MORE TIME WARPS: Sept. 5, 2004: Purdue pummels Syracuse, 51-0

Purdue was supposed to be taking the lid off of its home schedule today, playing host to Memphis in its second game of the season. Alas, the Big Ten’s postponement of the 2020 season has caused a change in plans.

The game vs. Memphis would have been a challenge. The Tigers opened 2020 with a 37-24 triumph vs. Arkansas State, fueling more optimism for a program that is coming off a 12-2 season the culminated with a Cotton Bowl bid. But Memphis experienced a COVID-19 outbreak this week that has forced a pause.

Would the game at Purdue even have been played?

We’ll never know. But we do know Sept. 12 has been a good day for Purdue in the past. The Boilermakers knocked off John Elway and No. 19 Stanford, 27-19, in Ross-Ade Stadium in 1981. And Drew Brees got his first of many wins as Boilermaker quarterback by taking down Rice, 21-19, in Ross-Ade Stadium in the 1998 home opener.

But no Sept. 12 has been as memorable as the one in 1992 that ended with the students tearing down the goal posts in the south end zone.