Purdue looks for improvement, victory when it treks to raucous Virginia Tech

As far as raucous college football environments go, Virginia Tech’s is full-tilt. And it begins when the Hokies hit the field serenaded by Metallica’s fist-pumping “Enter Sandman,” which shakes the foundations of Lane Stadium.

“Yeah, obviously an electric atmosphere,” said Purdue coach Ryan Walters.” We showed a clip of “Enter Sandman” in our team meeting last night, the Virginia Tech intro.”

Purdue (0-1) is braced for the throbbing heavy metal anthem as it preps with a sense of urgency this week. Walters’ debut didn’t go as expected, as Purdue fell to Fresno State, 39-35. Next up: A trip to Blacksburg to play Virginia Tech, which opened with a 36-17 home win vs. Old Dominion last week.

“We lost,” said Walters. “You know what I mean? Obviously, the atmosphere of Ross–Ade is everything that you want it to be. Just the feelings of euphoria, you know, were all there. We’ve got to come away with wins. That’s why we’re here. That is not the standard and not the expectation to have opportunities to win. It’s to win ball games.”

Opportunity looms for a Boilermaker program that did some positive things vs. the Bulldogs. And no player embodied that potential more than true freshman safety Dillion Thieneman, who led the squad with 10 tackles and had a key interception to set up a TD.

“I was very, very pleased and excited for him, but I wasn’t surprised,” said Walters. “We’ve seen that style of play and that consistency from him since the springtime. So, like I said before, the beautiful thing about football is that it doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t care about what’s happened prior to the game. It’s all about the guys that are on the field, and he has deserved his spot on the roster and his spot on the depth chart.”

Other positives from the opener:

• Deion Burks flashed big plays in the opener and looks the WR1. The redshirt sophomore made four grabs for 152 yards and two TDs, including a pulsating 84-yard TD catch.

• The offense yielded no sacks or turnovers.

• Special teams produced a kickoff return for a 98-yard TD by Tyrone Tracy and set up another score with a 29-yard punt return by T.J. Sheffield.

Still, more could have been done.

“Definitely frustrated because there were opportunities all over the place to win that football game,” said Walters. “There were times where we played clean and were explosive on both sides of the ball.

“Defensively, it felt like it was feast or famine. It was either three-and-out, or they were scoring points, and a lot of that had to do with our third-down efficiency. You look at the game in its totality, and I think that kind of told the story.”

Purdue was 2-of-11 on third downs (18 percent), while Fresno State was 11-of-17 (65 percent).

“We’ve got to come up with a better plan schematically, and then we’ve got to play with confidence and pay attention to details so that we can execute,” said Walters.

Another issue was running the ball in tight quarters.

“From a players’ standpoint, have to come up with a better short-yardage plan,” said Walters. “I think we had four opportunities to extend drives that were two yards or less and came away with no yards. Definitely have to be better on third downs on both sides of the ball.”

Purdue’s run game could be bolstered by the return of No. 2 center Josh Kaltenberger, who missed the opener recovering from a knee injury suffered in camp as the replacement for still-injured Gus Hartwig.

“I would anticipate him being available, yes,” said Walters.

The offense may also get back tight end Garrett Miller, who missed all of last year and the opener after hurting a knee in 2022 camp. Walters knows he’ll have quarterback Hudson Card, who hit 17-of-30 passes for 254 yards and two TDs in his Boilermaker debut on Saturday. He also ran six times for 29 yards.

“You saw flashes of what he’s capable of doing both with his arm and his legs,” said Walters. “We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him and giving him an opportunity to stand in there and deliver accurate and confident throws.”

Teams typically make their most improvement from Game One to Game Two. That’s the hope for Purdue, which wants to avoid its first 0-2 start since dropping its first three games in 2018.

“If historical trends continue, then you do see a huge jump from Game One to Game Two,” said Walters. “I’m fully anticipating that to happen.

“Like I said, there were times where things looked like they are supposed to look and looked like how they’ve looked in practice and throughout fall camp. So, I’m fully confident that the consistency with which we need to play to win a game will start showing up more and more. This team, obviously we’re all new together, and we will continue to improve as the season goes.”

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