Purdue head coach Joe Tiller knows a thing or two about the Old West. He even sports a large collection of cowboy boots.
Tiller, though, knows one man whose collection of cowboy boots tops his: MSU head coach John L. Smith.
"I think I've got a dozen pairs," Tiller said. "He's probably got 20 pairs."
The two will lock horns for the first time on Saturday when the Spartans battle the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Ind.
Both coaches have implemented a similar style of offense at their respective schools — the spread — which is becoming more commonplace in today's football arenas.
When Tiller left Wyoming for Purdue in 1996, he brought his spread offense to the Big Ten, a league that was still coming off the days of three yards and a cloud of dust from the Woody Hayes/Bo Schembechler era.
This new passing attack has led to increased scoring in a league where the norm used to be strong defenses.
"I blame it on Joe Tiller," Penn State head coach Joe Paterno said. "I told Joe before the game we played them that you're a pain in the backside. In the old days, I thought if I got 17 points, I could win. When he came into the league, he changed everything around."
Northwestern head coach Randy Walker also employs the spread and sees it as a natural trend in the progression of football.
"I think a bunch of us figured out a few years ago that you don't have to play this game in a phone booth," he said. "In fact, the field is 53 yards wide and 120 yards long, so let's put some great athletes out there, spread the field and really stretch the field — not only vertically, but horizontally with things.
"There's just a lot of reasons for offensive football to explode."
Quarterback play is essential to running a good spread offense and Tiller has been blessed with some great quarterbacks during his time at Purdue, including current NFL starters Drew Brees (San Diego) and Kyle Orton (Chicago).
MSU is fortunate to have junior Drew Stanton at quarterback, who has run the offense with great proficiency in his first two seasons at the helm.
Stanton admired Purdue's offense from afar.
"I grew up liking Drew Brees and what they were able to do throwing the ball," Stanton said. "They spread the ball out and they were really the first team in the Big Ten to spread it out and do different things. Any time you can throw the ball around 50 times in a offense, you like that as a quarterback."
As for the Boilermakers, their quarterbacks — Brandon Kirsch and Curtis Painter — have struggled this season and it shows in the team's 2-6 record.
But Smith doesn't believe Purdue's 0-5 Big Ten record is an indicator of the team's talent.
"We can't be dumb enough to look past anyone," Smith said. "These guys are a good football team. They have great personnel, we're on the road and it's one we have to get."
Smith and Tiller go way back — all the way to Montana, where Tiller attended school at Montana State and later, Smith completed a Masters degree at Montana.
"You all know he's an old Montana State guy. He's a Bobcat. Having been a Grizzly, we don't like each other from day one," Smith quipped. "(He's a) good friend, as good of a friend as you can get in this profession.
"I like Joe. I like him a lot. Down to Earth, good, honest guy. He's good for kids."
Since both spent a majority of their coaching careers near the Pacific coast before coming to the Big Ten, they have crossed paths quite a few times and have left a lot of people in awe.
"We have an awful lot of mutual friends," Tiller said. "I've always admired him either up close or from a distance. He's an accomplished coach and you always respect a guy who has a track record."
Smith, despite using the same offense, can easily poke fun at the wide impact that Tiller has had in the Big Ten.
"Coming into the league, we talked about things he brought to the league," Smith said. "(He's responsible for) instigating the circus. He's the ringleader of the circus. So now it's all a circus, isn't it? Everybody's playing that game.
"It's all Tiller's fault for bringing that crap into the league."
Although this will be the first meeting between the long-time coaches, Tiller doesn't look at that. One thing he can look to, though, is that he is 5-1 against the Spartans in his career.
"The game is never played between coaches, it's not about the coaches, it's about the players," Tiller said. "You can separate those feelings and understand that you're playing a guy you're very familiar with and you have a lot of respect (for) and that you consider to be a friend, but it's a competitive game and you treat it accordingly."
