In the preseason glow of August, when Purdue was undefeated and talk swirled of the talent upgrades on its roster, the Boilers’ offensive line got in on the superlatives.

Senior center Gus Hartwig said it was the best one he’d seen at Purdue. With depth and talent, the Boilers appeared to have the beef up front to run and pass with effectiveness.

But when you ask how things are going four weeks later, it’s complicated.

“There’s been good and bad,” Hartwig said.

The offense isn’t scoring, for one thing. Former offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was shown the door Sunday. Coaches and players have said the lack of points on the board is owed to a platter of bad, bland offensive ingredients: no easy throws, no explosive plays, taking early downs off and failing at heroism on late ones.

“I guess we haven’t been able to get in a rhythm,” senior quarterback Hudson Card said.

It’s true, the offense has hiccuped out of the gate. But look closely, and the five players at its center are coming together.

Hartwig said that silence is the best evidence of it. Before, with two starters brand new to Purdue as transfers this season, the five would have to look and listen to know where each other were, and make verbal switches in response to pressure like in pickup basketball.

Now, it’s all second nature; you understand what the guy next to you is thinking, Hartwig said.

“It’s not having to verbalize everything,” Hartwig said. “To where it’s like, ‘I know DJ’s here, I know Moussa’s here, I know Mbow’s gonna get this and I’m gonna have that.’”

DJ, Moussa and Mbow are right guard DJ Wingfield, right tackle Marcus Mbow and left guard Mahamane Moussa, and they, along with left tackle Corey Stewart and Hartwig, haven’t missed a game yet this season. Even as the offense has backslid from last season in point-scoring and yard-gaining, the health in its trenches has been invaluable.

It began when Stewart got healthy in late August, and the five came together in the sped-up hullabaloo that separates games from practice.

“The only way you can build chemistry is getting them actual in-game reps,” Stewart said. “It's a lot different than practice.”

That was near impossible for the unit last season. Hartwig and fellow starters Moussa and Mbow missed 11 games combined, leaving the sideline dangerously bare.

More games together will help, Stewart said – there’s still plenty of progress to be made.

“We haven't played up to the expectation that we have for ourselves,” he said.

Finding ways to aid Card, and what has been an air raid stuck on the launching pad, tops the list. Card’s passing showed improvement against Nebraska Saturday, but he was still sacked five times.

“You're not gonna win every rep,” Stewart said.

Moving forward, the offense will make tweaks, not wholesale changes, head coach Ryan Walters said, hoping the sum generates meaningful improvement. A coordinator losing his job is no small thing.

“Figure out how to score points, really. That's what message was sent to me,” Stewart said in the wake of Harrell’s firing.

“Ain't nobody gonna come to save us. So we gotta just keep sticking together and be the dudes we thought we were gonna be at the beginning of the season.”