Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.

I know the score blew up like a balloon in the final 10 minutes or so, but even though Sunday's Purdue win over Ohio State wasn't really a low-scoring game, I do think the Boilermakers won a game that required some of the same intangibles.

Look no further than Mason Gillis, who has not only affected, but changed, several games this season with his work on the offensive glass. Sunday was one of them, and that impact came at the perfect time.

There's a certain edge, a certain will, that Gillis exudes that I think Purdue has really needed this season and on Sunday, it won them a game they had to have.

I think Purdue needed to be the more physical team against Ohio State and along those lines, Zach Edey set the sort of tone that very few players in college basketball can. A few more fouls, and Ohio State might have been trying to sneak assistant coach Greg Oden into uniform, because Edey's presence was not just impactful but demoralizing.

You know, this is kind of the uniqueness of this Purdue team, one that has a superhero of a scoring guard and now a team-wide three-point shooting percentage of 41.2, but also can beat the hell out of you when you need be.

You may or may not even remember Lou Anarumo around Purdue. I guess that was a long time ago now, but he coached defensive backs for the Boilermakers under both Joe Tiller and Danny Hope.

Sunday, you may have seen him on TV as the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive coordinator, helping his defense out-fox Patrick Mahomes and punch Cincy's improbable ticket to the Super Bowl.

Anarumo was one of the many really high-quality coaches who came through Purdue's program around that time, many of whom are also in the NFL, and while Purdue probably can't claim him as part of the program's line of Super Bowl connections, he's a Purdue-adjacent success story at least.

Those last few years at Purdue, he was waiting for his NFL call, for his long-time contemporary Kevin Coyle to get a DC job and bring him with. Once that happened — in Miami — that call came.

Anarumo was always one of those guys who had his sights set on the pro level, but never was much of a self-promoter and never let ambition distract from the task at hand.

I vividly remember years ago, when Purdue had so many injuries at cornerback that wide receiver Ray Williams had to move to the position in-season. It was Anarumo's pet project to make him a player. In those days, Purdue would occasionally practice over at West Lafayette High School — long story — and Anarumo would make sure he walked back to the facility after practice with Williams, coaching him during the whole two-block walk back to the locker room.

That sort of dedication is surely part of what has made Anarumo successful at the game's highest level.

The Anarumo I came to know a little bit in those days was a good, humble guy — and a great Yankees fan with a tremendous Staten Island accent — and a good coach and a good recruiter, the guy who managed to talk Devin Hester into making an official visit if you can believe that.

I'm happy for the guy and his success is something Purdue should take a little bit of pride in, too.

Hey, I don't know if you guys realize this or not, but Wednesday is college football's traditional signing date for recruits.

Some places, this date still matters. At Purdue, and lots of places like it, not as much, as the overwhelming majority of high school recruits will sign in December.

Here's an idea, sort of something that maybe can bridge the old days with the new: Let's make this first Wednesday in February Transfer Signing Day, too.

Schools can announce their transfer additions, and in a perfect world sign them to some sort of binding agreement, and thus give all these potentially critical additions their day, too, instead of them just kind of showing up on move-in day.

It would be a good promotional opportunity for programs, more programming for conference-aligned networks, and an event that might keep college football in the news weeks after the season ended, a PR benefit forfeited when the signing date moved up.

These are soon to be the most important members of most every recruiting class, and they ought to have a news cycle dedicated to them.

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