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GoldanDBlack express • volume 25, express 3 • 5 T hings were supposed to be better this year. For one day at least, they were worse. Purdue's profound failures Saturday against Central Michigan, in what amounted to a total rever- sion to 2013 form, are no guarantee of more such performances to come. Let's make that clear right now, in no uncertain terms. Despite the numb feeling you might have taken away from Purdue's 38-17 drubbing at the hands of Central Michigan, the season is not over. But it certainly didn't paint a pretty picture of things that could lie ahead if the Boilermak- ers aren't careful. Or, I should say, better. Much, much better. In the first week, Purdue beat Western Michigan, a terrible team last season likely to be terrible again this season, and in many ways looked good doing it. It moved the ball on offense in Week 1. It did no such thing in Week 2, to the point that quarterback tumult has returned to its rightful place in West Lafayette, as predictable this time of year as the leaves turning. Against Western Michigan, Purdue avoid - ed 2013's trademark negative plays and game- changing gaffes, snaps on which Purdue lost either yards or possession altogether. It was mere minutes into the game against Central that Purdue coughed up the first of its three turnovers, a pick-six, the sixth touchdown opposing defenses have scored in a little more than one calendar year. Purdue was pretty close to picture perfect on special teams vs. Western Michigan. Against Central Michigan, it rained flags like an Old Testament plague when Purdue kicked, costing it so much needed yardage. Purdue was solid against Western Michi - gan in so many ways. Against Central, there were those face- palm moments, whether it was having 12 dudes on the field on fourth-and-one or slid- ing for a two-yard gain on third-and-three. There was Purdue again, putting firearm to foot and pulling the trigger until it went, "Click." It was written here prior to the season that while it might seem that things couldn't be worse than 2013, they can. Things being as bad against this schedule, in Year 2 under a now-established coaching staff, would qualify as worse, and that's exactly what happened Saturday, when a fourth-quarter in- terception by a freshman linebacker might have been the only difference between a 38-17 loss and a 45-10 loss, at home, to a so-so MAC team. Question: Of those 2013 teams that beat the Boilermakers decidedly last season, how many of them would these 2014 Chippewas beat? My guess: One at the most. Purdue is not trending well, but all is not lost, it's only September. You might have expected better, and you should have, but it can still happen. It has to start at quarterback, where Purdue just needs stability. The carousel has to stop. If Austin Appleby starts vs. Notre Dame, it will be the 10th time since 2008 that a different quarter - back started from one game to the next, in-season. Purdue changed QBs at some point during all but two seasons in that span. Historically, Purdue is good when its quarterbacks are. Presently, the Boilermakers need more from them, as they do from ev- eryone on the field and sideline alike. Danny Etling has regressed to the point you wonder about shellshock. He was a piñata as a freshman. I'm no psychologist, nor a particularly smart fellow, but maybe it's spawned a brand of college foot- ball post-traumatic stress syndrome. Whether he's the answer Purdue so badly needed him to be when it invested so much in him last fall, we don't know. There's no air-tight reason to think Appleby is, either. Could be. Don't know. One of them, though, will get a chance to be, that opportunity com- ing with the burden of needing to help right a team that spent an offseason ex- pecting the best only to get hit quickly with another dose of the worst. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com f r o m e d i t o r b r i a n n e u b e r t One Step Forward, Two Steps Back unlocking more tomorrows our mission is discovery our goal is to cure cancer. cancerresearch.purdue.edu Dorothy Teegarden, PhD Professor, Foods and Nutrition