Express Thoughts from the Weekend

Express Thoughts from the Weekend column runs every Monday morning, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting or whatever else comes to mind. In this week’s edition, we discuss the loss to Syracuse, Purdue and the Big Ten basketball schedule and more.

ON PURDUE’S FIRST THREE GAMES

Hey, look, I’m not here to tell you what to think or how to feel or whatever, but after a past 36 hours spent in Internet Toxicity World, muting sh*itposter Twitter accounts by the half dozen, let me just say this: It’s been three games!

I understand the ways of the world, probably better than anyone, when it comes to modern sports fandom, but the hysteria emanating from what very well might be a vocal minority has surprised even me.

Purdue has dozens of new players playing on this team, precious few proven or healthy returnees and a brand-new coaching staff, put in place for its potential more than its proven-ness. Yes, there will be a learning curve there, too. If you expected this to hum from Day 1, well, that was aggressive.

If you’re taking 180 minutes of up-and-down football and extrapolating that over the next five years, I’m not sure what to tell you. There’s never any guarantees when it comes to new staffs, but every coach deserves a grace period.

If you’re looking at Purdue’s defensive struggles as an indictment of Ryan Walters’ defensive rep, that’s fair, I suppose, and I’ll just assume you felt the same when noted offensive mastermind Jeff Brohm could hardly score a point at lousy Rutgers his first year. There’s always a process involved with that stuff, and for fans, sometimes it’s not for the faint of heart. I also assume you’d have done cartwheels had Purdue hired Troy Calhoun or some such boring sitting head coach ideally qualified to go .500 more often than not.

I have no idea what lies ahead for Purdue football long-term, but I do know that Ryan Walters and his staff should at least get a fair chance to either succeed or fail. Fans are part of that deal.

ON PURDUE BASKETBALL’S BIG TEN SCHEDULE

Any day now, either the Big Ten will either release its conference schedule or it’ll fall out of the back of a truck in front of Jon Rothstein’s house, at which time we’ll know who’s playing who and when.

To me, the interesting part of this lies in the sequencing, the difficulty of stretches of games, since we already know what the games are.

The biggest reveal: The two-game December slate. Last year, Purdue got to ease into Big Ten play with games against the two worst teams in the Big Ten (Minnesota and Nebraska), but before that, a December road trip to Rutgers was no picnic and years before that, a quick turnaround to Michigan right after a Big Ten/ACC game at Florida State was a flat-out screw job.

Every game matters.

Yes, I know there are no easy games in the Big Ten, but Purdue probably won’t want marquee conference games in the middle of the most difficult non-conference schedule in school history. TV historically hasn’t wanted those sorts of games burned during bowl season anyway, but now that NBC and CBS have stakes, does that change? Doubt it, but you never know.

ON PURDUE DEFENSE

As Purdue looks to improve defensively moving forward, here’s something to keep in mind: The unimaginative nature of Big Ten West offense. I know that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but I’ll remind you once again that Illinois’ defensive dominance last year came in a division that included abysmal Northwestern, boring Iowa, Indiana and the most mediocre Wisconsin team we’ve seen in some time. When Purdue visited Champaign actually looking to throw the ball vertically, it scored 31 and drew a bunch of penalty flags.

I do think Purdue’s defense will get better, much better, as the season progresses. That’s Walters’ track record at least. But if nothing else, the offenses might get worse at the same time. If you’ve watched the Big Ten West thus far, you know how safe a bet that is.

Statistics this time of year generally aren’t worth a damn thing, but right now Purdue is No. 9 in the Big Ten in scoring. Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 lie ahead on the schedule.