Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.

It took Purdue just 120 minutes of football over two very different games this season to get caught up.

After two disappointing and weird seasons stemmed the program's skyward trajectory, the Boilermakers' wins at Iowa and this weekend against Michigan State have restored that momentum.

I'm not talking about win totals or this bowl game or that bowl game or whatever, but rather the relevance.

The one thing that really defined 2017 and pre-bowl game 2018, to me, was that, how Purdue had that knack for making a splash, for being interesting, for working its way into the national conversation.