By Mark Pszonak
When I woke up on Saturday morning Purdue was only slightly on my radar, as I thought they had a chance to make things interesting against Notre Dame. Was I wrong to think this after Notre Dame embarrassed themselves against Northern Illinois, Purdue showed some life during their opener and had a bye week to prepare for the Irish and the game was in West Lafayette? Instead of being wrong I may have been completely insane since somehow Purdue lost 66-7.
How does this happen? Look, I know that in preseason polls the Boilermakers were picked to finish 18th in an 18-team Big Ten so this may seem like I’m just piling on an already bad situation. But I am honestly confused on how Purdue could lose 66-7 at home, after a bye week, to a team that while talented, was the butt of a million jokes since their no-show against Northern Illinois.
What did Purdue spend the extra week of practice on? Because none of it worked on Saturday, both offensively and defensively. The offense had six first downs, gained 162 yards and was 1 of 12 on third downs. This is a week after Northern Illinois had 16 first downs, gained 388 yards and were 6 of 16 on first downs. It was even uglier on defense, where Notre Dame totaled 580 yards, including 364 on the ground. The Irish only rushed for 123 yards against Northern Illinois. The Irish ran for 241 more yards against Purdue than Northern Illinois. Let that sink in.
The Boilermakers weren’t prepared for anything, and this squarely falls on the shoulders of head coach Ryan Walters. Only in his second season with Purdue, Walters is now 5-9 during his time in charge. That isn’t worth a complete meltdown in West Lafayette, but 66-7 should be. When a program is picked to finish last in an 18-team conference, the fans aren’t looking for miracles, but they would be happy with some hope.
And what happened on Saturday afternoon completely ripped away any chance of that in 2024.
More Sports News
