Brent Pry evaluates what he learned as a coordinator in the Big Ten

This isn’t Brent Pry‘s first tango with Big Ten competition. On Saturday, the Virginia Tech head coach will lead his Hokies into battle against Purdue on Saturday. Before the matchup, Pry discussed what he learned about the Big Ten during his eight seasons as Penn State‘s defensive coordinator.

“That’d be tough,” Pry said. “Over eight years, the league changed some and we were certainly a league for a long time that had multiple tight end sets and then the next week, you’d have spread, throw it all around the yard. You’d have big-boy, two-back ball, multiple tight ends and then, playing empty 40 snaps, so it was challenging that way as a defensive play caller.”

Penn State promoted Pry to defensive coordinator in 2016. During his tenure, the Nittany Lions posted three seasons with 11 wins and four seasons with nine or more victories. The team’s defense was always a significant factor behind its success.

In his final season with Penn State, Pry was a Broyles Award nominee for the top assistant coach in the country as the team ranked fourth nationally in Red Zone defense, seventh in scoring defense, eighth in defensive pass efficiency and held their opponents to 4.7 yards per play.

Brent Pry is ready to burn the Boilermakers

Pry is prepared for a war with the Boilermakers.

“We’ve had we had some good, good games against Purdue. But, for me, it’s kind of about our personnel and where we’re at as a team,” Pry said. They’ve got a brand new staff. They’ve got a bunch of transfers that have come in and are trying to help them and are getting a good feel for who they are and who they want to be offensively, defensively.

“They got experienced guys coming back at kicker and punter. They got a punt returner that’s a good player. They got a kick returner that’s a good player, Freshman of the Week and an [All] Big Ten [player] on defense. They got some good things going for them. It was a shootout out they lost. They easily could have won that game.”

Purdue dropped its season opener to Fresno State 39-35. Nonetheless, Pry won’t overlooked the Boilermakers. He can’t afford the losses. In his debut campaign with Virginia Tech, the Hokies posted 3-8 record and 1-6 mark in conference play.

Pry doesn’t plan on allowing the program to dwell in mediocrity this season. On Saturday, Virginia Tech will take on Purdue at noon ET. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.