Purdue Football 2016: Season in Review

The 2016 Purdue football season was very much like the 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons. Which is to say, it was pathetic. If not for one very important difference, I could’ve just copied and pasted last season’s recap and no one would have cared. Well, maybe some would have cared, but they shouldn’t have. It’s just not worth the effort when a team is this bad for an extended period.

Anyway. WE FIRED THE COACH AND (spoiler alert) HIRED A COACH THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY BE GOOD!

This Colin Hay song Next Year People, while in any other year would be applicable to the Cubs, is actually applicable to Purdue for 2017.

RECAP

Darrell Hazell’s fourth year on the job was put up or shut up time. If you have watched Hazell in general during his tenure at Purdue, you know that he is a man of few words. When the dust settled, Purdue had fired their coach and finished the season with a 3-9 record.

The season started off with Purdue’s final win against an FCS team. As sad as this team has been recently, they did manage to never lose to an FCS team. They really should have gotten a trophy for that.

Any good feelings that had arisen during the first game quickly disappeared when the mighty Bearcats of Cincinnati came to West Lafayette and rolled the Boilermakers. Everyone knew how the rest of the season would play out. The standard one conference win came at Illinois (Hazell was undefeated at Illinois!).

After losing to Iowa, AD Mike Bobinski pulled the pin and gave Hazell his buyout. Wide Receivers Coach Gerard Parker was named interim coach. He actually seemed like he cared about the players and how the games were going. It was a breath of fresh air. The fresh air wasn’t enough to win any games though.

Shortly after the season ended, Purdue hired Jeff Brohm from Western Kentucky. Brohm has led some very impressive offenses at WKU. In general, Purdue fans are optimistic about this guy.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The earth did not crash into the sun
• The worst coach in Purdue football history was fired (and it wasn’t because he was forcing injured players to play)
• The Illinois win
• The offense didn’t always look terrible
• Affordable tickets
• New jerseys in 2016 were an improvement

LOWLIGHTS

• Gave up an average of 238 yards rushing per game
• Got trucked by average teams such as Maryland, Cincinnati, Iowa, and Northwestern
• Managed to lose a winnable game against Indiana

2017 OUTLOOK

2017 will be a great season for Purdue football. Brohm’s offense should at least be interesting. Unsurprisingly, the talent cupboard that Hazell left was pretty bare, but with a new and good (?) coach, there is hope.

Maybe Purdue can become an Indiana-type team with a fun offense to watch. It would be a nice change of pace to want to watch a Purdue football game. If Brohm can run a good offense and have a competitive season, that would be nice. If he can do it without being a jerk like the coach in the southern part of the state, that would be even better.

Maybe Purdue wins 6 games next year?!? Sounds crazy, and probably won’t happen, but all things are possible when you have a smart coach. Like Notre Dame in years past, Purdue will have a schematic advantage over their opponents.

What do you think? Will the Boilers sneak into a low-level bowl game next year? Rutgers is on the schedule so it may happen!