It looks like Painter’s flirtation with Missouri has paid off, per ESPN.

After talking with Missouri about its coaching vacancy, Painter decided to stay at his alma mater Wednesday and agreed to an eight-year contract through the 2018-19 season.

“I am extremely excited about continuing my career at Purdue,” Painter said in a statement. “I believe we have built something very special. At the same time, I feel we have much more ahead of us to accomplish. At the end of the day, my heart is at Purdue, and this is a place where I want to win a national championship.”

Last year, Purdue rewarded Painter with a contract through the 2016-17 season. It included a $1.3 million base salary and up to $1 million in incentives.

Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

His current salary of $1.3 million sounds plenty healthy to me, so I looked up Bo Ryan’s contract, and he has a rolling deal that is paying him $1.25 million per season. Apparently, $1.3 million wasn’t enough for Painter, who successfully leveraged Missouri’s interest into another raise.

Not bad for a guy whose team finished the season with an 18-point loss to VCU.

Check out Midwest Sports Fans for a funny photo story featuring Painter, Purdue Pete and Brad Stevens.

E’Twaun Moore hit 13-of-18 shots (including 7-of-10 from long range) to lead the Purdue Boilermakers in a 76-63 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Purdue pulled away at the end, so the game was closer than the final score would indicate. JaJuan Johnson (13 points) was the only other Boilermaker in double digits. Ohio State got 25 points and six boards from freshman phenom Jared Sullinger, but the Buckeyes shot just 38% from the field and turned the ball over 18 times. That’s not going to get it done when playing on the road against Purdue.

Moore is currently considered a second round prospect by Draft Express, while NBADraft.net doesn’t even have him going in the first two rounds. He’s averaging more than 18 points and is shooting better than 40% from 3PT range, so offensively he can score in a variety of ways. He’s a good defender, and although he lacks the physical tools that will wow NBA scouts, he’s a smart player and knows where he’s supposed to be on the court. That’s half the battle defensively.

It took a fat-guy fumble recovery in the endzone to do it (yes, technically the touchdown was given to Kirk Cousins, but my way is more fun), but Michigan State survived a surprising scare from Purdue today to remain alongside Wisconsin and (for the moment) Ohio State as the only one-loss teams in the Big Ten.

The Spartans fell behind 28-13 and 31-20 in this one before making a fourth-quarter comeback. It was aided by an ugly Rob Henry interception and a blocked punt, but it still counts.

Michigan State now goes into next week’s game at Penn State looking to lock up a share of the Big Ten title for the first time since 1988. If Ohio State loses today or at Michigan, the Spartans would have the tie-breaker in the conference over Wisconsin (head-to-head) and get the Big Ten’s automatic bid to a BCS game. If all three teams win out, the team with the highest ranking in the BCS will get the bid. It’s dumb, but that’s how the conference’s rule works.

What makes it even more dumb is that unlike in 2008, when Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were had all beaten each other and needed the BCS to sort out the Big 12 South, this year, Michigan State doesn’t have a loss to one of the other two.

The Spartans beat Wisconsin by 10 early in the season, and their one loss is to Iowa, who is not involved in this mess. Ohio State, meanwhile, lost to Wisconsin. So technically, head-to-head should go Michigan State’s way, right? Considering they don’t have a head-to-head loss like the other two.

I’m not saying the Spartans are the most deserving, necessarily, as I think it’s pretty clear that Wisconsin is playing the best football in the Big Ten right now. But those two did meet on the field, and Michigan State did win that game.

Should it shake out with all three teams winning out, it should make for a fun debate on Dec. 5 when all of this is decided.

I know it’s outside of my usual territory, but one of the biggest stories in the sports world today is in college basketball, where it has been revealed that Purdue star Robbie Hummel has torn his ACL and will miss the entire season.

Hummel missed the second half of last season after injuring the same knee. Purdue was No. 3 in the country when he went down, and while they played hard and surprised some people to make the Sweet 16 without him, the finish was a disappointment for a team that had high expectations at the beginning of the season.

The Boilermakers were considered by many to be the favorite in the Big Ten this year, even with a strong Michigan State team returning. Heck, some were even looking at them as a national title contender. That’s likely to change now.

E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson are two special players, and will keep Purdue in the middle of the Big Ten race and make them competitive nationally. But it’s hard to see them competing for a national title without Hummel, who can do it all.

It’s a disappointing day for Purdue, and college basketball fans in general.

Raise your hand if you don’t live in Oregon and know who Kenjon Barner is. OK, now evaluate your life after physically replying to a command you read on a sports blog (I kid, I kid).

Barner is about to be on everybody’s radar screen, as the Oregon sophomore running back had one heck of a game today against New Mexico. In one half. Barner rushed for 146 yards and scored four times on 17 carries in the first half for the Ducks, and added a 60-yard touchdown reception just for good measure.

Yes, it’s against New Mexico, but it’s still scary good. Barner’s teammates have been pretty good, too, leading New Mexico 59-0 after 30 minutes of play.

Some other tidbits at halftime of the mid-afternoon games:

- Denard Robinson is looking like the quarterback Rich Rodriguez needs to run his offense. Shoelace (he doesn’t tie his shoes, which is repeated ad nauseum here in Michigan) has 131 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Wolverines in the first half against Connecticut. Perhaps more importantly, he is 8-for-9 passing for 71 yards. Last year, Robinson couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with his passes. Unless said barn was wearing the opponents jersey. Michigan went into the half up 21-10.

- Brian Kelly’s fast-break offense has shown flashes of brilliance in the first half against Purdue, but has only produced one touchdown and two field goals. Surprisingly, it’s the Irish defense that has been most impressive, holding Purdue to a field goal as Notre Dame led 13-3 at halftime.

I’ll have more after the games.

Wisconsin 73, Purdue 66
The #4-ranked Boilermakers found out Saturday that it’s awfully tough to win in Madison. Jordan Taylor came off the bench to lead the Badgers with 23 points, while Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes chipped in with 20 and 14, respectively. It was Purdue’s first loss of the season.

Georgia Tech 71, Duke 67
Gani Lawal led the Yellow Jackets with 21 points and nine rebounds, and right now is a better player than freshman phenom Derrick Favors. Jon Scheyer kept the Blue Devils in it with 25 points and six assists, but Kyle Singler had a nightmare game, hitting just 2 of 13 shots from the field. Georgia Tech outrebounded Duke, 34-26.

After turning in one of the more pathetic offensive displays in recent memory, No. 7 Ohio State was shocked in West Lafayette on Saturday as Purdue beat the Buckeyes 26-18.

His final numbers (17 of 31, 221 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) don’t do justice to how bad sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor was today. Midway through the third quarter, he was just 7 of 14 passing for 84 yards with interceptions. And his fumble in the second quarter killed a potential scoring drive.

Pryor has all the physical tools to succeed, but Jim Tressel was wrong when he said this summer that the sophomore was developing as a passer. He’s not. His decision-making isn’t very sound and he’s not good enough to overcome turnovers, which was evident today.

That said, Tressel hasn’t helped Pryor in his development. His play calling and in-game decisions are often befuddling and he clearly isn’t the right person to nurture a quarterback as skilled as Pryor. Also, Ohio State’s running game was non-existent on Saturday, which is staggering considering Purdue was allowing over 160 rushing yards per game coming into today.

This was a sad offensive display by the Buckeyes and they deserved to lose with the way they played. But let’s give credit to a Purdue team that took advantage of the opportunities that it was given. They could have opened the door for an Ohio State comeback when the Buckeyes added a field goal early in the fourth to cut the Boilermakers’ lead to 23-10. Instead, Purdue added a field goal of its own to all but put the game out of reach.

This was a nice victory by a Purdue team that many people figured would just play dead today.

To say Rich Rodriguez’s first year at Michigan has been a failure would be a gross understatement. In their 48-42 loss to Purdue on Saturday, Michigan is guaranteed its first losing season since 1967. It also ensured that the Wolverines’ 33-year bowl streak is now over, too.

There’s really no doubt that Rich Rod is going to turn things around at Michigan and get that program back on track soon. He’ll find a quarterback to run his spread option offense and things will start to quickly fall in place. He just needs time to get the right players to fight his scheme and everyone should be patient while he goes through the process.

But there’s no other way to cut it – this season was a total debacle. I realize these young men are learning an entirely new system and will need time to develop, but you can’t lose to Toledo at home. You can’t get beat by Purdue on a hook and ladder on the final play of the game. You can’t turn the ball over six times in an embarrassing loss to Notre Dame.

Rich Rodriguez will turn Michigan around. But they’ve been a total embarrassment this season and an absolute joke.

Coming into the 2008 College Football Season, the Penn State Nittany Lions weren’t considered a national championship contender. They weren’t even considered a legitimate contender in the Big Ten, with many ranking them behind Ohio State, Wisconsin and even Illinois in the conference.

But PSU remains undefeated on the season after beating Purdue 20-6 on Saturday and even though they’re still flying under the national championship radar, teams better start taking notice. Not only do the Lions have one of the best offenses in the nation (they were averaging close to 50 points a game coming into this weekend), but they also flashed a little defense in their victory over the Boilermakers.

Penn State doesn’t have a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback like Oklahoma, Missouri or Texas – three teams currently ranked ahead of them in the polls – but so far Daryll Clark has proven that he’s an excellent fit for Joe Paterno’s new spread offense. And while he doesn’t have unworldly size and athleticism like fellow Big Ten back Chris “Beanie” Wells of Ohio State, RB Evan Royster is a workhorse that can grind out tough yards like he did Saturday against Purdue when he rushed for 141 yards and a 7.8 YPC average.

It was interesting to see PSU win like it did against the Boilermakers because it was unlike any of its previous victories this season. They didn’t light up the scoreboard or win with flash; they just kept moving the ball methodically on offense, didn’t turn the ball over and played solid defense. They proved today that they could win without relying on the big play, which should only serve them going forward.

The next three weeks will prove whether or not Penn State is a true contender or not. They’re at Wisconsin, home against Michigan and then travel to Columbus to take on OSU through the rest of October. That’s a daunting three-week task.