Burke: Still working on ND series

PurdueisclosetoadealwithNotreDameonitsfootballseries,athleticdirectorMorganBurkesaidonGoldandBlackLIVEonFridayafternoon.

WhenaskedspecificallyiftheBoilermakerswereplayingtheIrishatLucasOilStadiumnextseason,Burkesaid,"Jack(Swarbrick)andIarestillworking.Whenweannounceit,we'llannounceacomprehensivelookatwhatwecando."

Burkesaidhewouldn'tbesurprisedifthatannouncementhappenswithinthenextfewweeks.

"Weclearlyaregoingtohavesomechanges,"hesaid."I'mnotgoingtodeludepeopleintothinkingthestatusquoisgoingtobethere.ButI'dratherpresentthewholepicture."

Currently,theschoolshaveasignedcontractthrough2014.Dateshavebeenagreeduponthrough2021,butthatwasbeforetheBigTenoptedtoaddaninthconferencegamebeginningin2016andNotreDameenteredintoanagreementtoplayachunkofgamesagainsttheACC.

There'sbeenanexpectationthattheseries,then,wouldhavetotakeabreakbeforeitcouldgetbackinsyncforPurduetoreachitsdesiredsevenhomegamesinaseason.

TheBoilermakersstillarefillingtheirfutureschedulesout,havinganagreementinprinciplewithMissouributnosignedcontract.

Burkesaidhewillhonorthecurrentcontracts,whichincludeahome-and-homewithNevadaandthreegamesagainstFCSprograms.

There'sachancethatBurkemaybendsomeontheseven-homegamestance,though.

"We'lllookatsomeneutralsiteopportunities,"hesaid."It'spossibleyouhaveasix-gamehomeseasonatsomepointinthisdecadethatmayoffsettherevenuewithaneutralsitegame.Thatmightbearebateforourfans,theseasonticketpricesmaybealittlebitless."

ThefullinterviewwithBurkecanbewatchedhere,buthereareafewothertidbitsfromthenearly40-minuteappearance:

Onwhetherhe'ssurprisedbythe1-6recordinfootball:"Yeah,Ithoughtwe'dbealittlebetter....I'mdisappointedwehaven'tshownimprovement.Therecordwilltakecareofitselfifweplayuptoourpotential.IthoughtthewaywepracticedintheAugusttimeframe,Ithoughtwe'dbealittlebitbetter.Weweren'taconfidentteamattheendoflastyear.We'restillnotaconfidentteam.Attheendoftheday,we'venowgoneandgiventheseyoungerguysanopportunity,whichwillpaydividendslater,butit'skindofabumpyridenow,weknowthat."

Onwhathe'dliketoseethefinalfivegamesoftheseason:"I'dliketoseetheseyoungkidsplaythewellthey'recapableofplaying."

Onhowhethinkstheteamhasrespondedbehind-the-scenes:"Theyoungerguyshaven'tbeencloudedbythepastvariability,sothey'rethere(focused).Ithinktheolderguyswanttodoit.Darrell'sdoingexactlywhatheneedstodorightnow.Hispersonalitygoingupanddownisnotgoingtohelp.He'sdoingwhatheneedstodo.

"Idon'tthinkthemoodisbad.Idon'tthinkwe'vegotacontentiousness,butyou'replayingalotofyoungguys.Forthefuture,that'shelpful,forthecurrentday,you'regoingtorideandfalldependingonhowconsistenttheyareonaparticularday."

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