The Weekly Word is GoldandBlack.com's weekly, obviously, column covering Purdue football, basketball and recruiting, as well as college sports issues, the true meaning of life, or whatever other topics might come to mind in a given week.

As you are well aware, Purdue's four-game losing streak in a Big Ten season full of league-wide losing streaks put the Boilermakers in a difficult position. It likely put them outside the NCAA Tournament, when things prior had looked promising.

The reality of it is that Purdue didn't do its work early — to use Matt Painter post-defense terminology — in letting elite wins at Marquette and against Florida State get away, then losing at Nebraska, a loss that felt at the time like a cyanide pill for Purdue's résumé and now, months later, looks no different. The Cornhuskers are horrific. Never mind the Texas game, which Purdue should have won and probably would have won if that game was played a few games later, for the nothing that's worth.

Now, the untimely swoon during the conference season's eighth inning looks like too much to overcome.