Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

Might as well write about Purdue football. Do my job, pretend the topic matters for 900 words, then move on to something else. Anything else.

Apathy hasn’t set in only among Purdue fans. The media is apathetic about Purdue football as well. Has anyone around here called for Darrell Hazell’s job? Does anyone care enough?

Me, I’m trying to care enough to write it. It’s not a good feeling, writing that someone should be fired, but from time to time I’m going to do it. Today? Nah, not doing it today. If Purdue doesn’t care about its football program, neither will I.

How many words is that, 300? Oh dear. Not even close. It’s just 116 words, and it feels like forever. This topic is pointless, because what can you say? Darrell Hazell is still the head coach at Purdue, and that says more about the state of this football program than I could ever say in 900 words.

Purdue collapses at Maryland in 50-7 loss

Hazell is 8-32 overall. He’s 2-23 in the Big Ten. He can lose at home in front of empty chairs, he can lose on the road, he can lose anywhere a game is played. And he can lose by 43 to Maryland. The Terrapins hung half-a-hundred on Purdue on Saturday, beating the Boilermakers 50-7. They ran for exactly 400 yards. Someone named Ty Johnson carried the ball seven times for Maryland. He gained 204 yards. Those are high school numbers, which makes sense actually, because Purdue is a high school football program.

No offense to New Pal, which would beat the Boilermakers by 20.

So anyway, Maryland ran for 400 yards. Purdue ran for 10. Ten yards, I’m saying. In 60 minutes. In 60 minutes against Maryland.

That number is misleading, of course. Ten yards? Clearly there’s a story behind a number like that, a rationalization, and here it is:

Until the Boilermakers’ final possession of the game, when Maryland emptied its bench and put in its worst players, Purdue had run for minus-3 yards.

So Purdue’s total of 10 rushing yards, all game, against Maryland, is not reflective of just how bad Purdue’s running game actually was.

How many words is that? Oh man. Just 365, one for every day over the past calendar year that Darrell Hazell has been coaching this team. The longer this season goes, the more I’m wondering how Kent State went 11-3 in 2012.

The Mid-American Conference is no joke, you know. There aren’t any national powers in that league, but there is talent and toughness. MAC teams have pride. And in 2012, Kent State went 8-0 in the MAC. Its coach that year was Darrell Hazell. Makes me think the last Kent State coach, Doug Martin, recruited at a high level and left the cupboard full for Hazell.

And the truth is, Doug Martin did recruit Dri Archer, and Archer did produce one of the best seasons in MAC history in 2012. He ran for 1,429 yards and 16 touchdowns and averaged 9.0 yards per carry. He scored four touchdowns on receptions. He scored three times on kickoff returns.

Makes me think Purdue hired the wrong man from Kent State to coach the Boilermakers. Maybe Purdue should have hired Dri Archer.

Purdue football far from Big Ten ready

Purdue athletics are in a financially precarious position, with a football program that is less cash cow, more economic albatross. The athletic director who hired Hazell, Morgan Burke, gave him a six-year deal before the 2013 season worth $12.75 million, and Hazell gets every penny whether he lasts the full six years or not. The buyout after last season would have cost Purdue $6.7 million. A buyout after this season would cost new AD Mike Bobinski's department $4.6 million, no small thing for any school, but a crippling amount for a school whose football team is hemorrhaging money.

Purdue fans want recently fired LSU coach Les Miles, but IU fans are thrilled with Darrell Hazell. He's the best thing that ever happened to Kevin Wilson, whose first four seasons at Indiana — from 2011-14 — resulted in a record of 14-34. A coach can get fired for that, but Purdue hired Hazell and Indiana hasn’t lost to the Boilermakers since. Indiana’s first three-game winning streak since the 1940s in the Old Oaken Bucket series has helped Wilson keep his job, and look what has happened:

The Hoosiers are cleaning up in recruiting — not beating national powers for the state’s best players, but beating Purdue for all the rest. Last season Indiana went to its first bowl game since 2007, and this season it has beaten a ranked Big Ten team for the first time in 10 years after toppling Michigan State 24-21 on Saturday.

Meanwhile … Maryland 50, Purdue 7.

Apathy: The Official Emotion of Purdue Football.

How many words is this? Looks like 783. Not quite 900, but I’m done. Not sure I care enough to even punctuate this final

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.

Grading the Boilers: Maryland 50, Purdue 7