As Purdue boarded the flight back to West Lafayette from Corvallis, Ryan Walters' frustration was at a boiling point. Back-to-back disappointing defeats had the Purdue head coach scratching his head at what was happening to his team.
The cross-country flight allowed Walters to do some self evaluation and get a long film session in, which lightened his outlook from demoralized to hopeful for what this team could evolve into.
"I was infuriated after the game," Walters said. "You start watching the tape, and it's like, okay, there are things that look familiar here. There are signs of what I've envisioned us to be," Walters said.
Just three games into the 2024 campaign, Purdue has already gone through a rollercoaster of emotions. It exuded confidence after a week one 49-0 victory over Indiana State. That confidence ran dry on the heels of a 66-7 defeat at the hands of Notre Dame. Now, after another loss to Oregon State, Walters feels like the Boilermakers are close but still have a lot to clean up moving forward.
"We were extremely positive and confident after the first week. The sky was falling after the second competition. And then, you're disappointed, but hopeful after the third," Walters said.
While a sputtering passing attack and one of the worst run defenses in the country are at the top of the list of reasons the Boilermakers have lost two straight, Walters sees different ways Purdue has suffered those setbacks. There is equal blame to go around, as well.
"I think it's been different reasons why we have faltered in those two weeks. As a competitor, you're playing to win, and so when you don't, it's frustrating. I feel like as coaches, we have to do a better job of putting our guys in successful positions. And then you know, as players, when opportunities are there to make plays, they got to make them," Walters said.
Still, despite a pair of tough and disappointing losses, Walters saw more encouraging film than the week prior, which provides some optimism for a potential turnaround in West Lafayette this fall.
"There are plays and strings of plays throughout the course of the game that looked familiar, like what we've seen in camp and spring ball. So that part gave you hope and encouragement, because it does feel like we're close," Walters said. "But, you know, we're in a position right now as a program where we can't overcome these self inflicted catastrophes."
That is perhaps most true about Purdue's defensive showing in Corvallis. While Kevin Kane's unit still gave up 31 points to the Beavers, it held them to 17 points up until the fourth quarter, where things fell apart.
The time of possession played a part in the late unraveling for the Boilermakers, who were on the field for 40+ minutes of the game, and have been asked to stay on the field more so than should be expected. It was an encouraging sign for Walters that the defense held up for most of the night, especially with the offense putting it in some tough spots.
"I thought we played well for the better part of three, three and a half quarters. You know, we had inopportune mistakes offensively early that defensively, we were able to sort of put the fire out, so to speak," Walters said.
The biggest question mark moving forward is whether or not the run defense can improve, after giving up 703 yards on the ground against Notre Dame and Oregon State combined. Defensive coordinator Kevin Kane shared that the staff has made changes to how the Purdue defense will defend the run and set the edges, which he believes could pay dividends moving forward.
"We've made some schematic changes this past week to kind of solidify some things, hopefully and then we'll get out there and practice it," Kane said. "I think things that we hadn't seen throughout the course of fall camp kind of have showed up. As coaches, we had to acknowledge that and say, All right, this is enough. So I think some changes are being made in that sense. So, just got to go through and execute now."
The run-centric approach in recent weeks has also played a part in Purdue's lack of takeaways to start the season, having a donut in the category through three games. Ryan Walters pointed to teams not having to be aggressive throwing the football, which gives the unit less opportunities to force turnovers. If Purdue proves it can stop the run, it could lead to more takeaways in passing scenarios for the Purdue defense, but that's a big if at the moment.
"It's twofold, us being aware of where the ball is when we're going in to make tackles, and then as a football team, trying to get a lead. I think we generate more opportunities when offenses are forced to be more aggressive," Walters said.
Offensively, Purdue went back to its bread and butter from a year ago, as Devin Mockobee and Reggie Love III combined for a successful day running the football in their own right. The one dimensional approach was spurred by Purdue's inability to get Graham Harrell's Air Raid attack off the ground with Hudson Card under center.
Walters has had conversations with Card about his play and what they need to do collectively to boost the offense. Without revealing the game plan, Walters believes the issues have been addressed on paper and he hopes to see improvement with the aerial attack.
"We got to do things that allow our quarterback to play well. Huddy's a talented individual, and that talent's got to show up on game day," Walters said. "We'll keep those issues in house so that we're not tipping our hand our opponent, you know, but there are definitely things that we've talked about and have addressed. Looking forward to seeing what that looks like on Tuesday's practice."
Not only is Card under a microscope, but so is the offense as a whole. At the top of the to-do list in fixing the group is getting into more manageable third down situations and deciding went to use tempo to give the defense more of a rest on the sidelines in the interest of playing complimentary football.
"We got to play complementary football. We got to look at when we're using tempo offensively, how do we generate easier third down conversions. There's a lot of things that we are evaluating right now," Walters said.
Walters knows improvements are needed to salvage this season, and perhaps his job security in West Lafayette moving forward. The Boilermaker head coach has heard the Purdue faithful's frustration and sees its merits. At the same time, he tries not to put too much of an emphasis on the outside noise.
"I'm not naive to it. You know, that's part of being in this profession, being in a competition arena, like you know you have a fan base that is as passionate as ours is. You know you you're going to hear frustration, and rightfully so," Walters said.
"We turn this thing around and win some games, you'll start hearing the other side of that noise, and that can be just as toxic as well. So to me, when you're in the throes of season, you don't pay attention to noise. You pay attention to guys that are in the building."
Purdue's quest for improvement marches on against Nebraska this weekend, as the Cornhuskers also look to bounce back from a loss to Illinois. The Boilermakers have been able to accumulate enough information to identify their programs and how to approach the solutions, Ryan Walters says.
"We've got some cataloged information, we've been able to identify areas we need to improve. You know, we're going to start getting guys back healthy and thrown into the depth chart, and this team will continue to improve throughout the season. That's one of the things that we've been hard been harping on, is we want to be peaking at the end of the year," Walters said.
