*Note: I get the last word because I make the schedule. If you’re tired of reading about the Notre Dame game, fear not, this is the last article.

Simply Not Good Enough

Not going to lie, that game surprised me.

Losing to Notre Dame is understandable—excusable, even. They’re a talented, veteran football team with reasonably high expectations. That game went beyond a loss; however, that was the type of loss that either galvanizes a program or ruins it.

The locker room either comes together and says, “Never again,” or they say, “Welp, guess that’s who we are this season.”

If that’s who Purdue is this season, the off-season will have plenty of intrigue because Ryan Walters won’t—and shouldn’t—make it to year three if Purdue can’t put something better than that on the field.

I don’t think this is any sort of hot take.

My Bad Y’all

I feel terrible.

I spent the entire off-season writing about optimism, and Purdue did not back me up last weekend. As I said above, if this continues, the only thing Ryan Walters will have to show for his two seasons at Purdue is a dresser drawer full of schmedium gold shirts to mow the lawn in and a fat bank account.

My hope, obviously, is that this doesn’t continue. At the end of the day, it’s Ryan Walters’s job to put a decent product on the field, and that wasn’t a decent product. If it doesn’t improve significantly, he shouldn’t get another season at Purdue.

First Game Jitters?

I’m contractually obligated to watch Purdue play football, regardless of the outcome, and I’d rather not watch that again. The one shred of hope I’m clinging to is that Purdue started the season with, on paper, a talented team without experience. On paper, they’re still a talented team (although not nearly as talented without Nyland Green and C.J. Smith) and will get more experienced as the season progresses.

That was the first game the offensive line played together, and three out of the five starters were making their return after a season-ending injury in 2023. Throw in Corey Stewart’s injury, and I should have expected early-season struggles on the offensive line. Granted, I didn’t expect to see the guys look like they were meeting each other for the first time last Saturday.

The only skill position players on offense coming off a full year of starting are Hudson Card and Devin Mockobee; everyone else is either coming off a serious injury or was coming off someone else’s bench in 2023.

The defense suffers from the same issue.

Purdue’s five-man front was ineffective, but at least four of the five guys were making the first start of their college career.

Jenkins has experience, but he doesn’t have experience at middle linebacker and looked a step behind both physically and mentally.

Markevious Brown was thrown into the fire last season, but Grant was playing his first game against an actual college football team last Saturday. The same goes for Antonio Stevens at strong safety. He’s been in the program for four seasons, but this was his first start. I can only hope that Thieneman looked like he was making his first start because he was playing behind a bunch of guys making their first start and was having a hard time figuring out what his team was doing, much less the other team.

This team desperately needed an actual game before playing Notre Dame. Not only were the Fighting Irish significantly more experienced heading into the season, but they were also playing their third game of the season. Meanwhile, Purdue had minimal experience heading into the season and was playing their first real game. If Purdue had played a team that offered any sort of resistance in Week 1, the coaching staff would have a better self-scout.

I’m in no way saying Purdue beats Notre Dame on Saturday if multiple players weren’t getting their first start, but I don’t think it looks like the dog-water we saw last weekend. I saw some easily correctable issues on the Notre Dame film that Indiana State wasn’t good enough to bring to light. This coaching staff is supposedly based around developing players, and if nothing else, there is ample room for improvement.

My Hope?

As many of you know, I also write about K-State and Clemson football and both of those teams give me hope.

Clemson looked like it couldn’t move the ball against air when they played Georgia in the opener. I wrote and deleted 4,000 words calling for the immediate apprehension of Dabo Swinney for the destruction of my beloved football program. I wanted offensive coordinator Garrett Riley arrested for fraud and wide receiver coach Tyler Grishman sent to the college football equivalent of a gulag.

I was deeply concerned that Clemson was going to lose, at home, to App State last weekend.

Then the game started, and Cade Klubnik threw a 76-yard bomb to a true-freshman receiver on the 3rd play of the game and they couldn’t stop scoring. I know Georgia is great team, but the Clemson team I saw in the opener was not the same Clemson team I saw against App State. I don’t think the offensive I saw in the opener in Atlanta could put 35 points up on…well…on Purdue in 4 quarters. They put up 35 in the first quarter against an App State team that is favored to win the Sun Belt and is still being talked about as a potential play-off team. Even a team as experienced as Clemson needed a game to get back in the flow, unfortunately, that game came against UGA and the Bulldog defense.

Something similar happened to K-State against Tulane. The Wildcat’s started the season with a 41-6 blowout of UT-Martin (who would probably be a 3-TD favorite over Indiana State). UT-Martin couldn’t keep their quarterback upright long enough to challenge the K-State secondary. Even when they busted a coverage, it didn’t matter, because the UT-Martin QB couldn’t throw off his back.

Then they headed down to New Orleans to face Tulane and it looked like the secondary, despite being stocked with experienced players, had never seen a college football game before, much less played in one. Tulane completed a 53-yard pass in their first touchdown drive of the game. They followed that up by giving up a 2-play touchdown drive on the next series after mixing up coverage a 6’5”, 250-pound tight end wide and letting him walk into the endzone for a 36-yard touchdown completion.

Tulane’s two drives both ended in field goals, but they included receptions of 37 yards and 28 yards.

K-State entered the locker room down 20-10 and they didn’t have a single answer for the Green Wave passing game. The experienced defense and coaching staff figured things out at halftime, and the Wildcats came out and dominated the second half, only surrendering 7-points in a come-from-behind 34-27 win.

I was less than enthusiastic regarding their chances to shut down Arizona’s high-flying offense last Friday. I highly recommend you check out Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan because you’ll be watching him on Sunday next season. K-State’s secondary looked lost against Tulane, and Arizona’s passing game, in theory, is significantly better than Tulane’s.

McMillan got his, pulling down 11 receptions for 138 yards, but defense made him work for every inch. The play of the game came from Keenan Garber, who played like the hottest-of-hot garbage against Tulane, perfectly undercutting a McMillan route in the endzone and pulling down a highlight reel interception. He’s the same player that couldn’t find Tulane’s tight end in the opener.

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman talked about getting the defense fixed after the Tulane game, and the defense went out, allowed a touchdown on Arizona’s first drive, and then didn’t let them in the endzone the rest of the game. The Wildcat defense in week 3 looked totally different from the Wildcat defense in week 2 that gave Tulane multiple touchdowns because they couldn’t get lined up correctly.

Dabo Swinney and Chris Klieman have more Championship rings than Ryan Walters has head coaching wins. Clemson’s offense was pathetic against Georgia and followed that up by setting a school record for points in a half against App State. Kansas State’s defense looked lost against Tulane but smothered an explosive Arizona offense for most of 4 quarters.

That’s what good coaches do.

It’s time to find out if Ryan Walters is a good coach.

Improve or Perish

The ball is in Ryan Walters’s court.

He built this roster around the idea of getting the best talent possible, even if it lacks experience, and then coaching it up. On paper, this is the most talented Purdue team I’ve covered, mission accomplished. It’s also the most inexperienced. Coach Walters bet on himself and his staff’s ability to take talent and turn it into win. He went with high-ceiling, low-floor portal guys instead of more established players with higher floors and lower ceilings. Now he’s got to coach them up.

As of now, I don’t think Ryan Walters should get a third year. I’m not sure Coach Walters would disagree with that statement. The good news is he has ten games remaining to prove he’s the right man for the job in West Lafayette, but he’s starting in a massive, self-dug, hole. Purdue didn’t just look bad; they looked incompetent against Notre Dame. Incompetence—especially in the era of college football—should get you fired.

Oregon State is not Notre Dame.

They’re also not Indiana State.

We know Purdue is significantly better than Indiana State and significantly worse than Notre Dame. Oregon State is the first game where Purdue and their opponent should be on equal footing. The Beavers are working with a new coach, a new quarterback, and are currently without a conference. Purdue should win this game. Purdue needs to win this game.

This team has to be better because Purdue deserves better. You can excuse losing to Notre Dame, but you can’t excuse incompetence. It’s weird to consider this a potential job-defining game for Coach Walters and company, but it’s improve or perish, starting in Corvallis on Saturday.