2013 Heart Of Dallas Bowl: Purdue To Play Oklahoma State

Joe Tiller's first season in Purdue ended with a 33-20 win over Oklahoma State in the 1997 Alamo, which was Purdue's first bowl game in 13 seasons. Since then Purdue scheduled and dropped a home and home with the Cowboys, but they have not met.

Until now.

Not confirmed, but seeing that we might get to play OK State in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Would be an awesome opportunity vs a quality team!

— Crosby Wright (@CWright1001) December 3, 2012

In a very surprise move the Cowboys were passed over by several other bowls and fell all the way to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, where they will now be Purdue's opponent. This is a major surprise, and it is likely the result of Northern Illinois getting into the BCS. That knocked Oklahoma into the Big 12 pool and shifted everyone back down a spot. Instead of getting a game against a 6-6 Iowa State or a 7-5 team like West Virginia or Texas Tech we get an 7-5 Oklahoma State team that has the fourth best offense in the country at 44.7 points per game.

The good news is that they have lost three of five coming into the bowl season and an 84-0 unmerciful beating of Savannah State in the opener is helping their offensive numbers greatly. Facing a team similar to Purdue out of conference in Arizona they lost 59-38.

Purdue and Oklahoma State have only met once in football in that 1997 Alamo Bowl. Their SB Nation site is Cowboys Ride for Free, so check them out tonight. I will have a lot more in the coming days I am sure, but the mystery (at least this one) is over.

Oklahoma State joins Washington and Georgia as teams Purdue has played twice in bowl games. Purdue lost the 2001 Rose Bowl to Washington 34-24, then beat them in the Sun Bowl two years later by the same score. Purdue lost to Georgia 28-25 in the 2000 Outback Bowl in overtime and 34-27 in overtime in the 2004 Capitol one Bowl.

With the bowl announcement now final there is no better time to include my final blogpoll draft ballot:

Hammer & Rails Ballot - Week 14

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Florida Gators	1
4	Oregon Ducks	2
5	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
6	Stanford Cardinal	2
7	Florida St. Seminoles	2
8	Georgia Bulldogs	-5
9	LSU Tigers	1
10	Texas A&M Aggies	-3
11	Oklahoma Sooners	1
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	-1
13	Northern Illinois Huskies	1
14	Clemson Tigers	1
15	Texas Longhorns	--
16	Utah State Aggies	3
17	San Jose St. Spartans	1
18	Boise St. Broncos	5
19	Michigan Wolverines	-2
20	Northwestern Wildcats	2
21	Kent St. Golden Flashes	-8
22	Oregon St. Beavers	--
23	Tulsa Golden Hurricane	--
24	Ball St. Cardinals	1
25	UCLA Bruins	-4
Dropouts: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Vanderbilt Commodores

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "