On the heels of another disheartening defeat, the wheels are starting to come off the tracks for Ryan Walters and the Boilermakers. The steamrolling Wisconsin handed them on Saturday was just the latest blow endured by Purdue this fall, but one that has began taking a toll on the Boilermaker head coach.
"The last forty eight hours have been, it's been emotional, it's been challenging," Walters said. "I'm a problem solver, and so I've been working diligently to solve problems."
Beyond playing the game "the right way" in the first half against the Badgers, Walters couldn't find much else in regards to positive takeaways from the 46-point defeat. It has brought on yet another week of self-evaluation for him, who has, on far too many occasions, been forced to look himself in the mirror after a disappointing loss.
The self-evaluation process looks at each performance in its totality, allowing Walters and company to break down what needs to be fixed moving forward.
"You look at game management, you look at how we're using the roster, you look at schematic issues, evaluate the play of the individual. You know, all of those things, and taking that assessment and evaluate it and try to improve the areas that you failed," Walters said.
Therein lies the problem, however. The issues haven't improved, at least not on Saturdays.
Despite that continued downward spiral for the Boilermakers over the last month, Walters remains committed to solving issues and salvaging a sinking ship in West Lafayette this season.
"I believe it can. I don't see any reason why it can't. Whenever I've been in a struggling time or an adverse time, the things that you do is you take lessons from the struggles, you take lessons from the adversity, you identify problems and you fix them. And so that is what we are in the process of doing right now, with seven games remaining on the schedule," Walters said.
With those aforementioned seven games left, the clock is ticking on Walters and the Boilermakers to show signs of life heading into the back half of the season, which has been one of the biggest areas needing improvement all year long.
The second half of games has not been kind to Walters and Purdue over the last three weeks, to put it lightly. It's actually beat them down. Against Oregon State, Nebraska and Wisconsin, the Boilermakers have been outscored 80-24. That's after already trailing in two games at halftime, but still being within striking distance.
Walters has been befuddled at the fact that Purdue has unraveled after halftime, on both sides of the ball, cancelling out any positives shown through the first 30 minutes of action.
"We are struggling to play from behind," Walters said. "For some reason, it kind of snowballs when things don't go our way. I've got to do a better job of giving them emotional answers on how to respond when you're behind or when things aren't going your way."
In doing that, Walters wants to eliminate the Boilermakers tendency to panic when the chips are down, which has been in the second half of the last three losses.
"Right now, when we get behind, we tend to hit the panic button, and there's no need to. So that's been the message, that's been sort of what we've been talking about the last couple days," Walters said.
Perhaps the panic button has already been pushed for the collective group, falling to the basement of the Big Ten and having no clear avenues for improvement in sight. As has been the case throughout this season, the hits keep coming in the form of even more challenging foes.
Purdue is now staring down a ranked Illinois squad that has been one of the biggest surprises in the conference this year, despite coming off of a loss to Penn State before their bye week. The Fighting Illini come into the rivalry week at 4-1 and are poised to exact revenge on Walters and the Boilermakers for last year's stomping in Ross-Ade Stadium.
Walters expects Bret Bielema and company to pose yet another tough test for his group and come out how they've performed to this point in the season, but with a few new wrinkles the Boilermakers will have to be ready for.
"They're playing confident. They're playing complimentary football. You know, obviously got a lot of respect for the staff and the roster there. I've got to know them very well, and so expect them to play the best brand of ball that they could play. That's what they've been doing up to this point this season. Fully expect them to come out guns blazing," Walters said.
"I think Coach B does a great job during the bye weeks in presenting new wrinkles and new personnels. So I fully expect to see things that we haven't seen on tape yet. It will be critical of us to be able to adjust to those things and to go fight for four quarters," Walters said.
Defensive coordinator Kevin Kane echoed those sentiments and provided a challenge to his defense to come out motivated against a strong Illini offense.
"We have to go out there and match the intensity. I think all bets are out in these types of games. No matter what's happened in the past, we got to look forward to what's going on in this particular moment, because its a rivalry game," Kane said.
The wheels may already be off the track for Purdue in 2024 with its 1-4 start to the year, but Walters and company can begin to steer things back on track with what would be the biggest win of the Purdue head coach's career on Saturday.
