Monday Presser - Rest, Rehab, and Getting Bowl Eligible
The bye week is over. Five games remain as Purdue tries to get eligible in Ryan Walters first season at Purdue, and the week off allowed Purdue to catch its breath after a rough start to the season.
Purdue football went into the week banged up, with a 2-5 record, and a recent drubbing from Ohio State on its mind.
Ryan Walters hopes his team comes away from the bye week rejuvenated, as healthy as they'll get, and ready to make a final push over its last five games. It's do or die time in West Lafayette, and Walters is feeling the urgency.
"Absolutely," Ryan Walters said during his Monday press conference about feeling urgency this week. "We're in playoff mode right now."
After a grueling non-conference schedule that included a road game to Virginia Tech and hosting Fresno State and Syracuse, Purdue's Big Ten slate hasn't been much kinder. Purdue got its only Big Ten win against Walter's former Fighting Illini, but lost a close one to Iowa on the road and got blown out by both Ohio State and Wisconsin at home.
That leaves Purdue going into Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the familiar Cornhuskers and the math of getting to bowl eligible. Purdue will have to win four of its final five games to make it to post season play in Walters first season at Purdue. With a road game in Ann Arbor looming on November 4th, Purdue's best shots will be to knock off Nebraska on the road before running the table against Minnesota at home, Northwestern on the road, and Indiana at home to close the season.
That road starts with a win against another Big Ten team led by a first year coach, Matt Rhule, who took over Nebraska Football this off season and has guided Nebraska to a 4-3 start. Nebraska has taken advantage of a soft opening schedule, winning close against Northwestern and Illinois in its last two games and two non-conference wins against Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech.
Rhule has his own problems ahead of him, as Nebraska has had a recent history of faltering towards the end of its season, and he'll hope to buck that trend but the Cornhuskers schedule picks up for its final three games with home games against Maryland and Iowa surrounding a road game at Wisconsin.
Purdue's bye week was about getting Purdue's players back up right. After a tough first seven games to the season, Purdue was piling up injuries and while quite a few of those injuries are gone for the season, a few key ones were able to rest up and get back to themselves.
Most importantly, Hudson Card started to look like himself again.
"Hud looked like himself yesterday for the first time since that second or third series at Illinois," Ryan Walters said about his starting quarterback. "He's back with a bounce in his step. Ball came out fast with some velocity, and it's pretty when it's in the air. Also saw him run around a bit."
Card is coming off his worst game of the season, completing 13 of 32 passes against Ohio State and just 126 yards. This was a game after Card's previous worst game, a two interception performance at Iowa that saw Card uncharacteristically hold the ball for too long in the pocket and fail to get away from a relenting pass rush with any regularity. Card was injured originally in the Illinois game and has played through it, but seems to be coming out the other side of it.
To go along with the offense, Purdue's special teams should be getting a boost with the return of Ben Freehill at kicker.
"Freehill is healthy and so if he's healthy and ready to go, he'll be our kicker," Walters added at his press conference. Purdue's special teams has struggled this season. Julio Macias who filled in for Freehill is just 2 of 6 on field goal attempts this season with a long of 40 yards. He's missed his last four field goal attempts, including three against Ohio State on Saturday.
Ryan Walters is no stranger to Nebraska football. He grew up in an era where Nebraska football was the cream of the crop, but that didn't mean Walters grew up a fan. Far from it, with his father being a former Colorado player, hating Nebraska came natural to him.
"My history with Nebraska started at a very young age," Ryan Walters said. "Obviously grew up a fan of Colorado, my dad playing there. That was like the hated rivalry, right? You remove yourself from that as a coach... The first time I got to play against Nebraska again was in 2021, my first season with Illinois. I just remember them running out of the tunnel at Champagne and the feelings just come back. I really can't stand that color. I don't like that N on the helmet."
But Walters familiarity also makes him very aware of the dangers and difficulties of going into Nebraska.
"90,000 plus in a sea of red," Walters said of playing at Nebraska. "We've explained to our guys just how crazy it gets there."
For Purdue, it will be about stopping Nebraska's running attack, and another running quarterback in Heinrich Haarberg.
Haarberg leads the Cornhuskers in rushing with 85 carries for 424 yards to go with 4 rushing touchdowns. He's also thrown for 5 touchdown while completing just 51.3% of his passes.
But Nebraska isn't without injury concerns of its own, with three new offensive lineman slated to get their first start of the season.
Nebraska will also be missing its starting slot receiver, Billy Kemp IV.
Walters and staff used the off week for more than just rest. While the majority of players seeing the field got the early week off, Purdue held a practice with scrimmages for back ups and the players who don't travel with the team.
"I got a scrimmage at the end of practices and got to see the guys," Ryan Walters said about Purdue's off week. "We got our core guys out at practice to cheer our guys on."
Walters is excited about what he's seen from his team with the time off. "The energy was awesome," he said of practice on Sunday. "The buy-in was exactly what you want it to be. The guys that were dinged up started to look like themselves."
The coaches were busy this week also building Purdue's future with most coaches leaving for recruiting visits.
"We're excited about the guys we've targeted and that we've got committed to us," Walters said about the recruiting trips. "Exciting to see those guys playing well... definitely looking forward to the future but really looking forward to these last five games with this current roster."
The current roster will have its handful against another program with a first year coach who has returned to college football after an up and down stint in the NFL.
Walters knows it won't be an easy test for Purdue.
"Big, physical, Nebraska makes you play with all 11," Walters said. "We'll definitely adjust the way we play. They run a ton of different run scheme, both zone and gap schemes. They create extra gaps. Their window dressing is for a purpose usually... definitely excited that we have a week to prepare, excited for the two bonus practices."
Walters likes where his team is going into the prep week for Nebraska.
"That was energetic, as fast a practice as we've had since I've been here," Walters said about his team's Sunday practice.
Purdue will need to carry that momentum into Lincoln as Purdue's final charge to bowl eligibility starts Saturday.