Elliott the Boilermaker was no stranger to big upsets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/08/2012 (4783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JOEY ELLIOTT knows all about what it’s like to play on a football team with a lousy record — and not just because he’s living it right now as the starting quarterback for the 2-6 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Three years ago, Elliott was also the starting quarterback for another sad-sack outfit — the 1-5 Purdue Boilermakers. And that’s interesting right now because if past performance is any indication of future performance — and any racetrack handicapper will tell you it’s all that matters — then Elliott’s historic performance at the controls of that lowly 1-5 Purdue team on Oct. 18, 2009 could be instructive of what might be to come Sunday when he leads the Bombers against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium.

Playing against the seventh-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes that day and seemingly overmatched against a much better known Buckeyes pivot in Terrelle Pryor, Elliott did nothing less than author one of the biggest victories in Boilermakers history.

Elliott went 31-for-50 against Ohio State that day, throwing for 281 yards and two TDs in a 26-18 victory that was instantly christened — and remains celebrated on YouTube to this day — among the biggest upsets in Big Ten history.

Heading into that game, Purdue had lost five straight games, had lost 19 straight games against nationally ranked opponents and hadn’t beaten a team that finished a season with a winning record in five years.

And so against that backdrop, what the Bombers are asking Elliott to do against the Riders this Sunday is small potatoes.

While Winnipeg will head into Sunday’s annual Labour Day Weekend classic off a chaotic week that saw the club jettison one head coach and promote another, it’s worth repeating the Bombers have also won two of their last four games.

What’s more, the 3-5 Riders are the ones who have lost five straight and are, at the moment at least, nothing even remotely resembling what was an Ohio State juggernaut at the time Elliott lined up against them.

Yeah, Elliott was playing at home against Ohio State that fall day, while he will be facing a hostile Saskatchewan crowd this Sunday. But in a game of two teams with lousy records, someone is going to win a huge game before an oversold crowd this Sunday in Regina and the momentum heading into the game, at least, appears to be on the side of Elliott and the Bombers.

“As an offence we’re starting to get things going,” Elliott said Thursday after practice at Canad Inns Stadium.

“I feel like we’re building some momentum as an offence. Just statistically, we’re doing a lot better, moving the football and giving ourselves a chance to win.

“I want to perform just as I have the last two weeks.”

Elliott will be making his third straight start for the Bombers on Sunday and will come into the game with a record that includes a 406-yard performance and a win against Hamilton on Aug. 16 but also a 20-for-42, 256-yard, one interception performance in a 20-17 loss to the B.C. Lions last Friday that cost Paul LaPolice his job as head coach.

Since then, defensive co-ordinator Tim Burke has taken over the head coaching duties in Winnipeg and delegated complete responsibility for the offence to Gary Crowton, who has all kinds of NCAA and even NFL experience, but is a CFL rookie.

Elliott was asked Thursday what differences he’s noticed now that Crowton no longer also has LaPolice watching over the offence.

“The only thing different so far has been the Day 1 meetings,” Elliott replied. “He’s in there with the receivers and the quarterbacks, so it’s one voice. He’s been able to speak his opinion and where he wants guys…”

With Bombers QB Buck Pierce beginning to practise again and potentially able to return as soon as next week for the Banjo Bowl, this might be Elliott’s last best chance to nail down the starting job before things are handed back to Pierce, who Burke has said he still considers his starting quarterback.

Elliott sounded like he knew what was at stake.

“You’ve got to be able to win football games,” said Elliott, “and lead the offence and earn the respect of your teammates.”

Elliott also knows from his time in Purdue what to expect in the overheated environment he will find at Mosaic Stadium.

“There’s going to be a lot of fans — everyone’s excited for this game… They’re going to sell out, it will be a loud crowd and we’ll be ready to go.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca