2021 Minnesota Game Poster No. 5: Purdue

Click to enlarge.

Previous game posters:

Ohio State

Miami (OH)

Colorado

Bowling Green

This week, the Gophers hit the road for the first time in Big Ten play. For our purposes, we'll imagine that the whole team has been crammed into the back of a van closely resembling that from the Sly Cooper series, with a maroon-and-gold paint job, the raccoon logos replaced with Gophers, and the ringed-tail flag changed to brown. As they roll into West Lafayette, the ominous likeness of Purdue Pete looks down upon them from the night sky.

I was going to reference the Sly Cooper series at some point as part of this project, as every game of the original trilogy ranks among my favorite video games. (Sly 2 might be my favorite game ever.) To imitate the Cooper Gang's van, I placed custom shapes over it in PowerPoint until I had a new, Minnesota-themed van. PowerPoint is where I made everything else on the poster as well, including an obscured depiction of the university gateway on the corner of Grant and State streets. This was an arduous process, but I think it turned out well. I hope Purdue Pete's ever-looming, terrifying presence — sort of like Clockwerk in the games — is as funny as I've thought it to be since adding it at the end.

With no game next week, there's no poster. But expect one in the days before Nebraska comes to town.