In an attempt to bring more enthusiasm to football games at Ross-Ade Stadium, former head coach Joe Tiller's wife, Arnette, came up with the phrase "Boiler Up" in 1997. It immediately caught on and has remained a constant, even unofficially being incorporated into the Purdue fight song, "Hail Purdue."
What Arnette didn't know at the time of Boiler Up's origin was that in the days of steam-powered locomotives, when the fireman got the fire in the coal box hot enough for the engine to run, he would exclaim "Boiler's up!"