Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/174879
f r o m e d i t o r b r i a n n e u b e r t now, do it again Purdue's most signifiNow comes one of cant tests of the season, and it has little to do with opponent Wisconsin. After melting away in the hot sun at Cincinnati in Week 1 — figuratively and maybe literally in some cases, too — then being just good enough to not lose to Indiana State in Week 2, the Boilermakers played well, almost well enough to win, against all odds against Notre Dame. The challenge now: Keep it up. Simple enough, right? Well, when you look at the Boilermakers' recent history, maybe not so much. Purdue's consistent inconsistency of late was one of the driving forces behind this new coaching staff being brought in. For years now, Purdue has played like a first-time driver, like a teenager hitting the gas pedal, then stomping the break, over and over again, making for a dizzying ride. Under the past staff, Purdue was an incredibly schizophrenic outfit, one that would just as soon lose at home to Northern Illinois or get a game-winning field goal blocked at Rice or get stomped by a very average Minnesota team as it would be to beat Ohio State or win in Ann Arbor or take Oregon right down to the wire in Eugene. Look no further than 2012. Two BCS-level teams went undefeated in college football during the regular season last year: Notre Dame and Ohio State. Both had to escape late in the fourth quarter against Purdue on their home fields, the same Purdue team that finished 6-7 and got trucked in an irrelevant bowl game after firing its coach. Point being: Purdue has shown to be capable, but only in fleeting bursts. This Purdue team showed a burst last weekend, taking the ranked Irish to their breaking point but ultimately falling, a result brought on by a three-touchdown landslide that took a little more than three minutes. You've read in this space many times already this season the prediction that there would come points this season where progress could be shown without results to back it up. Saturday was one of those days. Or, in this case, nights. Purdue looked like a significantly better football team than the one that got spooked silly a week earlier by the FCS Sycamores and an exponentially improved one from the group that showed up in Cincinnati in body only. The Boilermakers were competitive. Their previously moribund offense showed life, led by quarterback Rob Henry, who made one mistake in an otherwise outstanding game. Third-down numbers aside and one solitary big play aside, Purdue's defense looked good enough to win with. Yet Purdue lost, albeit in a game no one reasonable expected it to win. Now, the same stage is set. The Boilermakers are a threetouchdown underdog again, this time on the road, this time against a Wisconsin team that has beaten Purdue like a piñata time and again for the better part of a decade now. After the Notre Dame game, the tone around Purdue was as upbeat and enthusiastic as can be after a loss. People saw progress, though the performances from the first two weeks didn't exactly set the highest bar. The past few seasons, Purdue would be set up after such a game to pop like a an overfilled balloon. It happened so many times. Darrell Hazell is a consistent sort of guy, a level-headed sort of dude trying to craft a level-headed sort of football team. Saturday will be another one of those conflicts between prog- ress and result. I don't expect Purdue to win in Madison. Heck, considering its history there, I just hope no one ends up in the hospital. But after Purdue pushed Notre Dame, it is reasonable to expect a similar effort, if not a slightly better one. The goal is consistency and here is Purdue's first opportunity to prove that goal is attainable. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 4 • 5