When I walked up to Purdue’s Tuesday morning football practice, expecting to be greeted by familiar rap hits themed generally around coming out on top – around winning – I was instead met with silence.

And then shouting. Cursing. Then hitting. Plastic pads came crunching into each other as the shouting continued from behind the fence shrouded in black tarp which encircles the Boilers’ practice field.

This Tuesday wasn’t a typical one for Purdue; this Tuesday followed the worst defeat by margin of victory in program history. One shudders to think of the atmosphere in the Boilermakers’ film session Sunday.

Dillon Thieneman, Purdue’s best defensive player and an All-American, was its worst-graded defender in a 66-7 defeat to No. 17 Notre Dame, according to Pro Football Focus. Thieneman missed four tackles Saturday, failing even when he was in position to put a stop to Purdue’s bleeding.

“Our fundamentals,” he highlighted as the most surprising thing he had seen on the screen. “We just weren’t doing our technique, we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do.”

He said something flipped, though, as early as Sunday. Head coach Ryan Walters told reporters he was embarrassed by his team’s performance in its aftermath Saturday, and told his players to embrace their negative feelings the day after, and learn from what caused them.

Walters said his team backed down physically to a more talented, seasoned opponent. Thieneman said his role as a leader of the defense is to hold practices above a certain level, to raise the standard and ensure their physicality never dips again.

That’s what I heard walking up, I suppose, that silence punctuated by anger and hitting and whistles.

After his interview, Thieneman walked opposite of a shower and meal in the Mollenkopf Athletic Center and out deeper on the sideline, past bleachers and kicking nets. He found a padded tackle dummy sitting atop a black metal sled.

Then he dragged it into position, a bit nitpicky, nudging it this way and that before backing up six yards and setting his sights on it. He chopped his feet and ran angular, like tracking an imaginary ball carrier, before ramming his shoulder into it in perfect tackling form.

The sled tipped back like a wild bronco and clanged the impact throughout a practice field that only included Gus Hartwig among the Boiler regulars. Thieneman hit it again, and again, and again before ripping his helmet off and sauntering off the field. Hartwig appeared to tell him a joke as the two approached the concrete stairs which lead toward the locker room; the senior lineman was smiling. But Thieneman didn’t laugh. He disappeared down the steps.

If it was an angry Notre Dame team that ripped the Boilermakers apart Saturday, an Irish team awakened after a season-threatening loss, then it would seem the Boilers want that same wake-up call to stay with them.

Maybe they’ll pass it onto Oregon State this weekend. With one last non-conference test before it competes in the largest power football conference in history, maybe Purdue is awake now. Maybe it will catch the Beavers napping.

Welcome back, Kam Brown

Kam Brown played his first game as a Boilermaker Saturday, tallying nearly half of his team’s 124 passing yards on one, 52-yard catch.

The wideout, a fifth-year transfer from UCLA, returned from a spring knee injury against the Irish and said it felt “amazing” to be back.

“It really just started in practice, working every day,” he said. “Strengthening, building that confidence back, running routes.”

Brown said the catch itself wasn’t anything special. In fact, all it took was execution of a simple play to put Purdue in enemy territory for the only time all afternoon.

“It’s just a routine play. We run it all the time,” Brown said. “You don’t even think about it. You know, as a receiver, when you see the ball, you just think the ball is mine, and you gotta trust the quarterback’s gonna put it where it needs to.”

So, evidently, the Notre Dame secondary couldn’t be perfect for an hour. Just mostly perfect.

One to watch?

While Brown’s catch Saturday wasn’t anything special, according to him at least, the most successful receiver from Purdue’s historic loss has the temperament to carry success forward. His coaches think he’ll coach football one day.

“I don't know what he wants to do in life, but he should be a football coach,” offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said Saturday.

Harrell said the next few weeks could include Brown getting his rhythm back and carving out an on-field role. But Brown has been helping the team from the sideline since his injury, too.

“Once you get hurt, your job as a leader on the team doesn't stop,” Brown said. “Being given great information is no use if you don’t help everybody else and spread it around.”

Brown graduated with a history degree from UCLA, though he said Harrell’s comment isn’t the first time he’s been told he has a future in coaching. But he’s a college football player now, he said, and that’s all he’s worried about.