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volume 24, EX 7 • oct. 17, 2013 Inside | Michigan State preview 9-13 | Depth chart 15–16 Ryan Russell feature 17–18 | Football, WBB commitments 34-35 Still Working BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com the point in a seaAtson tomidwayfirst-year hasdismalcoach date, not much gone right for Purdue under Purdue Darrell Hazell. It has won only once in six games. It ranks statistically as one of the Big Ten's worst teams in all the major offensive and defensive categories. Its stadium recently was ablaze with red, the swarm of visitors from Nebraska overpowering the smattering of home fans, and likely will be for the next home game against Ohio State. Its coaching staff, searching for answers, made sweeping changes the last two weeks in personnel and scheme. They put even more freshmen on the field and gave others who already had played at points more snaps in an offense that shifted from a pro style approach to a spread and in a defense that moved from a base four-man front to three down linemen with five defensive backs. But Hazell and some of his players grasp on reality. He says "our margin for error is not very big." He says "there's so many little things you've got to do (better), you can't fill them all at one time. You've got to pick and choose." Tom Campbell He says Darrell Hazell has offered a refreshingly honest assessment of where his Purdue team stands at the midway point in the season, pointing to a small margin for error and targeting specific fixes to get the team the team back to improving consistently. needs to transfer the don't seem too shaken. He's saying all the right things, admit- way it executes in practice to games, but ting "this is not where we want to be," that then offers this nugget: "Whether it's the the shift toward youth doesn't mean there's people we're going against in practice as not still a focus on winning now, that he an- opposed to games might have a factor to do with it, both sides of the ball." ticipates this team still improving. Hazell and his staff are not giving up Hazell also, refreshingly, has a firm THE Numbers 49 6 29 3 The percentage of drives Michigan State has forced its opponents into a three-and-out to date this season. It tops the country. Freshmen Purdue started on offense against Nebraska, making it one of the youngest teams in the nation. Michigan State's Big Ten wins since 2008, the most in the conference. Games Purdue plays in the month of October, the fewest it has played in the 10th month of the year since 2001. on this program, he reminds frequently. They are tirelessly working to make fixes. That started with the scheme changes, which are even now being tweaked, from scaling back the playbook in an effort to do four or five things well instead of several things "OK," to continuing to teach the defensive players techniques and plays to make the new look more disruptive. Players insist they'll respond and have a better second half of the season than the first. "I can see that going in now. We just have to be able to develop and advance a little faster," junior Ryan Russell said. "Obviously the record isn't what we want it to be now. But we can't do anything about it. That's behind us. We still have a lot of Big GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 7 • 1