Journal and Courier from Lafayette, Indiana • 41

TODAY'S GAME AKRON AT PURDUE, 11:10 A.M. ii )jr rf- iltj) bn i wS" mmM 'm 'mwMWBLif i I 3w aK- Journal and Courier, Saturday, September 22, 2001 muw Standings the Cincinnati game to this game, because it's been so long. "As a football team and as coaches, we don't even make reference to the Cincinnati game." The I Boiler- ttIt is like starting over," sophomore free safety Stu Schweigert said. "That game against Cincinnati seems like it was last season. So we're excited to play.

By Tom Kubat Journal and Courier To a man, the Purdue Boilermakers don't know what to expect today when they play Akron in their home opener. Not after the emotional roller, coaster they've been riding since the terrorist attacks of last week. Not after having gone 20 days since their last game, a 19-14 victory at Cincinnati in the Sept. 2 season opener. They've been in camp since the first week of August and they've only played one game.

'Personally, I think it's like starting the season all over," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "I don't think we have any carryover value from ing 28-14 at Ohio State on Sept. 8. The Zips' scheduled home game last Saturday against MAC foe Eastern Michigan was rescheduled for Nov. 24.

Purdue's coaches and players were impressed with Akron's per-: formance against Ohio State. "They like pressure, they like Tiller said of the Zips' defense. "I really think they're the type of team that invites you to become greedy and look to get rich quick. And I think if you do that you fall right into their hands. "Our game plan will be a very deliberate one." Purdue quarterback Brandon Tiller makers spent the first half of last week preparing for Notre Dame.

But when it was announced last Wednesday that last Saturday's scheduled game against the Fighting Irish was being postponed until Dec. 1, their attention switched to Akron. a U' Conf. All W-L W-L Illinois 0-0 2-0 Iowa 0-0 2-0 Purdue 0-0 1-0 Michigan State 0-0 1-0 Ohio State 0-0 1-0 Northwestern 0-0 1-0 Michigan 0-0 1-1 Minnesota 0-0 1-1 Wisconsin 0-0 1-2 Indiana 0-0 0-1 Penn State 0-0 0-1 TODAY'S SCHEDULE Wisconsin 11 am at Penn State ABC Louisville 11 a.m. at Illinois ESPN Western Michigan 11 a.m.

at Michigan WLFl.WTTV Michigan State 1:30 p.m. at Notre Dame NBC Ohio State 2:30 p.m. at UCLA ABC Utah at Indiana pm Northwestern at Duke 5:30 p.m. 1 i hrr.r.rfi-..-r-mii.Tjfiit.liJ t.iiatrirriiiM riiMinMTnmnri September 2 at Cincinnati W.19-14 15 Notre Dame ppd. 22 Akron 11:10 a.m.

29 at Minnesota TBA OCTOBER 6 Iowa TBA 13 at Michigan 11:10 a.m. 27 Northwestern 1 1:10 a.m. MAKMGTOE Grade Schweigert "The opening is going to be really emotional for the players and the fans. But once that whistle blows, everyone is going to be ready to go." Akron has played two games, beating Mid-American Conference rival Ohio 31-29 on Aug. 30 and los- 1 Lougheed LaRock But now the extra pounds are beginning to pay off.

"My legs felt good all through the summer, but once it started to get into the dog days of two-a-days, it started to wear on my legs a little bit," Lougheed said. "It took me a little while to get my legs back, but now I feel real good." 1 Lougheed, an all-state fullback at Homestead High School near Fort Wayne, claims the transition from tight end to tackle has Today's game Wisconsin (1-2) at Penn State (0-1) 1 1 a.m., ABC -njj. i if I I 1 Ir iww -mf I I (I It I 1 1 Today's game Akron (1-1) at Purdue (1-0) 11:10 a.m. Radio: WAZY-FM (96.5); WCVL-AM (1550); WLQI-FM (97.1) Hance was limited to 117 yards passing in his first career start at Cincinnati, the fewest for any Boilermaker QB under Tiller. See BOILERS, Page 2 it Lougheed.

Ayodele is a pass rush specialist who has gone up against some of the top offensive tackles in the Big Ten Michigan's Steve Hutchinson and Jeff Backus, Penn State's Kareem McKenzie, Wisconsin's Chris Mcintosh and, in practice, Light. While Hutchinson a four-time, first-team All-Big Ten selection may be in a class by himself, Ayodele believes Lougheed has the potential to be as good as the others. "Hutchinson was a beast," Ayodele said. "I learned a lot going against Matt Light, and Pete reminds me of him. He's improved a lot as a pass blocker.

He could become one of the top tackles in the Big Ten. I can see Pete getting into that category." See GRADE, Page 2 try to be a good football team, had a setback getting beaten by a club as good as Miami, and IVe tried to put my personal feelings behind me." It was then that the players came to see beyond Paterno the coach and see Paterno the philosopher "He couldn't get a lot of words out, and when see an emotional coach we knew something was wrong," linebacker Shamar Finney said. "He spoke to us about the importance of life, not just football. We talked about calling our families just to tell them you love them because, you never know when you're going to see them. He told the guys football isn't everything life is far more valuable than football." t- 1 V' its been fairly easy.

He's says he's somewhat confident in his pass blocking but needs to improve his run blocking. "Being a blocking tight end mostly last year, it was most of the same stuff as tackle," he said. "I worked hard to put on the extra weight that I needed to. It's just getting the experience in the line. You have to read more of the different blitzes.

"Football's always made sense to me. Coaches tell me something and I can see it. I can see what the defense is doing. Hopefully the coaches never have to tell me to do the same thing twice. I think I pick up on things pretty quickly on the football field." Going against Akin Ayodele, Purdue's second-team All-Big Ten Conference defensive end, in practice has been beneficial to By Michael HeinzJournal and Courier PERPETUAL MOTION: Purdue's Pete Lougheed put on 25 pounds in tackle.

Lougheed, who has a 3.6 grade point average in industrial en-the offseason in preparation for his move from tight end to offensive gineering, spends more than 12 hours a day in class and practice. Lougheed a success at new position, in classroom By Tom Kubat Journal and Courier Bob LaRock is a retired engineer who spends most of his time these days as a part-time tutor for the Purdue athletic department. He's tutored junior Boilermaker offensive tackle Pete Lougheed for three or four classes. Before each session, LaRock would make sure to brush up on the subject at hand. Whenever I met with Pete, I'd prepare a little extra," LaRock said.

"I had to prepare very well for him. He doesn't spend any time on the easy problems. He wanted to work on the hard problems. He always impressed me." While the term student-athlete is a misnomer in some cases, it fits perfectly when applied to Lougheed. An industrial engineering major, Lougheed has an overall 3.6 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale).

In three years at Purdue, he's earned all As, except for one and five or six Bs. "My parents always emphasized good grades, and school has always been important to me, especially when I got to college," Lougheed said. "I tried to concentrate real hard on getting good grades. I'm not going to be able to play football the rest of my life. I'm going to have to get a real job, so school's really important.

"Some classes are harder than others, but I'd say overall school comes a little easier to me than many people." Both his father, Scott, and mother, Robin, are Purdue graduates. Scott was the Boilermakers' punter from 1969-71, and his father, Olin, was a guard at Purdue in 1942. Now, Pete is the starting offensive left tackle after making the move from tight end last spring. "His intelligence carries over to the field, there's no question about it," said Danny Hope, Pur- By The Associated Penn State coach Joe Paterno I I due's offensive line coach. "You don't have to explain the same things to him over and over again.

When you do explain something to him, it's usually a short conversation. He gets onto what you're saying pretty quick. I like that. He's very, very coach-able. "He's come a long ways.

I'm really pleased with his progress. Pete Lougheed has a chance to be a special player for us. At the same stage of his career, he's bigger, faster and smarter than Matt Light." Light, now with the New England Patriots, is the three-year starter that Lougheed replaced. The 6-foot-5 Lougheed put on 25 pounds during the offseason to get ready to play his new was a time during two-a-days that carrying 295 pounds began to take its toll. NOVEMBER 3 Illinois TBA 10 at Ohio State TBA 17.

Michigan State TBA 24 at Indiana TBA 0 tjiiiBp No. 2 Florida at Kentucky, 12:30 p.m. No. 5 Texas at Houston, 8 p.m. No.

6 Florida State at North Carolina, 1 1 a.m. No. 7 Oregon vs. Southern California, 9:15 p.m. No.

9 Virginia Tech at Rutgers, 1 1 a.m. No. 1 1 Fresno State at Tulsa, 1 :30 p.m. No. 12 Kansas State vs.

New Mexico State, 1 p.m. No. 13 Washington vs. Idaho, 2:30 p.m. No.

14 UCLA vs. No. 21 Ohio State, 2:30 p.m. No. 16 Northwestern at Duke, 5 p.m.

No19Clemson vs. Virginia, 4:45 p.m. No. 20 Michigan vs. Western Michigan, 1 1 a.m.

No. 23 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State, 1 :30 p.m. No. 25 Louisville at Illinois, 1 1 a.m.

9:30 a.m. Gameday, ESPN 11:10 a.m. Louisville at Illinois, ESPN 11:10 a.m. Wisconsin at Penn State, ABC 11:10 a.m. Western Michigan at Michigan, WLFI, WTTV 1 :30 p.m.

Michigan State at Notre Dame, NBC 2:30 p.m. Ohio State at UCLA, ABC 2:30 p.m. Arkansas at Alabama, CBS 4:45 p.m. Virginia at Clem-son, ESPN2 6:45 p.m. Auburn at Syracuse, ESPN 8 p.m.

Texas at Houston, ESPN2 9:1 5 pm Southern California at Oregon, Fox Sports Chicago Purdue, Akron depth charts, statistics 2 Who has the edge? 2 Hoosiers think break will help team rebound 3 Four-time Super Bowl champion still cherishes Boilers' win over Fighting Irish 6 Fatiw tans rap pBapn ground is right around the World Trade Center," said Patemo, who grew up in Brooklyn, but whose father and grandfather worked on Manhattan. "I've walked all those streets many, many times. I have some friends, and we were concerned about one of our football players," he said. After hearing of the terrorist attacks, Paterno canceled practice and instead called a team'i meeting. He did what most coaches would do, trying to be strong for the young people around him.

"For someone as emotional as I am, every once in a while you get very weepy about what you see on television," Paterno said. "But I try to stay focused. I think we have a bunch of young kids who've tried very, very hard to By Dan Lewerenz The Associated Press STATE COLLEGE, Pa. In 36 years as a head coach, Joe Paterno has helped a lot of players through hard times. But when terrorists struck the heart of New York's financial district, crashing two planes into the World Trade Center, it was Paterno who found strength in his players.

"He was pretty shaken up by the whole thing," quarterback Matt Senneca said of Paterno. "The only thing he could do was get us on the field, and when we we're on the field that's the only time you really never thought about what was going on." In his 74 years he turns 75 in December Patemo has just about seen it all. He was just shy of his 15th birthday when i- the Japanese navy bombed Pearl Harbor, and was a Penn State assistant when President Kennedy was assassinated with one game left in the season. But last week, Paterno found himself in an unusual position emotionally hurting and taking strength from his team. "I'm having a very, very difficult time, because all my back Press.