I think I finally found a fun off-season writing series. I am trying to find the obscure NCAA Records that you likely are not aware of and then couple it with the school that set the record really not celebrating it. You may know about this record, but you likely don’t. If you do know about this record, awesome, but keep it quiet so you don’t spoil it for anyone else.

Time to set the scene for this one. It’s November 11, 1989, and we’re looking at a game that would have likely been declared the Sickos Committee Game of the Week. It involves two of the Committee’s favorite teams from a division that we could never get enough of.

Northwestern traveled to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. Both teams were in pretty rough shape coming into this game. The Wildcats were winless on the year and sitting at 0-8, on their way to an 0-11 season. The Boilermakers were losers of seven straight and sitting at 1-7 on the year, with their only win coming in the first week of the year coming against a Miami (OH) team who would finish 2-8-1 on the year. This was a Sickos Showdown before the Committee was ever formed.

If you are someone, or you know was in the 31,470 people in the crowd, you’re in the Sickos Committee before it began; you are our people, and we love you. Support your team no matter what! Also, this Purdue team would have likely been a favorite of the committee anyway. They lost a game 14-2 to #16 Illinois. Anytime you only score a safety in a game, that would land your team on our radar immediately. Also, there was an explosion they got to watch.

Purdue was known for getting off to incredibly slow starts this season, and as the newspaper article from The South Bend Tribune (Sun, Nov 12, 1989 ·Page 29) showed the Boilermakers being outscored 69-0 in the first quarter. Well, this game and this forgotten NCAA record come into play right away in the game.

Purdue broke a string of not scoring in ten games in the first quarter and twelve straight games not scoring a touchdown in the first quarter. The scoring explosion started not less than two minutes into the game. Northwestern was set to up to punt, and it was…

BLOCKED!

Rick Smith blocked the punt, scooped it up and ran it in for his first career TD. With that play, those streaks disappeared in a flash. Purdue then cashed in on Northwestern fumble for a field goal and a 10-0 lead.

On the next drive, Rick Smith was back again!

THE VERY NEXT PUNT WAS BLOCKED!!

Smith got another piece of another Wildcat punt, giving Purdue great field position.

Someone has got to stop Rick Smith;

he’s a punt-blocking machine.

Purdue was up 17-0 after that 39-yard touchdown pass. The Boilers' defense held the Wildcats again, forcing another punt. The Northwestern coaches had to have drawn up a plan to stop Rick Smith, right? Well, they stopped Rick Smith but forgot about Julian Wagner. The next punt was 

BLOCKED AGAIN!!!

Purdue took over the ball on the Northwestern 6-yard line and then punched it in for a 23-0 first quarter lead. Then they decided things were going so well, they would go for two and guess what they got it for a 25-0 lead. Purdue got the ball back one other time in the first quarter and cashed in a nice four-play 69-yard drive capped off for a touchdown and a 32-0 lead after the first quarter.

Look at this legendary first quarter.

Northwestern made the game a little interesting, making it 32-15 after three quarters, but Purdue tacked on two fourth quarter touchdowns for a comfortable 46-15 win.

Look at this punt block form of Rick Smith, full extension! A punt blocking legend!

I found a picture of Julian Wagner too! You can almost see the Northwestern punter’s eyes saying, “Oh god, no, not again!”

Amazingly enough, there was not any mention of the NCAA record set anywhere. And again, nothing on the 1989 Purdue Boilermakers Wikipedia page! Not even a citation on the page for this game! Even in this notable numbers section, they don’t reference the record being set in the first quarter.

Purdue was shut out the next week by Iowa 24-0. However, they did pull off a Sickos-style win over Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket the next week. Down 14-3 entering the 4th, Purdue rattled off 12 unanswered points, with a touchdown, missed two point conversion, field goal, and then the game-winning field goal made with 2:51 left in the game. They hung on to win 15-14 after they tackled an Indiana player in-bounds and the clock expired.

Thank you for reading and learning about the legend of Rick Smith and Julian Wagner!