Purdue Boilermakers Football - 2024 Season Autopsy
Let's get this out of the way before moving onto the fun stuff this week.
The Purdue Boilermakers entered last season in year 2 of the Ryan Walters error. Hope and cautious optimism were in the air despite coming off an pretty uninspiring 4-8 season. In the second season after a Big Ten West division championship, Purdue fans were excited by a home slate with several opportunities to knock off big name foes and reclaim the Spoilermaker title. Season tickets of Ross-Ade Stadium sold out. Not long into the season the Boilermaker faithful discovered that their optimism was misplaced.
The 2024 season started with a bang! Purdue crushed the Indiana State Sycamores 49 to nothing while outgaining them 583 yards to a paltry 154. Quarterback Hudson Card completed 24 of 25 passing attempts. Things were looking up and the team had a bye week to prepare for hated rival Notre Dame coming into Ross-Ade for the first time in a long timThings went downhill immediately against the Irish. Despite the coaching staff billing it as a huge opportunity, Purdue’s defense was shredded play after play after play after play. Defenders constantly found themselves out of position. The offense was just as disappointing. Several terrible, horrible, no good, very bad records were set. It was embarrassing to be a Purdue football fan agaThe third and fourth games of the season didn’t go much better. Following losses against a decimated Oregon State program and an average Nebraska team, the athletic director pulled the plug on the tenure of beleagured offensive coordinator Graham Harrell.
After the annual loss to [fill in the blank in the comments] wisconsin, Purdue managed to trip up Bert and the Illini with a massive second half comeback to force overtime in the battle for their own cannon. Despite having momentum, Purdue’s coach decided to go for two points and the win in the first overtime. The attempt naturally failed and Purdue hit the halfway point of their season with an embarrassing 1-5 record. Things were about to get worse.
Unfortunately for Purdue the second half of the season looked much harder with games against Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, and Indiana. Of course by this point, Purdue fans were watching basketball practice videos and begging the AD to just put us out of our misery.
One final competitive game against the hapless Wildcats of Northwestern went to overtime. The Boilermakers failed to score in extra time all but sealing a 1-11 season. Things mercifully ended with the Indiana’s largest margin of victory in the Old Oaken Bucket series and the firing of Ryan Walters. Luckily, Purdue maintains the largest margin of victory in the series. Small victories!
The 2024 football season was an awful season. Purdue’s offense was poor, unable to sustain drives or score points with any regularity against teams not named Indiana State or Illinois. The defense missed tackles, took poor angles, and gave up on plays too often. The lack of effort was pathetic and the coaching staff was out of their depth. Perhaps worst of all, Purdue did actually have some talent on the roster. Players from last year’s team have since transferred to powerhouse programs like Oregon, Texas, USC, the Ohio State, Clemson, and Northwestern. A more seasoned, competent coaching staff should have been able to win a handful of games with the talent on hand. Alas, 1-11 was the result instead.
With the coaching staff and roster having undergone a complete overhaul, a new era is starting. Things can't get worse, right?
