If Notre Dame fans didn’t see a 59-point victory over Purdue coming, then imagine what the experience was like for Boilermakers head coach Ryan Walters standing on the sideline. He was completely taken aback by the 66-7 final score.
Here’s everything he said about it.
On what’s next for Purdue after getting blown out by Notre Dame
“We had a very pointed conversation at halftime. Obviously, a very pointed conversation at the end of the game. We’ll see how we respond. My hope is that they learn from this so it never happens again. Obviously, everybody is disappointed, embarrassed, angry, frustrated, shocked right now. But this is a long season. You can’t let one game define you, especially a non-conference game. We got a tough road, a shortened week in terms of travel. So we got to get in and really look and take accountability from the tape tomorrow. Learn from it and move on.”
On ‘what happened’
“What didn’t happen? Did I see this coming? No. What I’ve seen from January til yesterday has been all positive. It’s been tough, physical, competitive, disciplined. And that was not the case from the opening kickoff until the end of the game. That’s my fault. It falls on me. I deserve every ounce of criticism. It’s my job to get them ready to go and take advantage of opportunities like this and we didn’t take advantage of it today.”
On why Notre Dame was able to run at will
“The lack of physicality. Undisciplined eyes. Undisciplined tackles. You name it. Every mistake we made, [Notre Dame] capitalized on it. You got to give them credit. That type of play, that style of play, I haven’t seen. I’m frustrated, angry, embarrassed. I got to get it fixed and I will.”
On not establishing a ground game vs. Notre Dame and getting behind the sticks
“That’s exactly what happened. [Notre Dame was] the more physical football team and it wasn’t even close. We would have a hat for hat in the run game and get pushed off the ball. It was hard to find lanes. [Notre Dame] didn’t miss any tackles. When we did make plays down the field, we didn’t catch the ball. And like I said, I hadn’t seen that all fall and in the spring.”
On leaving starters in until the end
“We weren’t tackling well so might as well get some reps at tackling. To know what it’s going to feel like to play physical football. The game was being played so we were playing.”
On if there were any positives at all
“No.”
On the biggest area of disappointment
“The lack of physicality is disappointing. We pride ourselves in being tough and being physical and practicing hard and physical. We did not do that. We got beat up today. So yeah, that’s disappointing.”
On Corey Stewart not finishing the game and on the Purdue offensive line
“We were rotating Corey, so Corey and Josh, they both played. If I’m basing the offensive line’s performance on today, Hell yeah, I’m worried. But as a head coach you also need to not be impulsive and overreact. You can’t ignore it, obviously, and you need to learn and correct and apply pressure where pressure needs to be applied, but at the same time I can’t let four quarters sort of derail what I believe and what I’ve seen.
“I still have a lot of belief in this team. I believe that we can win football games. I believe we can compete with the best of the best. We didn’t do that today and I need to figure out why so it doesn’t happen again. But at the same time am I throwing in the towel on this season and going to start changing the way I coach or the way I operate? No. I trust these guys. I believe in these guys.
“Am I frustrated right now? Absolutely. Am I disappointed? Absolutely. Am I angry? Absolutely. But do I love this team? Absolutely. You got to give them tough love when stuff like this happens but they need to know I’m still confident in them, I still believe in them and I still think we’re going to have a Hell of a season. It’s my job to make sure that happens, and I’m going to do everything I can to see that through.”
“I’m not sure. That’s an easy cop out. It’s an easy excuse, and I’m not going there. The bottom line is we got punched in the mouth early and we didn’t recover from it. We didn’t handle that type of adversity well. Like I said, you got to learn from it and you got to move on because we’re about to play in a hostile environment in Corvalis .”
On what he said to the team at halftime trailing Notre Dame 42-0
“You tell them the truth. We talk about going into halftimes and coming out that the score is 0-0. You’re not worried about the opponent you’re playing. You’re worried about yourself and making sure you’re making corrections and playing football the right way. That’s the message. It is easy to find the corrections on tape because the tape is available. Now, executing and making the plays is a different story. So that’s where I got to make sure we’re making the plays we gotta make.”
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