Big Ten media thinks Purdue football stinks. That's a gift for Ryan Walters.

INDIANAPOLIS – Purdue football coach Ryan Walters arrived at his second Big Ten media days and found a neatly wrapped gift awaiting at his podium.

It came courtesy of the conference’s media establishment. Our USA TODAY Network preseason poll ranked the Boilermakers dead last . So did the cleveland.com preseason poll . So did the poll compiled by Kings of the North host Doug Lesmerises , a longtime Ohio State beat writer.

Across the board, with only minor overlap in the voting bodies, people think Purdue stinks.

Purdue burning questions: How does Year 1 under Ryan Walters translate to Year 2?

If Walters does not blast those rankings out via group text and paste them throughout the Kozuch Football Performance Complex , he’ll miss a huge opportunity.

When you’re picked 18 ^th out of 18 from coast to coast, that means many voters would not blink if you struggled to win even one game. Some might even expect a goose egg. Which is exactly what Walters should tell his still-cohering roster every week from now through December.

Walters faced similar pessimism prior to his first season. The 2023 cleveland.com preseason poll predicted Purdue would finish sixth out of seven in the final season of the West division. (At 3-6, it finished in a four-way tie for fourth through seventh.)

Being picked 18 ^th out of 18, though, and in three different preseason polls of only Big Ten media — that looks and feels different. The consensus opinion of league observers buried the Boilermakers below a conference which annexed four bowl teams from the old Pac-12.

Perhaps this bear of a schedule affected those votes. Some voters likely assume Purdue essentially starts 0-3 against Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State — teams picked first, second and third in all three of those polls. Opponents Wisconsin, Nebraska and Rutgers finished seventh through ninth in all three polls. That means six of nine conference games come against teams expected to finish in the top half.

For many, though, preseason votes are merely a power ranking — a semi-educated guess at the relative strengths of the entire league. A beat writer's attention mostly focuses on the team in front of them. Hard to acquire a deep knowledge of every roster in an expanding conference when you’re so locked onto your team's backup right guard competition.

Many voters likely saw three possible returning All-Big Ten players and noticed two of them — edge rusher Nic Scourton and receiver Deion Burks — transferred to the SEC. They saw an apparent lack of electric offensive skill talent. They saw in Walters a coach who went 4-8 in his debut while perhaps giving IU’s Curt Cignetti and Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith benefit of the doubt their arrivals might spark similarly crestfallen programs.

Whatever the logic behind each individual vote, they left Purdue in the preseason basement. Not a cozy, man-cave sort of basement, with a comfortable recliner and your bowl victory in repeat on a sprawling flat screen. One of those damp, drafty basements long ago sealed off and turned over to rodents.

Walters should embrace those dank expectations.

Which is different than saying he should be happy about it. Seeing 18 ^th out of 18 everywhere you look cannot feel good. Walters and his staff worked hard to add transfer talent to offset those losses. Some evaluations rated it among the best transfer classes in the nation.

Establishing a new system has never been more difficult — especially for programs outside the sport’s upper tier. Between graduations, early NFL departures and the transfer portal, half your roster turns over after Year 1. It’s more difficult to throw yourself into recruiting an additional layer of talent when you must also keep recruiting the talent already in your building. (See again: Scourton and Burks.)

Walters and his staff and players should be upset. They should probably feel a little insulted, even if these opinions have no bearing on the outcome of the season. They are allowed to flinch from a slap in the face.

Then Walters should do what veteran coaches at even elite programs do every year. They take the smallest slight and turn it into a daily motivator for their teams.

The slight gifted to Walters is so large he’ll need to haul it back to West Lafayette on a flatbed. Drive it around campus behind the Boilermaker Special while blaring "Hail Purdue." Make sure everyone in the program sees it.

And if it that extra motivation pays off with a season that defies the schedule, betting odds and extreme preseason pessimism? No need to send a thank you card.

Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Big Ten media thinks Purdue football stinks. That's a gift for Ryan Walters.