Ask me what I took away from Purdue's near-miss in South Bend Saturday afternoon and evening and my answer is this: The Boilermakers are a good football team. Maybe a very good football team.
I know, I know: You'd rather stick a Phillips head in your eye than see Purdue lose a game like that, against that team, in that building.
But in so doing, I think Purdue proved itself some.
You know, Purdue won seven games last year.
Success this season doesn't necessarily require more victories, though it would obviously be nice.
What you really want to see to know this program is making progress - and not just taking advantage of a bowl system with entry requirements about as loose as your local community college - is for it to show it belongs, that it belongs on the same field as the better teams on its schedule. It did not do that last season, bowl champions or not. Oh, and consistency. Last year's turbulence from week to week has to end.
Now, granted: We don't know how good Notre Dame actually is. The rest of its schedule will tell us that in no uncertain terms. The Irish team Purdue rallied against in the fourth quarter had its best player, Tyler Eifert, idling on the sideline.
But regardless, Purdue belonged, battling to tie a game in the final minutes after being down double-digits to start the fourth quarter.
We'll talk about quarterbacks some more, though Robert Marve's MRI results could end the discussion once and for all, sadly, for all we know.
But what we should talk most about is a defense that did what it wanted to do, that final drive aside.
Purdue's "potentially" dominant defensive line dropped the qualifier in South Bend, for one weekend anyway. A bunch of those kids on the Irish O-line are headed to the National Football League and Purdue made a few of them look like they're headed to the Lingerie League.
The Boilermakers rattled a young quarterback, just like they wanted to and needed to. It was that defense that set up the game-tying score with a crucial play that may serve as the centerpiece of Josh Johnson's video resume for the NFL.
The special teams, so brutally flawed a week ago, were flawless. They had better be if you're going to call timeouts to make sure you don't get simple PATs blocked, no matter how big the PAT.
Kudos to Sam McCartney for his picture-perfect kick on his first career field goal attempt, in a building where butterflies have overcome many a kicker.
The offense needs to pick it up.
The receivers dropped too many passes and the pass protection let Robert Marve, in particular, down. When he had chances to beat Notre Dame in the second half, it was him who took the pounding. That offensive line remains a question.
I am not going to say Danny Hope was wrong to start Caleb TerBush. He's the coach and he sees practice and he has to do what he feels is best for his team, not what the Internet and newspaper and social media think is best for his team.
Part of leadership is making difficult, and sometimes unpopular decisions. But part of the deal, too, is knowing when to deviate from the plan. Purdue had momentum coming out of the second quarter after Marve led the Boilermakers' first scoring drive.
There's no way of knowing what would have happened had Marve started the second half. Regardless, Purdue lost all its mojo, and endured a very 2011-ish third quarter until Marve came back in and led the drive that resulted in a field goal on the fourth quarter's first snap.
But you have to give TerBush major credit. He could have been rattled by the ordeal that's been this past week and the first 58 minutes of Saturday's game. He could have been shaken by the terrible interception he threw ? the sort of gaffe Purdue started him in hopes of avoiding ? that gave the Irish three points.
Instead, he threw the game-tying touchdown pass when an incompletion would have ended the game. And Antavian Edison, that tough little SOB, hauled in a clutch catch right before getting smacked in the face.
Purdue may need a lot more of those plays from TerBush from here on out.
Pending the results of Marve's MRI, Purdue could be on the verge yet again suffering a major personnel loss at the quarterback position. That will make it a cool five years in a row, by the way, including all four of Hope's seasons as Purdue's head coach.
I have no inside info there, just a bad feeling that the injury that forced Marve from the game just before its deciding sequences might not be just a bruise, or some other harmless issue.
My fingers are crossed for Marve, a kid who's taken more crap than the Goodwill in his college career, some of which he brought on himself, but most of which he did not.
This season is his best chance and last chance ? there will be no seventh season of eligibility ? to make something of his football career and not leave the college game as The Best That Never Was.
If that opportunity is taken from him yet again, at least one stomach will turn. This one.
There have been parts of Marve's persona that have made him a tough guy to root for at times, but no one deserves this.
We will find out more in the days to come, but in the meantime, a difficult, yet encouraging, loss will settle in.
Tomorrow, Purdue should take its practice field with its collective head held high, looking ahead to what could be a very good season.
Look around the Big Ten. Presumed Leaders division favorite Wisconsin looks very, very beatable all of a sudden. Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Penn State and Indiana all look like teams the Boilermakers should beat right now, though it remains too early in the season to draw too many conclusions about anyone.
Purdue included. Such feelings like the ones expressed here can be fleeting.
I got the exact same sense about this team in 2009 as we left Autzen Stadium at Oregon. Maybe it was the delirium of it being like 5 o'clock in the morning my time, but that team that played that day looked like a team that was going to do big things in Year 1 under Danny Hope.
But it tripped over itself a week later against Northern Illinois, triggering a five-game losing streak that ruined the season.
With that in mind, it's Eastern Michigan week that might be Purdue's biggest of the season.
Coming into this season, Purdue has talked about having momentum coming out of last season and needing to build on it.
Right now it has a bit more momentum.
In 2009, it was squandered. Now, it mustn't be.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
This post was edited on 9/8 9:21 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
I know, I know: You'd rather stick a Phillips head in your eye than see Purdue lose a game like that, against that team, in that building.
But in so doing, I think Purdue proved itself some.
You know, Purdue won seven games last year.
Success this season doesn't necessarily require more victories, though it would obviously be nice.
What you really want to see to know this program is making progress - and not just taking advantage of a bowl system with entry requirements about as loose as your local community college - is for it to show it belongs, that it belongs on the same field as the better teams on its schedule. It did not do that last season, bowl champions or not. Oh, and consistency. Last year's turbulence from week to week has to end.
Now, granted: We don't know how good Notre Dame actually is. The rest of its schedule will tell us that in no uncertain terms. The Irish team Purdue rallied against in the fourth quarter had its best player, Tyler Eifert, idling on the sideline.
But regardless, Purdue belonged, battling to tie a game in the final minutes after being down double-digits to start the fourth quarter.
We'll talk about quarterbacks some more, though Robert Marve's MRI results could end the discussion once and for all, sadly, for all we know.
But what we should talk most about is a defense that did what it wanted to do, that final drive aside.
Purdue's "potentially" dominant defensive line dropped the qualifier in South Bend, for one weekend anyway. A bunch of those kids on the Irish O-line are headed to the National Football League and Purdue made a few of them look like they're headed to the Lingerie League.
The Boilermakers rattled a young quarterback, just like they wanted to and needed to. It was that defense that set up the game-tying score with a crucial play that may serve as the centerpiece of Josh Johnson's video resume for the NFL.
The special teams, so brutally flawed a week ago, were flawless. They had better be if you're going to call timeouts to make sure you don't get simple PATs blocked, no matter how big the PAT.
Kudos to Sam McCartney for his picture-perfect kick on his first career field goal attempt, in a building where butterflies have overcome many a kicker.
The offense needs to pick it up.
The receivers dropped too many passes and the pass protection let Robert Marve, in particular, down. When he had chances to beat Notre Dame in the second half, it was him who took the pounding. That offensive line remains a question.
I am not going to say Danny Hope was wrong to start Caleb TerBush. He's the coach and he sees practice and he has to do what he feels is best for his team, not what the Internet and newspaper and social media think is best for his team.
Part of leadership is making difficult, and sometimes unpopular decisions. But part of the deal, too, is knowing when to deviate from the plan. Purdue had momentum coming out of the second quarter after Marve led the Boilermakers' first scoring drive.
There's no way of knowing what would have happened had Marve started the second half. Regardless, Purdue lost all its mojo, and endured a very 2011-ish third quarter until Marve came back in and led the drive that resulted in a field goal on the fourth quarter's first snap.
But you have to give TerBush major credit. He could have been rattled by the ordeal that's been this past week and the first 58 minutes of Saturday's game. He could have been shaken by the terrible interception he threw ? the sort of gaffe Purdue started him in hopes of avoiding ? that gave the Irish three points.
Instead, he threw the game-tying touchdown pass when an incompletion would have ended the game. And Antavian Edison, that tough little SOB, hauled in a clutch catch right before getting smacked in the face.
Purdue may need a lot more of those plays from TerBush from here on out.
Pending the results of Marve's MRI, Purdue could be on the verge yet again suffering a major personnel loss at the quarterback position. That will make it a cool five years in a row, by the way, including all four of Hope's seasons as Purdue's head coach.
I have no inside info there, just a bad feeling that the injury that forced Marve from the game just before its deciding sequences might not be just a bruise, or some other harmless issue.
My fingers are crossed for Marve, a kid who's taken more crap than the Goodwill in his college career, some of which he brought on himself, but most of which he did not.
This season is his best chance and last chance ? there will be no seventh season of eligibility ? to make something of his football career and not leave the college game as The Best That Never Was.
If that opportunity is taken from him yet again, at least one stomach will turn. This one.
There have been parts of Marve's persona that have made him a tough guy to root for at times, but no one deserves this.
We will find out more in the days to come, but in the meantime, a difficult, yet encouraging, loss will settle in.
Tomorrow, Purdue should take its practice field with its collective head held high, looking ahead to what could be a very good season.
Look around the Big Ten. Presumed Leaders division favorite Wisconsin looks very, very beatable all of a sudden. Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Penn State and Indiana all look like teams the Boilermakers should beat right now, though it remains too early in the season to draw too many conclusions about anyone.
Purdue included. Such feelings like the ones expressed here can be fleeting.
I got the exact same sense about this team in 2009 as we left Autzen Stadium at Oregon. Maybe it was the delirium of it being like 5 o'clock in the morning my time, but that team that played that day looked like a team that was going to do big things in Year 1 under Danny Hope.
But it tripped over itself a week later against Northern Illinois, triggering a five-game losing streak that ruined the season.
With that in mind, it's Eastern Michigan week that might be Purdue's biggest of the season.
Coming into this season, Purdue has talked about having momentum coming out of last season and needing to build on it.
Right now it has a bit more momentum.
In 2009, it was squandered. Now, it mustn't be.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2012. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
This post was edited on 9/8 9:21 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com