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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 1 9 OPTIMISM IS UNDEFEATED W e live in a world where optimism is sometimes hard to find. After all, the stock market is free fall (at least in the final week of August), and you can turn on the electronic device of choice and find all the doom and gloom you can handle. Maybe that is why college football coaches, or at least many of them, go out of their way to stay positive, almost to a fault. Coach Darrell Hazell certain- ly subscribes to that positive method of operation. You will rarely, if ever, see him publicly critical of his players or say anything to lead you to believe that he, his team or his staff has any real worries whether the Boilermakers are going to turn the corner in 2015. Ha- zell, at least on the practice field, rarely raises his voice, even when he is in in- struction mode. To the media, he falls short of wearing rose-colored glasses, but he is effusive in his praise of his players and his confidence in them. He is one optimistic dude. It is hard to blame Hazell for his tac- tics. He is trying to change hearts and minds of the people who matter most: His team. And now he has a squad with enough maturity and enough familiarity with him that all the pos- itive reinforcement that comes from the head coach is starting to be a way of life around the team. The leaders of the team talk as if they believe in their teammates, their coaches and the general direction of the program despite the struggles of the past two years. And, if you are a Purdue fan, that is all good. I don't know why you would want it any other way. While you can't lose when you carry the attitude of optimism with you, it still will be tested early and often this season. The next necessary positive step for this program is to win more football games in 2015 than it did in 2014, that is a given. But it is also to show a level of resiliency that hasn't been evident yet under Hazell. As things stand in late-August, Pur- due will be an underdog in eight of its 12 regular-season games in 2015. But if the Boilermakers can show an abili- ty to get off the deck and fight back af- ter being knocked down, then you will be able to say after this season that this program is moving forward. And this will be the ultimate test for how Hazell's positivity is getting through to his team, whether he is truly changing the culture and leaving room for a major turnaround. There will be dark moments in 2015. The stands won't be as full as everyone will like, the opponent might just be better than the Boilermakers on a particular afternoon. But optimism, and ultimately belief in oneself and your teammates and the program, can carry the Boilermakers a fair distance in 2015. Can it carry Pur- due to the postseason? Sure it can, but only if the Boilermakers couple that positive approach with a healthy dose of a strong passing game, better pass rush and few injuries. Remember When … August 1995: Senior fullback Mike Alstott was being pro- moted as a Heisman Trophy candidate. Alsott may have been the ultimate dark horse for the award, but he didn't disappoint once the season started. In 1995, Alsott not only set Purdue's single-sea- son rushing record, which still stands at 1,436 yards, but the Joliet, Ill., native re- mains the top ground-gainer in school history with 3,635 yards. From Publisher Alan Karpick Gold and Black Illustrated A publication of Boilers, Inc. 2605 Yeager Road, West Lafayette, IN 47906 765-237-5002 or 1-800-876-GOPU (4678) Fax: 765-497-2110/Twitter.com/GoldandBlackcom President/Publisher Alan Karpick 765-237-5078 Editor Brian Neubert Publications Coordinator Kyle Charters Associate Editor/Football Stacy Clardie Photography/Cover Photo Tom Campbell Graphic Designer Gary A. Hoffman Advertising Sales Alan Karpick Subscriptions/Marketing Jessica Bernard, Hayley Karpick, Reid Karpick, Tyler Ochs, Evan Solgere Printer Walsworth Printing (St. Joseph, Mich.)