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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 1 • 1 BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com E ven for comparison's sake, Darrell Hazell doesn't want to discuss 2013. "You're tired of talking about last year," he said earlier this week. "This is a whole dif- ferent football team." The question that prompted the re- sponse was an innocuous one: The reporter wondered if Purdue's defense would be bet- ter from a unit that gave up a school-record 456 points last season. Hazell answered with a resounding "yes," listing off the ways in which it will be so. But Purdue's second-year head coach isn't only hoping to see improvement on that side of the ball. Hazell knows progress must be shown in every area: From the in- tangibles of passion, effort, confidence and ability to overcome adversity to the mea- surable of execution, of actually producing yards and points on offense and limiting each on defense. Those elements can produce victories. They're ones that weren't displayed of- ten enough in 2013, but ones that Hazell sees in spades in 2014 with what he consid- ers a tough, passionate, confident group. Now, it just needs to show up. And all the Boilermakers are eager to show it can. "We all know what we can do, how far we've come and we know the work we've put in, but we're ready to show the fans and Purdue nation what we're capable of and the strides we've made," senior captain Ryan Russell said. "It's very important to get out there and give everyone who supported us a good showing and to show everyone in this organization that we're coming a long way and it's going to be a different season. We still have high goals and expectations." Goal No. 1, though, is to beat Western Michigan in the season opener Saturday. Tom Campbell Darrell Hazell insists Purdue's talent level has "risen" after a disastrous 2013 season, and he's keeping all his focus on coaching a different Boilermaker team in 2014, not looking back on 1-11. 1943 The year of Purdue's last undefeated season, after the Boilermakers won just one game in 1942. It is a feat Purdue would like to repeat 71 years later. 7 Consecutive seasons in which West- ern Michigan has opened its season against a Big Ten foe. Its record is 0-6. 38/32 Plays that WMU and Purdue had, respec- tively, of more than 20 yards in all of 2013. Both teams are looking to increase those numbers in 2014. 99 The temperature in the L.A. Coli- seum the last time Purdue played a game on Aug. 30, the earliest kickoff in school annals. USC rallied in the second half to a 27-17 victory in 1998. THE NUMBERS VOLUME 25, EX 1 • AUG. 28, 2014 Inside | Western Michigan preview 7-11 Holmes feature 15-16 | Football notes 22–27 Recruiting 28–29 | Basketball updates 30-31 Fresh Start