[NU Sports] Purdue keeps the bucket, is bowl eligible

[Mike Nolan]

Harry, I think we were only a few plays away from winning today's
game.  Take away their two scores late in the first half and the
score is tied.  Give us a TD instead of a turnover on the 3
and it's a whole new ball game.

FWIW, I TOTALLY disagree with the headline on the ESPN story
about today's game.  We weren't 'beat up' by MSU, we GAVE 
them the win on a silver platter.  :sigh:

The stats were remarkably even, which is also inconsistent with
being 'beaten up'.  

But 6-6 and a probable bowl game, possibly even a winnable one,
still looks pretty good to me today, given how things looked 6 
weeks ago.  For sure our season, even with today's loss, ended on 
a far higher note than Ill-Noise's.  I still think most Husker
fans don't understand why they lost that game.

I have an associate in Tennessee who's a big UT fan, they lost to 
Kentucky today (for the first time since 1984) to finish at 5-7.  
(Not sure if the Liberty Bowl reps on hand were disappointed or
relieved.) 

UT would trade records with us in a heartbeat!

USC is beating the stuffing out of UCLA tonight, and UCLA will be
playing in their conference championship game next week with their
6-6 record.  I wonder if they lose to Oregon next week if that 
means they aren't bowl eligible, since they would have a losing 
record at that point?   ESPN doesn't have them tagged as 
bowl eligible.
--
Mike Nolan