Let’s hear from Head Coach Ryan Walters and players following a 28-10 loss to the Cornhuskers on homecoming
The Purdue Boilers had another disappointing day on both sides of the ball in a 28-10 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Although the defense made great strides in their effort holding the Cornhuskers scoreless until 2:49 left in the third quarter, the offensive ineptitude finally caught up to them as Nebraska scored three consecutive touchdowns after the offense failed to consistently move the ball.
Let’s hear from Head Coach Ryan Walters in his post game presser:
A few things from this presser that I think stood out. Number one being his unwillingness to place blame or fault on anyone following another disappointing loss. His comments were seemed very calculated and intentional as to not give any sort of idea as to where he believes blame should be placed. Frequently saying he wants to see the tape to see where the positives and negatives were, it rang back to the frequent responses of a previous struggling coach that responded with ‘we have to look at the tape.’ That didn’t sit well with a lot of the Purdue faithful when it was clear the offense was letting down good defensive efforts.
It’s also clear that these struggles are weighing heavily on Walters as the defense seemed to make some big changes to get better results. With an injury to Antonio Stevens, Walters pushed Thieneman to the other safety position because he felt things would be moving too fast for a young player that close to the line of scrimmage. Thieneman responded with likely his best game of the season with 9 tackles (6 solo) and one pass breakup. Notably, he had a tackle behind the line of scrimmage as Nebraska attempted an outside run on third down in the first half.
What happens now is going to likely define the Ryan Walters era at Purdue. Does he look to take a drastic swing on the offensive side of the ball to turn around a unit that is clearly struggling? It may not appear that way as he believes his offense can run the ball with Mockobee and Love but it is no question that there is little being done down the field to help stretch the defense and prevent defenses from lining up 8 men in the box.
I think it should also be noted that Associate Head Coach and Wide Receivers coach Cory Patterson would likely be the next man up in the even that Graham Harrell would be relieved of his duties. He holds no experience in calling plays at any level and no other staff member does either.
Players Post Game Presser: Jaron Tibbs, Yanni Karlaftis, Dillon Thieneman, Max Klare
Not a lot to pull from in this presser from the players. Thieneman moving up seems to have helped Purdue in some regards on making plays closer to the line of scrimmage but the pass interference calls were really what hurt the defense. That is skill based and something Thieneman and Ryan Walters said can get better. The issue will continue to be can Purdue stop the run enough to force teams into throwing the ball? We’ll see with some physical teams on the schedule in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Oregon.
Overall Thoughts:
I think it is clear that most fans want to see Graham Harrell let go. The issue is nobody on staff at Purdue has any experience calling plays, let along installing their own system. If a move is going to be made in season, it’ll likely happen following the Oregon game when Purdue will have a bye week ahead of a Northwestern team that is struggling like Purdue. If Purdue can’t sneak a win out in the next three weeks, it would place Purdue at 1-6 and you could likely point directly at the offense as being another reason why it sits in that position.