FanHouse Desmond Tardy

It didn't even take him a half. In the third quarter, Iowa's Shonn Greene has 134 yards on 18 carries, meaning no one has held him under 100 yards this season. Turnovers, penalties, and special teams woes have kept Purdue in the game, however. The Hawkeyes have missed two PATs, fumbled once, and have committed two drive-sustaining defensive penalties.

Purdue's Curtis Painter lived up to some of his preseason hype right before halftime, leading the Boilermakers on a quick hurry-up drive which ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Tardy. Iowa's Daniel Murray, hero of last week's game, added a 45-yard field goal early in the third quarter.

Greene isn't close to the all-time record of consecutive 100-yard games. That belongs to Ohio State's Archie Griffin, who had 31 in a row from September 1973 to November 1975. Greene only has one year of elegibility remaining, so he can't catch Griffin if he decides to return for his senior season. He can tie the NCAA record of 12 100-yard games in one season, currently held by Oklahoma's Quentin Griffin and Chadron State's Danny Woodhead.

Greene won't get any Heisman love, because as we all know, college football's most outstanding player is always on a team in the national title hunt.

UPDATE: Greene finished with 30 carries for 209 yards and 2 touchdowns in Iowa's 22-17 victory.

Touchdowns not worth 21 points, in case you were wondering.

An entertaining article from the Purdue student newspaper -- called "The Exponent," natch -- follows around some Purdue players as they pick up their NCAA '08 video game doppelgangers and get down to business. Backup wide receiver Desmond Tardy allows his opponent to pick the Boilers as long as he's inserted into the starting lineup, picks IU, and then does what IU does: lose badly.

With five seconds remaining and IU down 28-7, IU quarterback Kellen Lewis broke away from the pack and scored a touchdown.

If you are familiar with football you can easily identify being down three touchdowns with five seconds left as "garbage time." Other examples of garbage time: down 40 in the first half, up 31 midway through the third unless you are Michigan State or Minnesota, and the entirety of any Notre Dame bowl game. But, um... don't tell Tardy that:

Tardy rolled within inches of the TV and yelled at Lewis, then excitedly backed up and flipped his chair over, almost landing on his dog, Capone. "It's not over!" he yelled, seconds before Purdue won, 28-14.

Perhaps a total unfamiliarity with the rules was a major reason Tardy finished last year with a total of 88 receiving yards.