tiller retired with an 87-62 record, the most victories in school history.
“What a way to finish a season and finish a career,” a tearful Tiller said afterward. “I really wanted to walk out winning this football game. I can now ride off into the sunset and feel like the job is done.”
Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter also went out on a high, completing 38 of 54 passes for 448 yards and five touchdowns. The 10 drives Painter led ended with eight touchdowns and two field goals.
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.