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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 9 • 19 ing through for a career-high 177 yards at Illinois after that team meeting, in the first game of this big streak. "(I've been a) more decisive runner. I hit the hole when they make it for me, and they've been great this year," Hunt said. "I knew I was doing too many juke moves in the backfield (last year). The coaches gave me a clip during the offseason of all my runs, all my de- cisive runs and all my indecisive runs. I watched the indecisive runs the whole summer, so I could get more decisive; just one plant and go when I see the hole." Mostert's starting to shine, too, in his new place in the pecking order. He's been the big-play guy coaches envisioned, popping TD runs of 42 and 44 yards and also breaking a 69-yarder to the 1 in the last three games. And though it's Hunt and Mo - stert truly breaking the big runs, Appleby is the one running the show and getting the ball in the right player's hands. For the most part, he seems to be making the right decisions on the zone read, missing only two or three each in the last three games, Hazell said. Appleby knows that's really his main role: To be a facilita- tor. He's also completed 67 percent of his passes as the starter, quickly getting the ball out to the play- makers. But he's still wanting to do his job at an even better clip, and he thinks the entire group can, too. "(I) accounted for four touch- downs against Minnesota and honestly there were six or seven out there that I'm capable of get- ting for this team, that we're ca- pable of getting. It's not me being Superman. It's not me doing any- thing out of the offense. It's me just making the makeable plays," he said. "There were plays out there to be made that would have put the game away. It's not just me. It's all of us. We make one more block, it's a touchdown. We hit the hole just a little bit harder. We run just a lit- tle bit crisper of a route, and we're there. It's nothing huge. "Last year, we plugged one hole and eight more would start gushing. Now, we're good. Now, everybody has just got to do their part and take that next step of do- ing their job to the best of their ability. We're doing it on a more consistent basis now, but the more consistent we can be and the more we can play at this high level all the time, I don't know who is go- ing to be able to stop us." But it's not only the players' IQ and execution that's helped pro- duction — the system does, too. Appleby has been executing Purdue's "eye can- dy" — as Hazell calls it — well. Nearly every snap, the Boiler- makers are using motion and shift- ing, something Shoop wanted to do upon his arrival two years ago but only this season has really been able to do it at the frequency he likes. "When you're playing a really strong defense, if you could just paralyze them for a millisecond sometimes, that's the difference," Shoop said. "We've got some run- ning backs that are fast enough that if we can freeze someone's eyes for just a millisecond, these guys may be past them or at least drag them, not get hit flush, so to speak. Akeem's really done a good job breaking some arm tackles as well, and I think part of that is some of those motions and stuff are re- ally distracting." Purdue also has been counting on its multiple personnel group- ings to confuse defenses. Typically, a defense divides its focus into three, maybe four, groupings. The most common, "11" (one back, one tight end), "12" (one back, two tight ends) and "21" (two backs, one tight end). Against Minnesota, the Boiler- makers had 13 groupings. It's the second time this season they were in the double-digits. Shoop said he likes the variety because it "stimulates morale" in that more players know they'll get in, and those plays can pile up by the end of the season. But it also simply makes it tougher on defens- es, especially because Shoop even mixes personnel within one group- ing — Hunt or a tight end can line up as a wide receiver, giving a dif- ferent look for an "11" group. "Any time we can make the de- fense spend a little time trying to categorize that stuff is OK with us," said Shoop, smiling. j Tom Campbell The most obvious difference from the offense from the first five games to the last three? Austin Appleby has been the team's starting quarterback.