Purdue's Ryan Walters on if season can be fixed: 'I don't see any reason why it can't'
It’s four losses in a row for Purdue (1-4 overall; 0-2 Big Ten) as it treks to Illinois (4-1; 1-0) to play at 3:30 pm ET on FS1 Saturday. Amid the tumult of this inauspicious start–which has included one demoralizing defeat after another–the question on everyone’s mind is this: Can the season be fixed?
“I think I believe it can,” said Ryan Walters. “I don’t see any reason why it can’t. Whenever I’ve been in a struggling time or adverse time, the thing that you do is you take lessons from the struggles. You take lessons from the adversity. You identify problems and you fix them.”
The problems for Purdue are many as the program heads toward the halfway point of the season with games looming vs. Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State, among others. In fact, the seven teams remaining on the schedule are a combined 30-7.
• The offense is toothless, led by an inept passing game, inability to convert third downs and absence of big plays.
• The defense has been trampled at times by the run. The pass rush? Spotty. And the secondary has a penchant to commit pass interference when not giving up big plays.
On and on it has gone for what quickly has become a dreary season. Anger has engulfed the fan base. Now, after a 52-6 loss at Wisconsin that felt like a nadir in a season that’s quickly being drained of hope, apathy may be washing over the Boilermaker nation.
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Walters is trying. He made a bold move last week when he let go offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, entrusting analyst Jason Simmons with play-calling duties. Tweaks were made, but to no avail. Purdue had just 216 yards and kicked two field goals vs. the Badgers. Third downs? Purdue was 1-of-11.
“You look at game management,” said Walters. “You look at how we’re using the roster. You look at schematic issues. Then you evaluate the play of the individual, you know, all those things and take an assessment and evaluate and try to improve the areas that you failed.”
The trip to Illinois will conjur memories for Walters and many of his staffers, who left Champaign for West Lafayette after the 2022 season.
“Gotten to know them very well, so expect them to play the best brand of ball they can play,” said Walters, who was Bret Bielema’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022. “That’s what they been doing up to this point this season. You know, fully expect them to come out guns blazing.”
