Opponent Q&A: Purdue Boilermakers

Tomorrow, the Huskies head to West Lafayette, Indiana for a Friday night showdown with the Purdue Boilermakers. Ahead of that matchup, I caught up with Hammer And Rails’ Andrew Ledman to get all the info on this 3-3 Purdue squad!

Mark Schafer: The Boilermakers are led by Barry Odom (the older brother of UW linebackers coach Brian Odom), in his second year in West Lafayette. After a 2-10 season last year, Purdue has improved to 3-3, fresh off a win at home against Minnesota. What do you like about the job he has done, and what has he done differently than Ryan Walters?

Andrew Ledman: I think Odom came in and was honest about the situation Purdue found itself in. Purdue was in the basement, the sub-basement, below the cellar. It was not a good situation and a lot, though not all, of that is because of Ryan Walters and his inability to recruit, retain, and bring in talent for the football program. Odom came in and acknowledged that yeah, it’s a tough situation but that he believed you could turn this program around. Then he went out and put in some work. He didn’t have a lot of time in his first season given when he was hired so he sort of threw together a team but obviously with a 2-10 record you can see it didn’t really work. After last season Odom did a real evaluation of the roster and looked and what he needed to do to improve it with the (admittedly limited) resources that Purdue football had available. He prioritized keeping who he had to keep on the team including starting QB Ryan Browne who had a brief dalliance with UNC before returning to Purdue while then focusing on improving each unit. That didn’t mean going out and getting all stars at each position, it meant doing his best to shore up the giant holes the roster had. This work can definitely be seen in the WR room and the RB room. Improvement can be found all over the field but it’s incremental in scope and given the financial limitations he has that’s likely the best he can do. As for Ryan Walters, he was all style and no substance. He said the right things at times, he projected confidence and cool, but on the field the results were abysmal. Purdue went in a completely opposite direction with Barry Odom and there’s been improvement now Purdue needs to keep building on it.

MS: Ryan Browne has developed into a very efficient quarterback this season, totaling 9 touchdowns to just 1 pick, with 1549 yards through the air. What have you seen that highlights his improvement? What does OC Josh Henson bring to the table scheme wise, and who are the other weapons on offense?

AL: Browne has drastically improved from last season. Of course, he’s got better players all around him. Last seaosn Browne simply tried to do too much and he was often running for his life behind a line that you could have used to strain spaghetti it had so many holes. With improved line play, Fame Ijeboi making plays at RB, and a WR room that includes three legit targets in Asaad Waseem, Xavier Townsend, and Chauncey Magwood, there are just so many more options for Browne. A lot of his interceptions from last year were made out of desperation. Purdue so often played from behind and the offense, which was not good, just sort of went out there and tried to make things happen. His one issue that still needs improvement is his deep ball. He tends to overthrow his receivers when they get free deep. Purdue’s offense has been pretty balanced running and passing, except for last week against Minnesota when the Gophers just had no answer for Purdue’s running game. So I think in that sense, Purdue wants to be balanced but won’t run away from what’s working.

MS: DC Kevin Kane leads the Boilermakers in his 3^rd year. What is his scheme like, and who are the major players on defense?

AL: Oh Kevin Kane. He’s in his second stint with the Boilermakers but his third year overall with the team. He was the DC under Walters and got canned, rightfully so, as he went down as one of the worst DCs in Purdue football history. When Barry Odom was looking for a new DC in the offseason and it was announced that Kane was the hire Purdue fans were rightfully upset. We’ve railed against him on our site and just about every Purdue fan wanted him fired after his defense allowed a 4th and 15 converstion to Wake Forest in OT that ultimately lost Purdue the game. That throat clearing out of the way he’s greatly improved these past two games and it seems possible, I’m not ready to say it’s true but it is possible, that Purdue’s defensive struggles to start the season were because they just faced a lot of very good offenses. It’s also possible that Ryan Walters was the problem and not Kevin Kane.
Purdue switches up schemes depending on the situation but they’ve played some 4-3-4 against teams looking to run the ball. We saw a lot of that against Minnesota. Purdue doesn’t really have a star on the DL but they’ve got quality depth which helps them stay fresh. At LB they’ve got Charles Correa and Jojo Hayden as their main guys. Correa is probably the star of the defense insomuch as there is one. You’ll also see Winston Berglund come in on expected run plays. In the secondary Purdue’s had some struggles but they’ve got some solid players back there. Don Saunders has stepped up of late at the cornerback position whereas Hudari Hines has been hit or miss. Smily Bradford has done a good job.

MS: Who is an underrated, fan favorite Boilermaker that the rest of College Football might not know about?

AL: I’m not sure if he qualifies as a fan favorite but I will say an underrated and underutilized player on the Boilermakers is George Burhenn. He’s Purdue’s number 1 tight end but he’s been dinged up for a lot of his career. He’s incredibly talented but his own body can’t seem to stay out of his way. He’s got just 8 catches this season but with those 8 catches he’s got 120 yards and 2 TDs.

MS: What does the schedule look like for Purdue the rest of the way, and any guesses at a record?

AL: This was an easier question two weeks ago when we thought Purdue might not win another game. Now, they’ve got games that are winnable, no guarantees of course, against Washington, at a struggling Penn State team, home against Maryland, and home against Wisconsin. Those are the four possible wins remaining on the schedule. Purdue also has games at Iowa and at IU. I’m not optimistic about those two but it is legitimately possible that Purdue gets to a bowl game and for Purdue fans that alone is a miracle. I will go 5-7 but this has been such a strange season already that nothing would surprise me.

MS: What will the score be, in a Friday night game in the venerable Ross Ade Stadium?

AL: I think Purdue fans want this one bad. There’s a lot of anger directed at Ryan Walters for how far down he dragged the football program. Remember that this team played in the 2022 Big Ten Championship game against Michigan. Ryan Walters was hired the next season and Purdue was plunged into darkness. I think the fans will be relentless going after Walters and I think this Purdue team does enough to win

Purdue 35 – Washington 28.

My thanks to Andrew for these answers, and good luck to the Boilermakers the rest of the way! For my answers to his questions, head to Hammer and Rails! Go Dawgs!