The Boilermakers had their exposure broadcast on Saturday, and now it's time for sit in it for a bit.

The worst loss in program history leaves a stench in the building for Ryan Walters and the Boilermakers, who suffered a 66-7 beatdown by No. 18 Notre Dame. Walters expressed his displeasure for his team's performance after the game, with embarrassment, anger, and frustration, being just a few of his emotions.

Purdue now has to live with being the team that got run out of their home stadium, in a rivalry game, and on national television. Dismissing the result as a one-off does the team no good, but by the same token neither does sulking on it for too long.

The balancing act of addressing the mistakes head on and taking accountability, while putting the forgettable showing in the rear view mirror moving forward is something the Boilermakers are doing as they embark on a fresh week.

"You don't want the embarrassment and the disappointment hangover to affect how you play on Saturday," Walters said. "I don't know if you ever, like, really get over it. I think you need to wrestle with it. You need to learn from it, so that you're reminded of what will happen if you perform that way again."

"I can't ignore what I saw in spring ball. I can't ignore what I've seen in fall camp and how I felt going into last Saturday. But we also can't turn a blind eye to what transpired for the last four quarters," Walters said.

Purdue was outmatched from the very beginning, as the Fighting Irish got out to a quick 7-0 lead, which quickly turned into 14-0, then 21-0. Before you knew it, Notre Dame had a 42-point lead and waltzed into halftime with the game already clinched.

The initial haymaker from Marcus Freeman's group stunned Purdue, who was never able to recover. With several college football heavyweights still on the slate, Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State, Walters feels that he needs to better prepare his group for the event in which they get punched early, and showing resolve in the aftermath.

"They punched us in the mouth right from the opening kickoff, and we flinched. As the head coach, I can't allow that to happen. I have to do a better job in preparing our guys for what is to be expected from that type of opponent on a game day. I've got to do a better job of preparing us for opportunities and moments like that, because we're going to have them all throughout the course of the year," Walters said.

The lack of physicality was the biggest disappointment for Walters, however, as Purdue got dominated on both lines of scrimmage and failed to show the toughness they have exuded leading up to the loss.

Graham Harrell's offensive line takes a portion of that blame for Saturday's performance, as Hudson Card was pressured on half of his drop backs, including getting sacked four times, as well as the run game getting stifled for much of the afternoon. Harrell believes that had to do with the unit's willingness to block a hungry Notre Dame defensive front.

"I thought the other night we had hats for hats, and those guys just found ways to make plays, to be honest. They came out, they played really hard, they played extremely physical. They wanted to get off blocks and make the play more than we wanted to walk block them it seems like," Harrell said.

That helped pave the way for Purdue's worst offensive showing under Harrell, mustering just seven points and 162 total yards of offense in a frustrating day.

While Harrell's unit had a bad day, the Purdue defense now owns arguably the worst single game performance in school history, as Notre Dame dropped a new record 66 points on the Boilermakers' heads.

Much of the defensive issues stemmed from poor angles and missed tackles, as the Boilermakers had 15 missed tackles according to Pro Football Focus. Kevin Kane is encouraged by his group's eagerness to get in the film room and address their mistakes, but now it's time for them to show it on the practice field.

"I think our guys are have learned from it. That's the thing, like they've seen the film, they've seen the mistakes, and now they gotta go out there, and starting tomorrow morning, we're gonna go out there and start practicing," Kane said. "It's something that the guys have made those tackles in the past. So that's why there's no need to panic right now. It's just the guys need to go out there and execute the things that they did in the past, and we'll be good."

Purdue has already begun taking steps toward making the necessary changes to improve in all areas following the all-around beatdown it endured. That process started with a tough film session, which led to players and coaches taking responsibility for their respective shortcomings.

"You need to confront the adversity head on and I thought we did that yesterday. You know that tape was hard to watch. It was hard for some of the guys to take accountability of their performance. It's hard to watch all three phases as a head coach knowing that, ultimately, I'm responsible for everything that transpires on game day," Walters said.

Walters was honest with his team, stating the facts of where they are as a group and a program. There have been two polar opposite teams Purdue has trotted out to Ross-Ade Stadium, one who was dominant and one who was dominated. Which team the Boilermakers prove to be the rest of the season depends on who they choose to be.

"Right now we are a 1-1 football team that has lost to a ranked non-conference opponent, but the fact also is that we lost 66 to 7. We have to own the worst loss in program history," Walters said.

"That first game we executed at a high level. I don't care who you play against, we executed well, we played tough and physical. We tackled well, we made the right reads offensively. We ID'd the right fronts offensively, and we were excited and energized to play. Then the second outing was the opposite. Right now I told the team, you are both teams, and it is our decision on which team you want to be moving forward," Walters said.

Now that they have identified what needs to be corrected, the next step is translating that to the gridiron, where Walters and company will have their first opportunity to show progress on Tuesday morning.

"I'm excited as heck to get back on the practice field. I can't wait for Saturday. I embrace struggle, I embrace adversity, and this team will as well. So I'm excited to see how we respond, and fully expect us to respond the right way," Walters said.