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.

Football season is months off, but Purdue's announcement of its season ticket plans this week brings to mind that the Boilermakers have a big one right out of the gate.

Oregon State isn't exactly Alabama or Clemson, but the magnitude of the game has little to do with the opponent, but rather the host. The Beavers just happen to be the team that will be visiting Ross-Ade Stadium to open a season the Boilermakers need to go well, on a day where they need to set a tone for that to happen.

The importance of momentum was obvious during Jeff Brohm's first two seasons at Purdue, and that fact was never lost on the coach himself, who talked up the 2018 opener against Northwestern as a potential springboard for that very reason.

Right now, Purdue's sitting in a place few would have expected a relatively short time ago. It's 6-12 the past two seasons — or the past season-and-half, however you want to view this past Fun Size campaign — and both are riddled with qualifiers, both 2019's injury deluge and 2020's, you know, pandemic.

I think it goes without saying that 2021's a year that maybe can prove that this ship can be righted and hasn't gotten lost at sea.