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18 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED year previously. Two of the other projected starters who are techni- cally underclassmen, linebackers Ja'Whaun Bentley and Danny Eze- chukwu, started last season and are considered all-conference players- in-the-making. "We're no longer JV players," said junior quarterback Austin Ap- pleby, who started seven games last season. "What I mean by that is we've been a bunch of freshmen and sophomores for Year 1 and 2. We're now veterans. We've now been in the program and developed. A lot of guys were forced to play be- fore maybe they were ready physi- cally. The teams we go up against, it's been common that we've been outsized and outmatched and guys have been physically better than us. Now we're confident where we're at with our training. "We didn't see the results we wanted in Year 1 or Year 2. I don't talk about that any more. Our team doesn't talk about that any more. We're focused on the right now. People talk about the results not be- ing what it needs to be, but the im- provement has been there. In five games, we were within 10 points in the fourth quarter. If we make one or two more plays in a game, we're talking about an eight-win season instead of a three-win sea- son. It could be just like that. That is fueling our offseason workouts. We know what we're capable of. We know what kind of team we can be. We hear what people say to us and we know — we're with you, we want it to be better. We didn't come here to not be a part of something special." Special will require an incredibly good start. Of Purdue's four non-conference opponents, three were bowl partici- pants in 2014 and Indiana State ad- vanced to the FCS playoffs and won a game. The opener Sept. 6 is on the road at Marshall, a Conference USA team that won 13 games last season. Virginia Tech and Bowling Green are in Ross-Ade Stadium in Weeks 3 and 4, but the Hokies will have a fierce, violent, pressure-heavy de- fense and the Falcons are one of the highest-flying, so to speak, teams in the country with an ultra-fast-paced offense. Then the Big Ten gauntlet begins with two of those first three games on the road, at Michigan State and Wisconsin with a home game against Minnesota in between. The start must be strong, com- manding, decisive — because if momentum isn't gained in the first seven games, the final five against seemingly more manageable op- ponents may not matter. If losses pile up at a frequent rate again, even though the team may seem better-equipped leadership-wise to handle them, it could be tough to rally. A standard must be set soon. A confidence built by relentless offseason work must be bolstered by pristine execution in training camp, in order to be humming by Week 1. Because a win that first week on a Sunday, the only football game played that day, could be huge. For not just the players, not just the coaches, but for the program. Year 3 may not seem critical to some, but "improvement" at some point, soon, must be defined by final results. "It's time," junior left guard Ja- son King said. "As a team, we have to finish games. … This year, I'm all about victories. "It's fun getting better, but I look around the locker room, I look around the weight room, I look in the coaches' eyes and I think every- one cares about one thing this year and that's Ws." j Tom Campbell Senior Anthony Brown, shown here in Purdue's new gray uniforms, can barely stomach Purdue's 2013 season, when it was 1-11, but he's seen signs of change since.