Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/423491
GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 12 • 5 P urdue had a chance to validate its progress this season, that opportu- nity being the significance of the Boilermakers taking the field against North- western last weekend. Instead, it put that progress at risk of being disqualified altogether. There's no undoing the sig- nificantly improved level of football everyone saw with their own eyes midseason. That stuff's written in the books in ink to stay. But the most important part, maybe, of progress is sustainability, keeping on an upward trajectory. Losses at Nebraska and to Wis- consin — and Purdue embarrassed itself in neither of those games, mind you — can be forgiven in the grand scheme of things, but on Saturday the Boilermakers flat-out flatlined. The sun would have still come up on Sunday had Purdue just lost to the Wildcats, a team of peaks and valleys coming off a win at Notre Dame and still the only Big Ten team to get the best of Wisconsin. But what you had to see was for Purdue to at least make Northwest - ern play well to do it. Instead … It was Purdue that botched the coverage on the Wildcats' first long touchdown and blissfully disregarded a critical gap in the running game on their fifth. The punt return for the touchdown was too easy, special teams touchdowns almost always being more about breakdowns in coverage than any ball-carrier heroics. And the Boilermakers' five turnovers were far more about the Boilermakers than anything the op - ponent did. It was a colossal letdown, a punch in the face to the senior class that "bought in" this season and made Purdue better, not that many of those players did particularly much about it on Saturday. In 60 minutes of bad, gaffe- ridden football, the dynamics of this season changed, at least to the out- side eye. The schedule turned manage- able in its home stretch. If Purdue just played like it did in October, its chances for a winning streak to close the season and a shot of mo- mentum — in all its forms, whether it be morale, fan engagement or re- cruiting matters — was a legitimate possibility. Now, this. Let's be honest: Unless Purdue summons an effort this weekend it gave us little reason against Northwestern to expect, the sea- son will end with the Old Oaken Bucket staying in Bloomington and the story of the 2014 season for Purdue being about regression and not progression. Injuries have played a role, but the players who fumbled three times against the Wildcats; missed a tackle on a punt return score; and gave up a crushing early fourth- and-14 conversion, setting up a touchdown, all did so on perfectly intact anterior cruciate ligaments. It's confounding and raises questions how Purdue could have an extra week to prepare for an op - ponent that's been called an "em- barrassment" by its own coach at one point this season, and still come out listless. Darrell Hazell disagreed after- ward with the observation that his team was "flat." Well, if it wasn't flat, it surely wasn't multi-dimensional, either. Why the inconsistency? No clue. But just as Purdue had found its stride, it tripped and fell into a ditch. The momentum is gone. The Boilermaker offense has been figured out, its defense has re- gressed to its mean and its special teams have slipped. Purdue has one more game to claim something to hold on to through the spring and summer. If it doesn't, it's going to be an- other offseason with more ques- tions than answers. Because a few weeks ago, Purdue was on schedule. Now, on the back of one ter- rible game played in front of only a sparse collection of die-hards, it's fallen behind. 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 Flatliners