The teams in the Big Ten’s west division certainly aren’t nearly the same as they were ten years ago when Nebraska was making the jump away from Texas and the Big XII. Yes, Wisconsin is still Wisconsin, but the rest? Minnesota was bad, while Northwestern was inconsistent. And Iowa, Illinois and especially Purdue were trending downward at the time. So bad that a new nickname had emerged for the Boilermakers: PurDon’t.
All that changed once Jeff Brohm took over, as Purdue went bowling the first two seasons under Brohm. But the 2019 season came to a crashing end on one first quarter play against Minnesota.