- Gary Danielson is one of 12 members of Purdue's "Cradle of Quarterbacks"
- Danielson led the Big Ten in passing offense in 1971 with 1,467 yards and set a then-completion percentage record with 61.7%.
- Danielson is now a CBS Sports college football analyst who will work the Purdue-Notre Dame game on Sept. 14.
INDIANAPOLIS — The only frustration of Gary Danielson’s Purdue football experience came on the field.
One of 12 members of the Cradle of Quarterbacks, Danielson fed the Otis Armstrong-led rushing attack. When given the chance to use his arm, in 1971, he averaged 9.5 yards per attempt and completed 61.7% of his passes — then a record for Big Ten games.
He wonders aloud if, in the present, he would have transferred — the route taken by 14 of the Big Ten’s 18 projected starting quarterbacks. Later, though, he has a firm answer for whether he wishes he’d had the option of immediate eligibility elsewhere.
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“I don't, to tell you the truth,” Danielson said at Big Ten media days at Lucas Oil Stadium. “I enjoyed every part of my career there. The frustrating part was on the field. But I loved going there. I chose Purdue for a lot of other reasons besides just football. I felt comfortable with the school and everything at that time, and I've got great friends still.
“I played with great players: Otis Armstrong, Darrell Stingley. Dave Butz, Greg Bingham. Played against them in the NFL. So it would have been tempting when you're 18 or 19. In retrospect, what I was as an NFL player was kind of formed with that disappointment in college.”
Danielson went on to a 15-year pro career, including 13 in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns. Now a veteran TV analyst, he will be on the broadcast team for CBS’ coverage when Notre Dame visits Ross-Ade Stadium on Sept. 14.
IndyStar sat down with Danielson to talk about this year's Boilermakers team and Big Ten's West Coast additions.
Q: What are your thoughts on Purdue going into the season?
A: I feel the story of Purdue was always the same. You have to have the right charismatic guy in there that makes great decisions on second-level talent. And then it has to be cornered around the right quarterback. I mean, that's been the story forever.
... But it all has to kind of fit together. It has to be the way it was kind of like when Wisconsin won, when Northwestern won, when Iowa wins. You have to build up the crescendo when you have your third, fourth and fifth-year seniors. You’re not going to win with sophom*ores and freshmen at Purdue. So I don't think much has changed.
Q: Two years ago, Purdue won the West Division and played in the Big Ten championship game. Doesn’t realignment make those breakthrough seasons more difficult?
A: I think that's the prevailing opinion. But I think it was always a downer. I went through it in the NFL. When you're playing on a team that just has really way more talent, you can hang for a while, but they're just better than you. You know, Aiden O'Connell's playing great, but over time, they just have more options to beat you. You’re drawing to an inside straight and they've got a bigger deck to play with.
So I think it's better this way. I really do think it's better. I mean, I grew up where the goal of every Big Ten team was to win the Big Ten championship. Even the Rose Bowl was, ‘Alright, whatever.’ But now it's gonna work for everybody else to say, we don't have to climb over the top five teams in the country. We’ve got to climb over the next 20 teams in the country. I think it's more realistic for everybody.”
Q: So you are not concerned that Purdue could get lost in the shuffle after the addition of four more strong programs from the former Pac-12?
A: I just thought it was unrealistic. Teams were down, and winning the West just was not giving people any credit. I just I think it's better this way. You're gonna go up against everybody. The number of teams you play is gonna be good. But I think the right guy — the Barry Alvarezes (at Wisconsin), the Gary Barnetts when he went (to Northwestern), with George Perles at Michigan State, Hayden Fry when he did it (at Iowa), even Jeff Brohm when he did it — you can put together a team that can win at the second level. Then you get in the playoffs, and everything's possible from the playoffs.
Q: How stark was the contrast in playing style between the Pac-12 and Big Ten, and which group now needs to adapt more to the other?
A: I think it's significant. I did a bunch of Pac-12 games. They don't have the girth in the defensive line and the offensive line. They're just a little bit smaller people. And then the big guys they get to get that equality are not as athletic as the Ohio State's and much of the SEC. You can just look at the draft. The big, athletic guys are being taken early, and they're not from the Pac-12.
So they look good against each other. But to take that physicalness that they're going to feel, they better be really good, because it gets old trying to score 35-40 points a week to win. That's very hard to do.
Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.
