If you’re growing bored from the college sports offseason, take heart in the fact that we’re actually not that far off from the B1G Kickoff Luncheon. Pretty soon you might be asking yourself “what are the expectations for Purdue football in 2017?”
Well as Meredith said in The Talented Mr. Ripley, “You should always save pain for daylight.” Thus, if you’re a Purdue football fan, hopefully you’re reading this while the sun is still up.
You know those college football preseason preview magazines? They’re filled with less than uplifting words about Purdue’s upcoming season, as both Lindy’s and Athlon picked the Boilermakers to finish sixth in the Big Ten West. Street & Smith’s slotted them dead last.
Athlon, who have Purdue football ranked 84th nationally, and finishing 3-9 (2-7 in the B1G) doesn’t think too highly of all the Boilers position groups. They rated the WR/TE and OL and DBs dead last in the B1G. The QBs are the highlight, coming in 5th, while every other group checks in at 10th or lower.
On Athlon’s preseason all-B1G teams, there are no Boilermakers to be found on the 1st and 2nd units. However, C Kirk Barron, TE Cole Herdman and P Joe Schopper all makes the third team.
Switching over to Lindy’s, they wrote, without hyperbole “Brohm’s players at Western Kentucky were better than this.” That’s in their “bad news” section. For “good news” they state “Jeff Brohm was a heck of a hire as a coach. He’s an offensive whiz, which will help QB David Blough”
In the “our call” section, they state “Long row to hoe for the Boilers.”
Well there’s an understatement, but I do agree with the magazine in saying that this program is on the right track. I love the Brohm hire as well, but cleaning up the Darell Hazell dumpster fire is going to take a LOOOOOONG time.
The publication did not include any Purdue football player in their Big Ten “honor roll,” which highlights the best individual players with superlative skill sets. No Boilers made their list of top NFL talent in the B1G, which had 10 slots available.
The only Purdue contest to make their list of “big ones” for the upcoming season was completely sarcastic. It’s the home pillow fight against Illinois, and it comes with this assessment- “Because somebody has to win. At least we’re pretty sure that’s the case.”
Maybe these so-called experts are way off, maybe they’re being hyperbolic. Maybe Purdue football will be much better than what they’re saying right now, but we can all probably agree on this-
Hiring Brohm shows a true commitment to winning in West Lafayette, but it’s going to be a long while before we see that in action.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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