Related links: Year 1: 1990-91 | Year 2: 1991-92 | Year 3: 1992-93 | Year 4: 1993-94 | Year 5: 1994-95 | Year 6: 1995-96 | Year 7: 1996-97 | Year 8: 1997-98 | Year 9: 1998-99 | Year 10: 1999-00 | Year 11: 2000-01 | Year 12: 2001-02 | Year 13: 2002-03 | Year 14: 2003-04 | Year 15: 2004-05 | Year 16: 2005-06 | Year 17: 2006-07

Gold and Black Illustrated is celebrating 30 years of publishing. Over the next few weeks, we will look at each publishing year, recalling the moments that took place in that particular year.

Note: Captions describing each cover are not available on mobile platforms.

I have two distinct feelings when looking back at this year.

One was up and the other was down.

The downside of the athletic year came in the fall. And it started as an up. Purdue jumped to a 5-0 record, despite not really beating anybody.

It climbed to No. 23 in the polls when it faced No. 4 Ohio State in an unusually warm early October evening. One had the feeling that this was possibly coach Joe Tiller's last stand. And if Purdue could pull the upset, maybe the magic dust could be spread all over Ross-Ade Stadium one more time.

It didn't happen. Ohio State strangled the hosts, 23-7, as the Boilermakers avoided being shut out on ESPN/ABC prime time Saturday night by scoring on the game's last offensive play.

Who would have thought that when Purdue left the field that evening, it would be the most recent time it did so as a nationally-ranked team. The way the '07 season unfolded, it was pretty much downhill from there. Purdue had a chance to pull an upset at Penn State, but it got the short end of the stick. I recall Tiller saying that was one of the worst game's he had ever been associated with.

And then came a senior day home loss to Michigan State, around the same time that Tiller caught wind there was a coaching transition in the works. That didn't sit well with Tiller, but his team wasn't performing well, either. It lost the next week at Indiana, despite making a great comeback from a three-touchdown deficit.

The trip to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl didn't make anybody happy. Well, with the exception of Chris Summers' walk-off game winning field goal vs. Central Michigan.

When you added it all up, Purdue finished 8-5, marking the second straight season it had won eight games. Yet, it backslid in stature with some fans and administration.

But the top positive memory came a month later on the basketball court, mostly in the months of January and February when Rob Hummel, E'Twaun Moore, Chris Kramer and the so-called "Baby Boilers" took center stage and made a great Big Ten run.

They didn't play like a team void of age and Big Ten experience. More on that subject below.

The covers pictured above and below in back-to-back issues captured what was one of the more memorable non-championship seasons in Purdue sports history. Purdue's home win over Wisconsin and the subsequent "4 Sure" cover in late January served notice to the league that this very young team was really, really good.

When the crowd spilled out onto the Mackey Arena floor after Hummel's blocked shot in the game's closing second, it was one of the better moments in Mackey Arena history. I still recall my two grade school kids, who had become Purdue fans in the tougher time at the end of the Gene Keady Era, were finally looking at a team, and a group of four freshmen, that had so much promise. And they were on the floor, too, taking in the moment.

And when Purdue was able to out tough Michigan State and win at Wisconsin, this group really was "The Beasts of the Big Ten." It was a cover that still is in my daughter's possession, as we had it made into a poster. Her first crush that I was aware of? Chris Kramer, no less.

A tough loss at Ohio State late in the season stopped Purdue from winning the title, but a 15-3 conference record and the ability to hand Wisconsin its only two losses in league play were remarkable.

We were using cover designer Dan Annarino a lot in these days, and he came up with some really creative concepts. And the one above was one of his best. I recalled he had to work quickly on it, as well, because coach Sharon Versyp's women's team didn't appear to be NCAA Tournament bound. That is until it did what Purdue women's hoops teams did seven, yes seven, times between 1998 and 2008 ... and that is win the Big Ten Tournament to earn an automatic NCAA bid.

The early January announcement of Purdue football's transition from Joe Tiller to Danny Hope was about as emotional a press conference as I have ever attended.

Athletics director Morgan Burke had decided on Hope as the man to execute the succession plan for Tiller. It was similar to the Keady-to-Painter plan, but unfortunately with far different results.

I recall Brock Spack being in the back of the room as Hope was being announced as the head-coach-in-waiting. Spack was Tiller's choice for the job, but Burke decided to cast his line with a person with head coaching experience in Hope. Spack was seething inside but held it together and was more than gracious as his dream job was being given to someone else. I just remember how bad I felt for Spack but also knew full well it was one-millionth of how bad Spack must have felt. I remember Spack being interviewed and talking in an unusually soft voice about how he was going to be Hope's defensive coordinator. But in a few weeks, Spack was gone to Illinois State.

Unfortunately for followers of Purdue football, the Tiller-to-Hope transition didn't work. Hope worked hard in recruiting, and worked hard in general, but his teams couldn't return Purdue football to the way it was in the first years of the 21st Century.

To this day, Purdue football is still striving for a return to a winning level it enjoyed for most of the Tiller Era. Coach Jeff Brohm has shown in three years that he can do some special things on the sideline ... but he would be the first to admit that there is still work to be done.

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2020. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.