Brees declined to sign. The jerk became belligerent. As Brees got on the bus, the magazine came flying at him, much as the Spartans' defense had during the game. Brees walked around the bus to confront the guy in what might have turned ugly if security people hadn't responded quickly.

So it went at the end of Purdue's visit to Michigan State.

A tough loss to Michigan St. did not help Drew Brees' Heisman hopes. (AP)

Fun day.

Fans among the crowd of almost 75,000 taunted Brees for what they considered the end of his Heisman Trophy chances. After Michigan State's 30-10 victory, a Spartans player, reserve safety Richard Brown, mockingly struck the Heisman pose on his way out of the stadium.

Even James Carville couldn't have put a positive spin on this performance.

"They just kicked our ass all day long," Purdue defensive tackle Matt Mitrione said. "Both sides of the ball. Smashed us. Everyone was so flat and so down. It was really ugly. This week, we're going to beat the hell out of each other to remind ourselves of where we came from. We've had too much (publicity)."

Doesn't anyone in this league want to go to Pasadena? It's a nice place. Really. The weather is warm. There's a big parade. There's a big game with lots of people in the stands.

It says something about the Big Ten that the league's top two Rose Bowl contenders threw in clunkers at a critical time Saturday, with Iowa upsetting Northwestern and Michigan State upsetting Purdue. Ohio State needed overtime to squeak past Illinois. The top of the league is a bunch of 5-2 teams, none of which should inspire much fear.

"Parity," Purdue coach Joe Tiller called it.

Or mediocrity.

"The Big Ten is the best conference in the whole entire nation," Mitrione said. "If you can't see that, you don't know football."

Mitrione became defensive on that subject. But he participated whole-heartedly in the Boilermakers' self-flagellation. However, they still control whether they will get to the Rose Bowl. They're in the same position they were in when the day started. It's up to them. If they defeat rival Indiana at home next Saturday, they'll go to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 34 years.

The Purdue-Indiana game is usually meaningless outside the state of Indiana. Anyone who has heard of the Old Oaken Bucket either has connections to the state or a high college football IQ.

The Boilermakers have a lot to correct before their biggest game in decades, one that the nation will be following. Purdue's receivers dropped at least five passes Saturday. Brees has thrown more interceptions in the past two games -- seven -- than he had in the previous 11 games.

Michigan State's pass defense, ranked second in the nation, stood up to the challenge of Tiller-ball. The Spartans might have even opened a slight rift between Tiller and Brees. They didn't seem to be on the same page in the postgame interviews. Brees was 26 of 43 passing for 279 yards, with three interceptions and one touchdown.

"Maybe we were too conservative out there at times, fooling ourselves instead of fooling them," Brees said.

"I thought we panicked in the passing game several times," Tiller said. "We threw underneath when we had crossing routes open deep."

Meanwhile, Michigan State, with a true freshman quarterback, ran up its most yards of the season. Running back T.J. Duckett rushed for 174 yards, often dragging two, three or four Purdue defenders for extra yards at the end of a play.

Perhaps most ominous for Purdue is that the option worked well for Michigan State. Indiana is 3-7, but it still has nimble quarterback Antwaan Randle El.

"Definitely, Indiana saw how we played the option, and they're smiling," Purdue safety Stu Schweigert said. "Part of it is that T.J. Duckett is such a big back. They don't have anyone like him. But they do have an athletic quarterback with Antwaan Randle El."

The other side of the story is that Purdue's players are steaming after this loss. Mitrione and receiver Vinny Sutherland walked to the team bus wearing only golf shirts in 40-degree weather. The Boilermakers might decide to take out their anger on the rival Hoosiers. They could have used some of that fire Saturday. After a stunning victory over Ohio State at home and a bye week, they put on a flat, tepid performance in East Lansing.

"It was painfully obvious to me," Brees said.

But one more victory and Purdue goes to the Rose Bowl. Just like before.

"I guess that's because we're really lucky," Brees said.

Except that a bunch of disappointed players had a bus ride to endure with a box dinner and a 20-point loss to chew on.

"It's going to be a long ride home," Schweigert said.