Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/88462
FROM EDITOR BRIAN NEUBER T the past two weeks as the Boilermakers have been thrashed by Michigan and Wisconsin in the face of high expectations, or what has to be done to fix it, and you don't really get much in the way of answers. Just nebulous stuff about "playing Boil- ermaker football," "working hard" and the old stand-by: "execute." Ask what's gone wrong Purdue's are kids and we shouldn't expect kids to have answers. We should, however, expect coaches to But, you know, college football players have answers. And right now, it looks like Purdue's LOOKING FOR ANSWERS players Denard Robinson and Montee Ball are great players. They are not, however, 482-rushing- ago, Meyer and his team are going to look to make a scarecrow out of Purdue this weekend. Look, no one' Embarrassed in victory at Indiana days yards-between-them-against-Purdue great. These were not unwinnable games that this game. Would it be awesome for it if it did? Of course. But be reasonable here. But at the very least, compete. Don't Purdue didn't so much as compete in. They were maybe the two biggest games of Danny Hope's tenure at Purdue — consid- ering factors that go far beyond league stand- ings and bowl berths — yet still unmitigated disasters, both of them over before halftime. Ninety-five percent of the time, things aren't as bad as they seem. That's how I choose to look at things anyway. This might be the five percent, because Purdue's season's already critically wounded coaches are scrambling for answers, be- cause a team that was talking just two weeks ago about competing for champion- ships now must be worried about just win- ning another game. This season — one that has been built for, in which all the adversity from past seasons was supposed to pay off — has gone sideways. That' Purdue lost to Michigan and Wisconsin. Make no mistake about this: Those are start to conference play. Make no mistake about this, either: s where things are right now after good teams. They are not, however, 92-27 good. That was the aggregate score during Purdue's 0-2 before the Boilermakers have even played their second road game. And that trip is to, gulp, Ohio State. If Purdue can't pass, run, catch, tackle, block, kick or coach well enough to play Mich- igan or Wisconsin within three-and-a-half touchdowns at home, what might the sev- enth-ranked Buckeyes do to a team that looks like it' up on a tee this weekend? You see, Ohio State is a different animal. The Buckeyes don't have champion- s playing the role of Wiffle ball propped ty good at coaching football. And he may or may not be just a little bit evil. GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 23, EXPRESS 7 • 5 ships to play for. All they have is the desire to send a message to the Big Ten that they run stuff now. As you might know, Urban Meyer is pret- s expecting Purdue to win let what happened the last two weeks happen again. Purdue won't beat Ohio State. But if it can come home having shown What the past two weekends have told us is that it is more than appropriate to recali- s a win if you ask me. brate expectations: Throw all that Big Ten title game talk in the wood-chipper, get your six or seven wins, return to the postseason, call it a season and let the chips fall where they may from there. enough this season? No. reasons to believe it can still beat Penn State, then that' Is just getting back to a bowl game good to make the best of it. Or, I'm sorry: It just has to execute. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com But it is what it is and Purdue now just has