It's really no shocker to read Adam Rittenberg's three preseason predictions about the Boilermakers from yesterday. (For those interested, Adam's doing three fast facts about each team these days.)

He gives the defense props, which is warranted, he addresses the kind of fluid quarterback situation, and he sums up the season thusly:

Purdue misses a bowl for the second straight year -- Danny Hope has his work cut out for him in Year 1, and the schedule does him no favors. Purdue must visit Oregon, play an improved Northern Illinois team and host Notre Dame, a preseason Top 25 squad. There are questions at quarterback and wide receiver, and the Boilers have two new coordinators. We'll definitely see some signs of progress, but not enough wins to reach a bowl game.

We don't find this assessment unreasonable at all and continue to see Rittenberg as perhaps the only guy at the WWL who knows the Big Ten teams as thoroughly as a network like EsPN should. We do, however, like that in pointing out our tough schedule, he feels compelled to remind everyone that UND does again count as a tough game, since they're a top 25 team.