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uniform and helmet combinations to lure recruits. In that catching-up-to-the-rest sense, it was a smart move for Hazell and a welcomed one for the players. But delivery and the timing of the new look seemed a bit off: A non-rivalry, non-primetime event against one of the nation's best teams, Ohio State. The shine — er, matte-blackness — quickly dimmed, though, as the powerful Buckeyes seized control of the game early en route to handing Purdue the worst defeat in its program's history, 56-0. The Boilermakers also wore the helmets in the finale against rival Indiana, a 56-36 loss. R One of the best players in Purdue's history fin- ished with a flourish as Ricardo Allen had the best game of his career in his last one, getting a career-first two-interception game and a career-high 11 tackles against the Hoosiers. That performance allowed Allen to finish No. 2 alltime in interceptions with 13. "I think I had one of the best seasons I've had since I been here," Allen said. "I finally broke my trend of three interceptions. I did that even in high school. I never got past three interceptions. I got six this year. "As a career, I think I've done all I can do. All I can do as a corner, I think I did it." — Stacy Clardie That's a mindset, in part. But it also was a continual relayed. challenge to build confidence without success. Part of that can be attributed to football IQ. Part of "Some freshmen could be great athletes but the sec- that can be lack of passion. ond they hit adversity, they've never been there before, How badly do the players want to be good and want to and it takes a lot of maturity (to handle)," outgoing se- compete? nior Kurt Freytag said. "Some guys could be less talented, but they're more mature football players that when we're down by 14. … Earlier in the year, I could see that with a lot of the young kids on the team. All of a sudden, we're down by seven, and they thought the game was over. "But a lot of kids grew up quick on the team." Football IQ Having two practices open to reporters each week during the season provided an opportunity to see not only how players responded to coaching but how quickly they grasped techniques and schemes. Certainly a broad stroke can't be painted across the program, but it was pretty clear that a portion of the roster in 2013 struggled to take instruction and then apply it during practices. More than once, a player was specifically told what to do — even in individual drills — and didn't do it. That often led to repeated reps until the player got it right, but as the season progressed, time couldn't be spent on that either. It was clear some guys just weren't going to get it. Unfortunately for Purdue, a lack of depth meant some of those players had to be on the field during games. That's when mistakes can happen — when a player doesn't follow assignments, even ones that were clearly f IllustrateD volume 24, issue 3 21