Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/558473
14 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com T hey look back and focus on five games. Five games in which they were within reach in crunch time, they say. Five games they had fought to be within 10 points heading into the final quarter against some of the better teams on the 2014 schedule. But, one by one, the hopes of vic- tory faded. Some were painstakingly slow, watching the offense simply unable to generate yards to sustain drives that could produce points against Iowa, making only a touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter feel like a much wider gap. Some were swift and crushing, watching rival Indiana slip past the goal line with 27 seconds left to snap a tie and win the Bucket, watching Minnesota drill a long field goal with five minutes left and then not being able to rally. Each game, though, they see as progress made. They were competing at least, right? They had a chance to make the big throw, to get the key third- down stop, to keep pushing on the block for another second, a chance to make plays that could matter, at least, unlike the first year of Darrell Hazell's reign when those opportu- nities were rare. Heading into the 2015 season, Purdue's players and coaches point to those games from 2014 as evi- dence. Evidence they're on the verge. Evidence there is the right per- sonnel in place to break through. Evidence that this year, Year 3 under Hazell, could be it. It feels a bit like it has to be, doesn't it? For a group of players that, by all accounts, have spent an offseason PURDUE'S 2015 SCHEDULE Dec. 5 — Big Ten Championship Game Indianapolis (Lucas Oil Stadium) ^ 2014-15 Bowl participant Sept. 6 AT MARSHALL^ '14 Record: 13-1 Series: 1-0-0 3 p.m., Fox Sports 1 Sept. 12 INDIANA STATE '14 Record: 8-6 Series: 4-0-0 Noon, ESPNews Sept. 19 VIRGINIA TECH^ '14 Record: 7-6 Series: First game 3:30 p.m., ESPNU Sept. 26 BOWLING GREEN^ '14 Record: 8-6 Series: 0-2-0 TBA, TBA Oct. 3 AT MICHIGAN STATE^ '14 Record: 11-2 Series: 28-34-3 Noon, TBA Oct. 10 MINNESOTA '14 Record: 8-5 Series: 32-35-3 TBA, TBA Oct. 17 AT WISCONSIN^ '14 Record: 11-3 Series: 29-45-8 Noon, TBA Oct. 31 NEBRASKA^ '14 Record: 9-4 Series: 1-2-0 TBA, TBA Nov. 7 ILLINOIS^ '14 Record: 6-7 Series: 41-43-6 Noon, TBA Nov. 14 AT NORTHWESTERN '14 Record: 5-7 Series: 50-28-1 TBA, TBA Nov. 21 AT IOWA^ '14 Record: 7-6 Series: 46-36-3 TBA, TBA Nov. 28 INDIANA '14 Record: 4-8 Series: 72-39-6 TBA, TBA Progress must produce victories now 'It's Time'