Welcome back to Boiled Sports’ “It’s Okay To Be Excited” series, starring Michael Henry as the Fresh Prince with Lots of Back Hair. We’ll be giving you reasons why we’re excited about the upcoming Purdue football season. Sure, Purdue has won nine games total since Danny Hope left (he won 13 in his final two seasons). And sure, Purdue has won just three Big Ten games since Hope left (he won three in his final month). But dammit, college football is coming and we really want Purdue to be a participant.

Up today, we’re excited about Purdue having David Blough.

For those who missed it, Purdue's David Blough was a featured speaker at the Big Ten kickoff luncheon earlier this week. 

There are definitely some mixed opinions about there about David Blough the football player. As he notes in his eloquent speech, he led the conference in turnovers last year. The easy counter-argument to that is that when you're always getting your ass handed to you, you need to toss the ball around to try to come back. He also led the conference in passing yards per game as a result. 

To rehash a common theme in my writing, sometimes you need to look beyond the numbers. Billy Dicken and Joey Elliott, for two examples, were not the most ideally-skilled QBs for a pass-happy offense that kept defenses on their heels. But they were the right guys for the moment (yes, I know Elliott went 5-7 but that was the most fun 5-7 season ever) and I don't know about you, but I never had any doubts that they were the right guy under center during their seasons. 

David Blough is a good guy, plain and simple. He does charitable work far beyond what most do, he's a loyal Boilermaker and he is one of the most positive-minded guys who's ever gotten his teeth kicked in at Purdue. Oh, and he's actually a pretty skilled QB, too. Having him coached by a staff who knows how to use a talented quarterback is tantalizing to me and I'm just a schmo sitting in my basement recliner. I can't imagine how energizing it is to Mr. Blough. 

Purdue was 7th in total offense but second to last in total defense. It's hard to imagine the defense taking huge leaps forward (although it should be better than...you know, last), but it's not hard to imagine the offense getting better. And while none of us expect a winning season in 2017, having a 3-5 win season where your losses are of the 48-45 variety might still be some fun. Or at least not painful to watch. Small goals, you know?

Blough is also known for doing card tricks. Let's hope he has a few up his sleeve this fall.

(Dammit, what a closing line!)