There's not many schools in college football running Ryan Walters' self coined 'Air Strike' defense. Just two by our count. So don't blame the quarterback if he looks confused going against Purdue's defense this season.

After all, that's the main pillar of Walters and now Purdue's new defensive scheme. He wants to put the game in the opposing quarterback's hands, and he wants to make sure they don't know what to do with it.

Along with that, the Boilermakers' biggest focus on defense is causing chaos for opposing signal callers on a nightly basis. No position group buys into that philosophy more than Joe Dineen's outside linebackers unit.

"I just don't think a whole lot of people run it. I think that the big thing that Coach Walters [says] is we play against the quarterback. Our deal is we're going to try to confuse the quarterback, make everything look the same, and then work from there," Dineen said.

While the outside linebackers in Purdue's defense are hyper-focused on getting after the quarterback, they have to earn that right by being sound in the run game just to have the opportunity to pass rush.

"We look for pass rushers. Now we tell them that they got to earn the right to pass [rush] for us. We got to be really good on early downs. So first, second down, we got to stop the run," Dineen said, "And on third down, we earned the right to pass rush."

Getting into the backfield is the top priority for Nic Scourton, Khordae Sydnor, and company, but Dineen will also ask his unit to occasionally drop into coverage. How often will they do so? It just depends, says Dineen.

"I don't know. I mean, it's, it's give or take. It's all about situations and stuff like that. So we'll teach them how to drop, but like I said, man, we want pass rushers. Depending on what situation arises, then we'll get them out in coverage a little bit, but the goal is to get the quarterback," Dineen said.