Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/207768
f r o m e d i t o r b r i a n n e u b e r t misery loves company revising Noofone's outside history here, because most us ob- servers expected more from Purdue. But we also knew, deep down, that what's transpired through eight games — a 1-7 record — was possible. Not likely, but possible, if for no other reason but preseason "win-counting" was such a chore, considering the nature of the schedule, which only now eases up after virtually every team Purdue's played thus far was either ranked or in position to be ranked. Degree of difficulty has been significant for a Boilermaker team that was so good in recent seasons that its coach got fired. These situations are challenges; when coaches get canned, there's a reason for it. Ask Arkansas, which nabbed the biggest name of the coachhiring season, Bret Bielema, last winter and now sits at 3-5, with wins over Larry, Moe and Curly to start the season and an 0-5 SEC record since. Ask Cal, which made one of the most interesting moves of the coachhiring season by bringing in Sonny Dykes. The Bears are 1-8, and only because of a comefrom-behind win over Portland State. Ask Kentucky, which is 2-6 after hiring Florida State defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who has managed wins over just dreadful Miami (Ohio) and mighty Alabama … State. Ask South Florida, which is 2-6 and got smashed by something called a McNeese State. Ask perennial power Tennessee, which hired that one guy and has a 1-4 SEC record, most recently a 31-3 loss to Missouri, to show for it. The Volunteers did show Austin Peay who's boss, though. BCS conference teams who fired their coaches after last season for performance-related reasons, excluding Purdue, are a combined 34-50 right now, with 8-1 Auburn being the lone such case doing anything worth a damn. in saying. This season has been years in the making. Now that it's here in all its truck of reality. spectacular futility, it's just a matOnce a program slips to a ter of Purdue getting through certain rung, it's difficult to get it and hoping for better days out of it. ahead. And while it happens occaIt's not alone. j sionally, it's certainly difficult to get out of it quickly. Neubert can be contacted at No matter who was coachBNeubert@GoldandBlack.com. ing this team, you'd be watching a similar story unfold on Saturday afternoons, I'm quite confident And that says nothing of the chemical spills at Western Michigan (1-8) and Florida International (1-7). What am I saying here? I don't know. It's hard, I guess. It's hard taking over difficult situations and reversing courses immediately. Just because it's done from time to time doesn't mean it's the norm. No one's making excuses for Purdue here, because a touchdown every now and then is certainly a reasonable expectation, no matter the difficulty of the situation. But as poorly as the Darrell Hazell Era has begun at Purdue, it might be heartening in some small way for fans to know that they're not alone in their suffering. New beginnings from coast to coast, from Boston College to Colorado, have begun with the predictable DISCOVERY IS OUR MISSION enthusiasm that comes with something new, a new hope, www.cancerresearch.purdue.edu only for that hope to be crushed like a shopping cart under the speeding dump FINDING A CURE IS OUR GOAL GoldanDBlack express • volume 24, express 9 • 5