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PRESENTS FOOTBALL: NEWS AND NOTES form better than we did in our two lopsided loses and play on a more consistent basis, just based on repetition." second half of its season, while attempting to qualify for post- season play for the second time in as many years. Inconsistency has marked first seven sistency as it reaches the the Boilermakers' Hope Wants Consistency Purdue's searching for con- BY GOLD AND BLACK STAFF games, which saw them win three of four before the current three-game losing skid. In facing quality opponents in its only two road games, Purdue lost in the closing seconds — or overtime — to now top-five Notre Dame and then seventh-ranked Ohio State. But the two games previ- ous to the tilt vs. the Buckeyes, a 29-22 winner in Columbus on Saturday, the Boilermakers were beaten soundly by unranked op- ponents Michigan and Wisconsin in Ross-Ade Stadium by a com- bined score of 82-27. "I think it's part of football, Coach Danny Hope said. "You strive to be consistent. That's why you practice, and we practice er chance, when it takes on Minnesota in Minne- apolis on Saturday. "We need to know Short said. Hope says, despite Purdue is only 3-4, yet bowl possibilities for the Boilers are still in play as long as they can win three of five games down the stretch. BOWL OUTLOOK we're capable of doing things if we come to- gether, " senior Kawann Kawann Short says the Boilermakers need to start playing more consistently, starting Saturday at Minnesota. " well. Sometimes it's a mystery to me why we don't execute some of the things in the games as well as we do in practice. "Obviously, the competition picks up when you go in the ball games, I recognize that, but we do very well in practice. to the games, then, has been the challenge. Purdue will get anoth- Translating that every week " Tom Campbell perhaps Purdue spent too much effort devising schemes specifi- cally for those two opponents. "Some of those were new the loss to Ohio State, Purdue came out of the game a more con- fident bunch. That was not, one would imag- ine, the Boilermakers' mindset following the big losses to Michigan and Wisconsin. Hope thought that to consider: The Big Ten has eight bowl tie-ins, and it is highly un- likely that it will have two teams in the BCS this year (for the first time since 2004). In addition, Ohio State and Here are a couple of things Penn State are ineligible for post- season, and Illinois and Indiana, with 2-5 records, will have to do a huge turnaround to qualify, things, and maybe the fact that you were trying some new things against top-of-the-line competi- tion can negate your execution and level of play, as the season progress, we'll per- " he said. "I think Hadley Stuart—Zionsville, Ind. Engineering Hadley is one of 12 soccer players to earn academic All-Big Ten hon- ors in the Spring 2011 semester. In all, 59 Boilermaker fall athletes earned this honor. GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 8 • 28 LINK TO PURDUE'S 2012 SEASON STATS