Big difference: '7-6 sounds a whole lot better than 6-7'

More: Holt returns to California roots for bowl ($) | Gold and Black Radio Express: Three things with Pete Quinn ($) | Coordinators Corner: Shephard, Holt | Seniors appreciate Brohm's insistence on winning now | Complete coverage leading into bowl

SAN FRANCISCO — Purdue clearly has made progress in its first season under Jeff Brohm.

After all, a group of its players and Brohm were sitting in front of a Foster Farms Bowl backdrop, with a shiny gold-plated trophy near them, on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.

The Boilermakers did enough in Year 1 under Brohm to reach a bowl game for the first time since 2012. They did enough to win six games. They did more-than-enough on defense under play caller Nick Holt, chopping 19 points allowed per game and 105 rushing yards per game.

But one of Brohm’s messages to the players since their arrival in the Bay Area Saturday has been, basically, all of that means nothing.

Not winning three of four games in November. Not beating rivals Illinois and Indiana. Not shocking Iowa in Iowa City. Not the fans storming the field after Purdue took the Bucket back in West Lafayette.

Now, all that matters is Purdue is 6-6 — and it does not want to be 6-7.

“One thing Coach has always talked about is people always remember the last game you play,” running back D.J. Knox said. “So for us to make the achievements, receive accolades we’ve received this year, as far as fans, offense, defense, we’d hate for all that to go down the drain with a loss here. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to play good because that’s one thing this team does. But we always want to cap it off with a win because we don’t want anything knocking our season.

“So we’re going to put our best foot forward, and the best thing we do is compete, at the end of the day. So we’re going to do what we’re going to have to do and come out victorious.”

Arizona enters the game 7-5, buoyed by second-year quarterback Khalil Tate and the nation's third-ranked rushing offense.

Purdue, naturally, has been game planning to slow that potentially explosive offense, and Brohm and the offensive coaching staff has been working on plans to light up a young Wildcats defense that allows yards and points in bunches.

Those schemes and play calls, and the execution of them, will be important, obviously.

But Brohm has made sure to remind his players this week Xs and Os won't exclusively allow Purdue to storm into the offseason as a winning program. And Brohm has yet to lose a bowl game as a head coach, going 2-0 at Western Kentucky before Holt took the reins as interim coach to win last season's bowl for WKU.

“We want to make sure we go out on a good note, and that’s going to be playing hard, playing tough and playing smart and trying to make plays and showing improvement and having guys emerge, showing you want to be there,” Brohm said. “I think in some bowl games, it’s going to come down to which team really wants it the most. I would be hopeful our guys will show up ready to play, they put in a great effort, they take some pride in representing their university and the Big Ten Conference and lay it all on the line. After 60 minutes, we’ll see what the score is. But I want our guys to win and compete at everything they do, and this game is very important.”

Quarterback Elijah Sindelar said all of the Purdue players know Brohm's undefeated bowl history — and they don't want to be part of any streak-snapping.

"For us, it’s (about) a winning record," Sindelar said. "It is just one game, but 7-6 sounds a whole lot better than 6-7. So we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we’re 7-6 when we leave." (SC)

Brohm and Purdue's staff were sure to be careful with a handful or so of banged-up players leading into the bowl game, and he's hopeful that careful approach will pay off Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Brohm said he expects linebackers T.J. McCollum (ankle) and Ja'Whaun Bentley (ankle) to play against Arizona, though neither still is 100 percent. Tight end Brycen Hopkins, who missed the regular-season finale with a back injury, will try to play, Brohm said. Running back D.J. Knox, who had thumb surgery, should be good to go, though if he wears a cast on the hand during the game — he's not daily anymore — he could be less effective, Brohm said.

Jared Sparks could be the the closest to a gametime decision, Brohm said. Sparks badly injured an ankle against Iowa and didn't play against IU.

"He will be available to play. How much we play him, we’ll see," Brohm said. "We got him about as healthy as we could. We want to make sure he’s available at backup quarterback. That’s the No. 1 concern. At receiver, he has done some things but not full practice there. So we’ll see how it goes. I don’t see him playing a ton at the very beginning. But he wants to play. We’ll see how it goes after the first couple series. Maybe he’s in there a lot, maybe he’s not."

Backup defensive tackle Eddy Wilson won't play. He didn't make the trip. (SC)

A crowd of about 1,000, including both the Purdue and Arizona bands, gathered for the Foster Farms Bowl pep rally in the plaza adjacent to the Purdue team hotel at the downtown San Francisco Hyatt Regency Wednesday late morning.

Brady Quinn, FOX color analyst for Wednesday's game, hosted the rally, which lasted about 20 minutes. Brohm and Rodriguez spoke briefly and injured quarterback David Blough represented Purdue by making some brief remarks.

"It has been an incredible three days," said Blough, who has been off-limits to local media since his season-ending injury. "We have been on cable cars and Alcatraz, were able to go on a cruise (Monday) night. It has been absolutely phenomenal. We are excited, like Coach Brohm said. We have worked very hard.

"I know Purdue fans have experienced some down times over the past couple of years, so this feels really special to be here and to compete for a winning season for the first time in a while. It means a lot to us and is what being a Boilermaker is all about.”

The biggest news of the rally might have been that a significant portion of the Arizona band had yet to arrive as of about 11 a.m. local time because of “technical difficulties” on their travel from Tucson to San Francisco, Quinn said. Members of the Purdue All-American Marching Band pitched in to help the Wildcats contingent for the event.

From the sounds of the cheering, it appeared that Purdue fans had maybe twice as many fans as Arizona, but that might have been expected because the event took place close to the Boilermakers’ headquarters. (AK)

Purdue players are getting bowl swag — whether it’s actually from the Foster Farms or just loading up on new Purdue-specific gear that includes stocking caps and sweatsuits — but the coaching staff isn’t left without extras.

Head coach Brohm and the assistant coaches have bonuses in their contracts for a bowl appearance. For assistants, the bonus was a percentage of their annual base salary and depended on the actual bowl. The Foster Farms Bowl wasn’t specifically named in any contract — it’s one of the lower ones on the Big Ten rung — but it was in the “any other bowl game” category that resulted in a 5 percent bonus for assistants.

Jeff Brohm's contract specified his bonus would be a percentage of his "performance base bonus" ($1.5 million), and for the "any other bowl ... in which Team has six or fewer wins," he earned a 7.5 percent bonus. That translated into $112,500.

The assistant coach bonuses ranged from to $10,000-$25,000.

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