Today might have been the most important game Darrell Hazell coached at Purdue.
It shouldn't have been that way, a Week 2 non-conference meeting with a rather pedestrian opponent carrying such weight.
But that was the reality of Purdue's situation and that of a coach who needs to do something pretty special this season from a self-preservation perspective. This might have been a big, big game toward that whole subplot to this season.
A tone was supposed to be set today in drenched Ross-Ade Stadium, a statement made that this team really is "different," just like the coach says it is.
Well, Purdue had better hope that a tone wasn't set in West Lafayette on Saturday, because if it was, then it was a suggestion that just more of the same is coming.
Hazell seemed to bristle at a question aimed at the direction of the program - which is fine, because it is OK for him to be publicly angry sometimes, whether he knows that or not - then said he and his staff will search for answers during this bye week to come.
We'll see if there are answers at this point, because every September has been about finding answers. Purdue's changed schemes and personnel, mainly at quarterback, mid-month before and hasn't so much as moved the needle.
Answers were supposed to be an off-season thing.
A turnstile against the run for years now, Purdue changed schemes on defense under new coordinator Ross Els, a system that sure looked on Saturday like one that not only plays to Purdue's weaknesses, but actually creates more of them.
But schemes don't make tackles.
Players do. And Purdue still needs players on that side of the ball.
On offense, things were supposed to be better with an experienced quarterback and a coordinator who's not neurotic and odd.
David Blough did some good things today, made some big plays. But he threw five picks. Some of them were on him more than others, but the worst play of the day was by far his momentary lapse of reason in the red zone.
That was not experience showing up at quarterback. That was the opposite.
In the past, five turnovers from the QB position would have gotten a player yanked. I don’t think that it happens now and I don't think it should.
But here's Purdue again, looking for answers two games into a season that will define where it's headed, whether Hazell is going to be here in 2017 or not.
You have to admit, when you marked up that schedule prior to the season, it had to be damn hard to project Purdue doing anything relevant this season without a W coming in Week 2 against this Cincinnati team.
If you're in Year 4 of this thing and still can't avoid being down 31-7 at home to a middle-of-the-pack American Athletic Conference team, then that's a thorny little pill, man, a hard reality.
But it's Purdue's reality.
Hazell is right: One game does not define a season, as he said in response to that question he bristled at.
But when that one game reverberates so much of the three seasons prior, when things are supposed to be better now, then it is not to be brushed off.
But like I say, when there's nothing left to say, you still have to say something.
Hazell had to answer.
Now, he needs answers.
Again.
It shouldn't have been that way, a Week 2 non-conference meeting with a rather pedestrian opponent carrying such weight.
But that was the reality of Purdue's situation and that of a coach who needs to do something pretty special this season from a self-preservation perspective. This might have been a big, big game toward that whole subplot to this season.
A tone was supposed to be set today in drenched Ross-Ade Stadium, a statement made that this team really is "different," just like the coach says it is.
Well, Purdue had better hope that a tone wasn't set in West Lafayette on Saturday, because if it was, then it was a suggestion that just more of the same is coming.
Hazell seemed to bristle at a question aimed at the direction of the program - which is fine, because it is OK for him to be publicly angry sometimes, whether he knows that or not - then said he and his staff will search for answers during this bye week to come.
We'll see if there are answers at this point, because every September has been about finding answers. Purdue's changed schemes and personnel, mainly at quarterback, mid-month before and hasn't so much as moved the needle.
Answers were supposed to be an off-season thing.
A turnstile against the run for years now, Purdue changed schemes on defense under new coordinator Ross Els, a system that sure looked on Saturday like one that not only plays to Purdue's weaknesses, but actually creates more of them.
But schemes don't make tackles.
Players do. And Purdue still needs players on that side of the ball.
On offense, things were supposed to be better with an experienced quarterback and a coordinator who's not neurotic and odd.
David Blough did some good things today, made some big plays. But he threw five picks. Some of them were on him more than others, but the worst play of the day was by far his momentary lapse of reason in the red zone.
That was not experience showing up at quarterback. That was the opposite.
In the past, five turnovers from the QB position would have gotten a player yanked. I don’t think that it happens now and I don't think it should.
But here's Purdue again, looking for answers two games into a season that will define where it's headed, whether Hazell is going to be here in 2017 or not.
You have to admit, when you marked up that schedule prior to the season, it had to be damn hard to project Purdue doing anything relevant this season without a W coming in Week 2 against this Cincinnati team.
If you're in Year 4 of this thing and still can't avoid being down 31-7 at home to a middle-of-the-pack American Athletic Conference team, then that's a thorny little pill, man, a hard reality.
But it's Purdue's reality.
Hazell is right: One game does not define a season, as he said in response to that question he bristled at.
But when that one game reverberates so much of the three seasons prior, when things are supposed to be better now, then it is not to be brushed off.
But like I say, when there's nothing left to say, you still have to say something.
Hazell had to answer.
Now, he needs answers.
Again.
