Purdue Crushed By Northwestern, 45-17 Final

There are no words that can accurately convey the pure sadness that washes over me each week as I watch Purdue Football. For whatever reason I always give myself just the tiniest bit of hope throughout the week. I let myself believe that this could be the week that Coach Parker leads the team to a victory. This is the glimmer of hope that will allow me to enjoy and watch the rest of this football season. Purdue did give me that glimmer of hope in the first quarter as they scored 10 points in the first quarter to go up 10-0. That led me to believe that it was possible Purdue could do what I predicted and actually win the game. Unfortunately, second HALF Purdue came out in the second QUARTER, perhaps they were confused, and the game was basically over at that point. Oh sure, they would play the second half, and the rest of the second quarter, but it didn’t really matter. I’m writing this midway through the fourth quarter with Purdue far far down. So far down in fact that I feel comfortable writing this while Purdue throws interception after interception that lead to points for Northwestern.

Short of Purdue brining in some new bodies that are capable of giving Purdue’s banged up lines a break I don’t see much changing for the rest of the year. It also would help Purdue if Panfil and Replogle could come back and play entire games. Unfortunately, both continue to be banged up. This Purdue team is hard to watch because they just aren’t consistent in any one facet of the game. Purdue looks like a team with a great passing attack, when they aren’t throwing interceptions or dropping easy catches. Purdue looks like a team that can stuff the run, when they aren’t allowing wide holes that let them be gashed for easy yards. They look like a team that can run the football comfortably until Markell Jones comes in and out with injuries and the offensive line can’t hold up the entire game. They look like they could be a competent pass defense until they don’t cover THE LEADING RECEIVER IN THE CONFERNCE! I just don’t think this team is going to improve drastically enough to notice it in the win loss column this year. They certainly look better than when Hazell was here but that really doesn’t say much. The second half was yet another disaster for Purdue and it led to Purdue falling out of contention for even the worst of bowl games (I know it was hardly possible but I’m contractually obligated to note it.).

For now we all have to suffer through a few more games before we can perhaps figure out who will lead this team next season. Only then will Purdue fans be able to turn the page and perhaps look toward the future with excitement. Until then it’s a hard slog.