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volume 24, EX 8 • oct. 31, 2013 Inside | Ohio State preview 9-13 | NFL Boilers 25-26 Men's hoops wins exhibition 32-35 | Moses nets award 36-37 A Special Occasion BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com hough Darrell this is Tactions seemOhioHazell insiststhat's all, "Purdue vs. State" and his to indicate otherwise. Of all the games the Boilermakers could have made a splash and potentially gained a spark from a new look — black helmets will be worn for the first time since 1990 — Hazell chose this one. A non-rival game. A non-night game. A non-nationally televised game. A non-bowl game. But a game against a school that Hazell spent seven seasons as an assistant coach for the highly successful Buckeyes, who enter Saturday's game as the nation's fourth-ranked team and undefeated at 8-0. Purdue is 1-6 in Hazell's first season and has lost all three of its Big Ten games. But this helmet decision was made in July, Hazell said, well before either team's progress and results at this point were known and was chosen for "no particular reason." "It all comes back to pride and feeling good about yourselves and it comes back to that image," Hazell said. "These guys wanted (to wear black helmets). They look in the mirror and feel a little bit better about themselves. (We'll) see what happens." Hazell, at least, knows that anything can happen lately when Purdue plays Ohio State, especially at Ross-Ade Stadium, where the game is on Saturday. The Boilermakers have won three of the last four meetings in West Lafayette, and Hazell was on Ohio State's sidelines in two of those losses. In 2004, Purdue won, 24-17 over an unranked Ohio State team, and then in 2009 when the Boilermakers upset the No. 7 Buckeyes, 26-18. Maybe that's why Hazell seems to be treating this meetWayne Doebling ing as a special occasion: His first The last time Purdue wore black helmets was in 1990, using them the game against Ohio State since entire season under Coach Fred Akers. Ohio State played at Ross-Ade leaving to take a head coaching Stadium that season, too, and beat the Boilermakers 42-2. THE Numbers 6 Times previously the Boilermakers have faced a fourth-ranked OSU team. Purdue's lone win was a 35-13 victory in Columbus in 1945, the first in a series of great Purdue "Spoilermaker" upsets in the 1940s and 50s. The Boilermakers' record the game following their most recent five-game losing skids: beating Michigan in 2008, No. 7 OSU in 2009, losing in overtime to IU in '10 and beating Iowa last year. Percentage of redshirt and true freshman on Purdue's 112-man roster. The Boilermakers had 14 players with freshman eligibility play against MSU. Cody Webster's rank in the FBS in career punting average among those with at least 120 attempts. 3-1 46.4 1 job at Kent State, a chance for the program's first victory over a top-5 team since 1999, the hope that a change in gear will spark such heights. Freshman quarterback Danny Etling, for one, likes the opportunity this game presents, considering the Boilermakers are a 30.5-point underdog. "I think we can really use this game to test where we are against the best and see how much we've improved from the past two weeks of playing together, learning together and making mistakes together," GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 8 • 1