It has been 11 years since the Boilermakers and Gophers commenced playing again in outdoor venues in the Twin Cities with the 2009 opening of TCF Bank Stadium. Purdue will be looking for its first win at the 'new' stadium while trying to break a caustic pattern of playing outdoors in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

While the Boilermakers won five of 12 contests playing indoors in the Metrodome from 1982-2007, that relative success was due to coach Joe Tiller's 4-1 record in that venue. In games played in the elements, the story isn't pretty for the Boilermakers.

Maybe it is the ghost of old Memorial Stadium that haunts the Boilermakers. TCF Bank was constructed on the same site, and the Boilermakers are just 7-23-3 dating back to the opening of the old Memorial Stadium 96 years ago. It last won a game in the elements in 1972, when Otis Armstong, Darryl Stingley, Dave Butz and Company coasted to a 24-3 win.

Still, looking back there were a couple of victories at the old facility that really stand out, with both occurring in the 1960s.

The 1960 Purdue football team had fallen on hard times since its auspicious start of the season. It was sitting pretty at 3-1-1 after facing a murderous schedule. The Boilermakers' tied No. 8 UCLA in the season opener at home 27-27, whipped No. 12 Notre Dame at South Bend, 51-19 and outlasted No. 3 Ohio State.

But then the Boilermakers of 60 years ago experienced dropped three games by a total of 13 points.

"We've been snakebit the last few weeks," said Coach Jack Mollenkopf at his weekly press conference heading into the game at Minneapolis. "We have the capabilities of beating someone like Minnesota, we have proven it early this year, but we just need to just do it."

Mollenkopf didn't know at the time he was three decades ahead of the NIKE slogan with that phrase, but it sure worked for Purdue on that November day.

The Boilermakers took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards and scored on a two-yard run by Tom Yakubowksi. Running back Willie Jones gave the Boilermakers a little cushion before halftime by scoring on a five-yard run.

As was often the case in the early days of the Mollenkopf era, the Boilermaker defense was the story. Purdue had 14 first downs at the intermission, but the Gophers, and All-American quarterback Sandy Stephens had yet to move the chains.

Minnesota woke up after halftime and scored a touchdown on its first possession and added a two-point conversion. Purdue responded when quarterback and place-kicker Bernie Allen nailed a 35-yard field giving Purdue a 17-8 lead. The Gophers cut the margin to 17-14 early in the fourth quarter, but the Boilermaker defense managed to thwart any additional Gopher advances.

With just 11 seconds left in the game and Purdue in punt formation, Minnesota's Tom King bobbled the ball as it landed at the Minnesota 1. The diminutive Jim Tiller pounced on the ball in the Gophers' end zone giving Purdue the 23-14 victory.

Sophomore end Forest Farmer was named by the coaches poll (United Press International (UPI)) Lineman-of-the-Week catching four passes for 69 yards in addition to registering a couple of sacks at defensive end.

Minnesota would recover from the loss, however, by beating arch-rival Wisconsin the next week prior to being beaten by Washington in the Rose Bowl.

The Gophers were tabbed national champions by the Associated Press, marking the only time a Purdue team has beaten the national champ in the season it was awarded the crown.

The Big Ten was truly the nation's top league in the late 1950s and early 1960s. From 1956-60, the conference had three teams in the final top-10 rankings - a sign of true dominance. Amazingly, Purdue, which finished the 1960 campaign with a 4-4-1 record, was tied for 19th in the final AP poll and jumped all the way to 15th in UPI.

Not bad for a .500 season.

According to the Associated Press polls, Purdue has defeated four No. 1-ranked teams on the road over the past 65 years, and this is the most recent triumph. Had the ball bounced just a little differently at a couple of opportune times from 1957-61, the school would have made it to Pasadena a lot quicker than it ultimately did.

In a way, it was a frustrating time for the Boilermaker program because it was clearly able to defeat top teams on a regular basis, but at times couldn't handle the lesser opponents.

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But fast forward six years later and the scene was much different for Purdue in Minneapolis.

After additional close calls, yet disappointing finishes, the Boilermakers were still short of Pasadena.

The minority, yet vocal group of Purdue fans that muttered "Fat Jack Must Go" a year or two earlier because the Boilermakers seemed to always be a big win short of going to the Rose Bowl were silent.

Standing in the locker room trying to thaw out after spending the afternoon in Minneapolis' 19 degree temperatures, Mollenkopf gave a heartfelt speech to his team. The Boilermakers had just clinched a spot in the 1967 Rose Bowl with a 16-0 win over Minnesota.

"I worked a lifetime to get to the Rose Bowl and you did it," he yelled to his team after it shut out Minnesota 16-0 in his 100th game as head coach of the Boilermakers. "You came back so many times this year and I could never ask more from a team."

This game was no cakewalk for Purdue.

Minnesota entered the contest with a 3-1-1 Big Ten slate, just one-half game behind Purdue. Because eventual conference champion Michigan State was not eligible to go to the Rose Bowl due to the Big Ten's no-repeat rule at the time, a Gopher victory over Purdue would put it the driver's seat to be the Big Ten's representative in Pasadena.

There was a lot written earlier in the season about the Boilermakers' defense not being Rose Bowl caliber. A rash of injuries to All-American John Charles, and starters Bob Yunaska and Pat Conley made it a challenge at times. In the relative infancy of two-platoon football, Mollenkopf began to put some of his talented athletes on offense.

In the end, however, the Boilermaker defense proved to be the difference.

While the Purdue offense, led by two-time All-American quarterback Bob Griese, led the Big Ten in seven categories, the defense had gotten a porous tag associated with it by giving up 41 points to Michigan State. But in the final three regular-season games of 1966, it pitched two shutouts (also a 23-0 win the Nov. 5 at Wisconsin) and a 51-6 drubbing of injury-plagued Indiana. Before the Hoosiers scored in the last minute of the Bucket game, the Boilermakers had held opponents scoreless for 12 quarters. Purdue also shut out Iowa earlier in the year making '66 team just one shutout shy of the school single-season mark for shutouts set by the undefeated Boilermaker team of 1943.

Minnesota's defense was very stingy in the first half. All Purdue could manage was a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter by Griese. It delved deep into Minnesota territory twice in the opening period, but the entire second quarter was played between the 30-yard lines.

With a fresh blanket of snow still in the stands and a few Minnesota students partaking in snowball fights, Griese and the offense came out hot in the third quarter. After sophomore fullback Perry Williams, who led the team in rushing with 689 yards while scoring eight touchdowns in '66, returned the opening kickoff to the Purdue 31, Griese led the Boilers 69 yards in 12 plays across the frozen field. Griese hit flanker Jim Finley for 14, 7 and 12 yards and then hit All-American end Jim Beirne for the touchdown on a 13-yarder over the middle. Griese missed only his second extra-point try of the season, but the Boilers led 9-0.

Whether it was the frigid temperatures or not, Minnesota was very committed to the ground game. Warmath's Gophers, however, could only manage two rushing first downs in the contest.

Later in the third quarter, the Gophers penetrated to the Purdue 18 on a couple of quick pass plays, but penalties killed any chances for a touchdown. Minnesota missed a 40-yard field goal to culminate the drive after missing a 47-yard attempt in the second quarter. It was the only serious scoring threat Warmath's team made the entire contest with the possible exception of a fourth-quarter pass that was intercepted by Dennis Cirbes after Minnesota had gotten to the Purdue 26.

Later in the third quarter, the Gophers penetrated to the Purdue 18 on a couple of quick pass plays, but penalties killed any chances for a touchdown. Minnesota missed a 40-yard field goal to culminate the drive after missing a 47-yard attempt in the second quarter. It was the only serious scoring threat Warmath's team made the entire contest with the possible exception of a fourth-quarter pass that was intercepted by Dennis Cirbes after Minnesota had gotten to the Purdue 26.

Linebacker Frank Burke, who had the game-deciding punt block and touchdown in the Michigan game earlier in the season, did the deed once again. This time, Burke stuffed a Gopher punt that was recovered at Minnesota 30. Five plays later, thanks in part to a 20-yard run by Williams, Bob Baltzell bounced over from the 1 for the game's final score.

Baltzell gained 83 yards on 24 carries as Griese was an efficient 12 of 17 for 124 yards through the air. Williams was the game's leading rusher with 91 yards on 23 carries

True, Purdue did not formally accept an invitation to the Rose Bowl until two days after the Bucket victory, but this victory sealed Purdue's first trip to Pasadena.

This was one of Purdue's most triumphant victories in its 133-year history. Considering Minnesota was still in the thick of the Rose Bowl race it wasn't like this contest was against a patsy. The way the game was won mirrored the Mollenkopf era to date at Purdue---not very flashy, but very efficient.

Mollenkopf's more flamboyant teams, at least offensively, began in 1967 when Leroy Keyes, predominantly a defensive back in '66, moved to the offense. Griese's finished runner-up to 1966 Heisman Trophy to Florida's Steve Spurrier, in a vote that still rankles long-time Purdue fans.

Amazingly, it was the first of four Heisman Trophy "podium finishes" for Boilermakers as Keyes finished third in 1967, second in '68 and quarterback Mike Phipps runner-up in 1969.

True, from a 2020 perspective, Griese didn't post outrageous numbers. He never passed for over 300 yards in a game for example, but he did do one thing on a pretty consistent basis: He lead his team to victories.

Lots of them.

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