Pre-Game Notes:

#23 Alabama (9-3, B, B+, B) vs. #25 Purdue (9-3, B, B+, B)

Lee picks Purdue, Kirk picks Bama

55 degrees and rainy with light winds - Alabama loses the toss and Purdue elects to kick it away.

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There were several turning points yesterday on a soggy morning in Tampa. Purdue stopped the Crimson Tide on their first possession, but sputtered during their first chance and had to punt the ball away. Unfortunately the defense gave up a big play which resulted in a touchdown.

After allowing a touchdown one play after a 52-yard run by Alabama, Purdue pieced together an 8-play drive that featured a 29-yard pass play from Curtis Painter to Waynelle Gravesande. Gravesande was also the recipient of the short touchdown pass to cap off the drive, which tied the game at 7-7.

Purdue then stopped the running back for a five-yard loss, stopped the quarterback on an option attempt for negative two yards, and then stopped a wide receiver screen pass for another negative two to get the ball back.

Another big play by Gravesande led to an eight-yard touchdown pass from Painter to Desmond Tardy.

Alabama untracked the offense once again as G. Coffee broke off another long run for a touchdown. Joe Tiller could be seen pulling his hair out on the sideline.

Purdue kicked a field goal and Alabama responded in kind with 52 seconds left on the clock. Then Desmond Tardy fielded a punt at the one, stepped inside one block before powering through an arm tackle attempt and into the clear. He scored on a 99-yard kickoff return just before the end of the first half, and Purdue received the second half kickoff. A 33-yard touchdown pass from Painter to Greg Orton made it 31-17 Boilermakers. It looked like this one would become a blowout.

Yet the Purdue sidelines needed their share of antacid yesterday as the defense never quite stopped the bleeding (get it, Crimson Tide?)

'Bama fought their way back into the game with a short run, but then missed the extra point attempt. After a field goal by Purdue, the Crimson Tide scored on a 3-yard pass from John Parker Wilson to N. Stover, but the successful two-point conversion only put them within three points rather than two, due to the earlier missed extra point. Of course, they wouldn't have tried the two-pointer if the earlier had been successful, but let's not make a molehill out of a mountain!

With just under a minute in the game, Purdue's Kyle Adams recovered his third onside kick of the season for the Boilers, adn Painter led a final drive that resulted in a short field goal to put the game out of reach with six seconds remaining.

"I'm proud of my teammates today," said Curtis Painter following the game. "We fought hard and you could tell we weren't going to lose this game no matter what."

Painter finished just shy of 4,000 yards on the season (3,943) and offset ahd 38 touchdown passes which tied Texas Tech's Graham Harrell for seventh in the nation. However, it wasn't all roses for Painter as he also threw 24 interceptions, "good" for fourth in the nation along with Mark Sanchez. Only Stephen McGee, Harrell, Darron Thomas (Oregon) and Sanchez threw more picks. (note these are all user teams).

Joe Tiller went out a winner, finishing with 10 wins for the first time in his impressive career at Purdue (He had 10 wins in 1996 in his final season as head coach of Wyoming).

"This was one of the best teams I've coached," said Tiller. "The only team I might place above this one was the 2000 (Rose Bowl) team. These kids impressed me every week by bouncing back after difficult periods and always keeping the faith. In the end, we finished in the Top 25 and had 10 wins. You'll take that every year. I'm just thankful to leave the program on a high note, with some good recruits on the way."