More than 10,000 Purdue
fans to attend road game
By Paul Trembacki
Sports
Editor
Although Purdue will be playing away from home,
a large portion of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium will be pro-Purdue.
More than 10,000 Purdue fans are expected to come
to Cincinnati for the Boilermakers' game with the Bearcats at 1:30 Purdue
time Sunday.
The large number of Purdue fans there should help
ease any trepidation the Boilers have. It should also help quarterback
Brandon Hance's transition into the starting lineup.
"Any time you have a fan base it is always an advantage,"
Hance said.
The largest crowd Hance ever played an entire game
in front of was 25,000 people in the Los Angeles city championship.
However, that was in Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which seats more
than 90,000 people.
But Hance has been on the field level in front
of huge crowds.
"Although I didn't play there last year, I have
been to the Rose Bowl and Penn State and games like that, which have
been overwhelmingly impressive in terms of the fans and the environment,"
he said.
The game will be shown on espn2, but apparently
many fans still wanted to see the Boilers in action.
The game is already sold out — the first sellout
at Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium since its seating capacity increased
to 35,000 in 1992.
Fans in southern Indiana have an easier time getting
to Cincinnati than to West Lafayette, so many of them are taking the
opportunity to support the team on the road.
Good health
Matt Mitrione's streak of 35 consecutive games
started will apparently continue this weekend.
Mitrione, who missed all of fall camp with a stress
fracture in his right foot, has been practicing since Thursday. On Tuesday
Tiller confirmed that Mitrione will start.
However, the player who filled in at the starting
right tackle spot for Mitrione during fall camp, Brandon Johnson, will
be in on approximately 50 percent of the defense's plays.
Mitrione's status is listed as day-to-day, and
Tiller said it will probably remain that way all season.
"We're about as healthy as we can expect to be
going into the first game," Tiller said.
The only player significantly injured right now
is offensive lineman Rob Turner. The starting right guard, Turner pulled
a lower abdominal muscle in Friday's scrimmage. However, he returned
to practice Tuesday.
Senior cornerback Ashante Woodyard, who had knee
surgery in the off-season, is fully recovered and probably won't miss
a down, Tiller said.
Any given Sunday
Tiller joked that the Cincinnati game is being
played on Sunday so that every coach and player can realize their dreams
of playing on Sundays.
When a player or coach says he wants to play on
Sundays, he is usually referring to playing in the NFL.
"We'll get that out of the way right away and get
on with our season," Tiller said.
On a serious note, however, Tiller admitted that
he was asked if he wanted the game to be on Monday and said no. That
was before he knew his team would be off the next week. The Boilers
don't play Sept. 8, but they have their home opener Sept. 15 against
Notre Dame.
New turf
Not only will Purdue be paying Cincinnati for the
first time in its history, but the Boilers will also be playing on FieldTurf
for the first time ever.
FieldTurf is like AstroTurf, a synthetic field
surface in place of grass. However, FieldTurf has more properties of
natural grass than AstroTurf, which makes it less dangerous.
The Boilers aren't worried about it though.
"You can't control the surface; you can't control
the weather, so why worry about that stuff?" Tiller said.
Vinny gets cut
Former Purdue receiver Vinny Sutherland has been
cut from the Atlanta Falcons. In a move to trim to their roster, the
Falcons released 10 players.
As of Tuesday, the other five Boilers to make it
to the NFL — quarterback Drew Brees (San Diego), offensive linemen
Brandon Gorin (San Diego), Matt Light (New England), Chukky Okobi (Pittsburgh)
and Ian Allen (Kansas City) — were still on their teams' rosters.
Brees and Light have signed multi-year contracts.
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