The frustrations of a three-game skid are beginning to boil over in West Lafayette.

"So when you're competitive, like the thought of not competing is not ever in the equation," Walters said. "The goal is to keep improving. I've got every intention and expectation on this program to do so. Am I angry? Absolutely. Am I frustrated? Hell yeah. Do I hate losing? Hell yeah. So, we got to figure out a way to win."

Purdue's offense was the topic of discussion over the last two weeks, as struggles continued to pile on and pressure mounted. The same story has been written by the Boilermakers themselves to start the 2024 campaign and another chapter has been added to what has become a horror story for the program.

An offense that once flashed life and reasons for optimism has found itself in a downward spiral over the last three weeks, culminating in Saturday afternoon's performance. Ryan Walters and offensive coordinator Graham Harrell expressed optimism for what the offense could become coming into the week, but the Purdue head coach was nearly at a loss for words when describing what he saw against the Cornhuskers.

The dejected Walters appeared frustrated and exhausted of going through the same struggles three weeks in a row, and the questions revolving around what is teetering on a lifeless offense will remain.

"It's easy to sort of come in and be frustrated just by looking at statistics, but until you watch the tape and evaluate what happened," Walters said. "I would like to make an educated answer to that question."

The box score may not tell the full story, but it did give a strong indication into how the game went down. Particularly in the trenches.

The offensive line appeared to take a step forward a week ago, keeping Hudson Card clean and opening up gaping holes for Devin Mockobee and Reggie Love III in Corvallis, but could not continue the momentum into the Big Ten opener.

The Boilermakers' front line surrendered five sacks and nine tackles for loss to a stellar Nebraska defense that came into the game as one of the better units in the country. Those marks surpass Notre Dame's pass rushing performance from two weeks ago. The constant fleet of Cornhuskers in the backfield made the Purdue run game nearly non-existent for all but one drive.

Coming off of their best rushing game of the year, Purdue mustered a new season-low, 50 yards on the ground on 31 attempts. That was skewed by Hudson Card's -22 yard mark from sacks, but Devin Mockobee and Reggie Love III averaged less than four yards per rush on 23 touches between the two.

The lack of push by Marcus Johnson's group also set Purdue behind the sticks on several occasions, which helped lead to the Boilermakers having more drives that went for negative yards than they had scoring drives.

Perhaps nobody was more impacted by that than Hudson Card.

Card had been under a microscope on the heels of two rough outings, and while Purdue's QB1 took steps in the right direction, he still struggled through a third straight game. Card finished with 174 yards through the air, while completing 72% of his passes and having a touchdown and an interception. It didn't do him any favors to be constantly pressured, but the redshirt senior signal caller did show his tendency of getting flustered in the pocket and it resulted in another pick six.

The balance between run and pass has been an ongoing battle for Graham Harrell's offense, but now there are a couple of instances in which neither have worked on the gridiron. You can live with one or the other if you're putting up points, but that is not something the Boilermakers have accomplished of late.

Without the 49-0 domination of Indiana State in week one, Purdue is now averaging 12.6 points per game against FBS opponents. Coming into the week, that would rank fourth-worst in all of college football. The teams surrounding them? Three winless Group of 5 teams and a 1-2 Air Force squad.

The struggles of Purdue's offense are not hyperbole. Walters and company spoke after the Notre Dame game about not allowing one bad game seep into the next. Well, that has turned out to be the case in West Lafayette.

"I think our mindset is just to get better every day. obviously we're not playing the football that we want to be playing and we have a great three weeks to go prove what we can do," Klare said. "Go show what we can do, because we have a lot of great players and I know what we got and I'll line us up against anyone."

If they weren't before, the Boilermakers are now at a crossroads less than a month into the 2024 campaign. At 1-3, their backs are against the wall as an increasingly brutal schedule marches towards them.

Dillon Thieneman and company are presenting signs of improvement on the defensive end but have been left out to dry by a withering offense too often. Graham Harrell’s offense has sank Purdue to bottom cellar of the Big Ten has the media predicted coming into the season.

Ryan Walters and staff used that as bulletin board material throughout the summer.

If Purdue’s expectations and optimism is to be met, something will need to be righted by Purdue. It starts with the Boilers offense.

If Purdue doesn’t adjust heading into October, the headlines in the summer will be Purdue’s fate in the fall.