PURDUE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 25, 2023

Ryan Walters

Press Conference

Q. Just after watching the film, what were some of your takeaways from Friday night?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, obviously came out super flat, which was surprising to me just given the history of that game in particular what was at stake in the weeks's preparation leading up to kickoff.

And then came out at halftime and started the way I thought we would've started the game. So message to the team was right now we are both of those teams. We are the first quarter team and the third quarter team, albeit as different as they may seem.

We have to decide who with want to be consistently. If we choose to consistently be who we were post-halftime, which was aggressive and competitive and all the things that you want in a competition, then we have a chance to be a good football team.

If we don't, if we are cautious and try to feel the game out, with the rest of the schedule we play it's going to be hard to win a game.

So was happy with the way they practiced yesterday and the approach they've taken already. Like I've been saying from the start, I do believe this team will just continue to get better as the season goes.

Q. Just how do you get better and turn the page?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, so you got to take a step back and sort of look on the big picture. Obviously you don't want to be -- nobody wants to be 1-3 to start a season.

When you look at the opponents we've played and the chances we've had in the games we lost and just the improvement from week to week just on understanding scheme and not having like mental errors and mental busts, and continuing to develop positive practice habits and winning mentality and all those things.

So you don't want to panic with the start. You definitely want to urgently fix the things you need to fix. We're doing that right now. Not wholesale changes, but like tweaks here and there to continue to improve the program.

Q. You know Illinois staff and players well; they know you well. How does that kind of work in your preparation? Do you have to be a little bit different than what you think they might expect or do you think they're doing the same thing?

RYAN WALTERS: You know what, watching their film now -- I haven't watched their film all season until -- we played Friday; I watched their tape Saturday.

They have changed a little bit, as have we. You want to cater and tweak things to be conducive to what your roster is capable of doing and what they're good at.

There is still a lot of familiarity -- like I can tell what I'm seeing on tape, and obviously I got to go against Coach Lunney every day in practice for a spring and a fall.

So there are similarities there, and also a lot of new faces in that program as well that I wasn't there for. So, yeah, I ran through the scouting report from a personnel standpoint for our offense and talked about who the guys were on defense and what they were good at, you know, what to expect from a structure standpoint.

Then watching their offense, you know, their good guys have been their good guys for a while. I think Coach Lunney does a good job trying to get his playmakers the ball in space. There is definitely familiarity there.

At the end of the day, we got to worry about what we're doing and how we can improve so we can go out there and compete our tails off on Saturday.

Q. Ryan regardless of Illinois and your ties to them, I feel like you think this team just needs to beat somebody and flip that script; is that how you go into this? It's one win away from possibly flipping the whole season?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, absolutely, and that was also one of the messages we preached on Sunday. We gave the guys Saturday off, met Sunday and watched the film and practiced. So the team meeting was very candid and very honest about where we are and what we need to do to go where we want to go. Greatness is around the corner. You never know when a streak starts. Every great team, every great program has had a beginning of something special.

You know, there is some outside and added storylines because of the nature, history between myself and Illinois, but at the end of the day we need to win a game and we need to win a game at Ross-Ade. Need to win a Big10 game to right the ship and to start turning the tide in our favor.

Q. I saw the team is I guess officially dedicating the Tiller Tunnel this weekend. How much did you know about Coach Tiller before you became a Boilermaker?

RYAN WALTERS: Not a whole lot. I didn't know a lot about Purdue in general. I grew up in the mountains of Colorado. Spent the majority of my life in the west coast region. Obviously knew who Drew Brees was and was a big fan of his as a high school quarterback, but once I got the job really started doing some digging and diving on who Joe Tiller was and what he means to this university.

You know, very proud to be in a position that he once filled, and he definitely set the mark of what it means to be a great football coach here at Purdue University. My hope is to one day be mentioned in the same breath as him. That would be a huge honor.

Q. Ryan, what do you think this team's offensive identity is?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, you know, I think we are good at -- I don't want to go into specifics on scheme because obviously teams like to start working on those things, right -- but I think we know who our playmakers are. I think we have a good idea of what type of schemes our offensive line is good at.

I think we're understanding how Hud sees the game and what type of plays he likes to run. When we get first downs early in drives it seems like we score points, so the emphasis moving forward will be we got to get that first down. When we do, it goes with pace. When we play with pace, it keeps defenses on their heels. We're able to attack on the ground and through the air.

I think we run the ball better than people give us credit for. I think we got running backs that are good and probably need a couple more touches.

Q. Speaking of the running backs, what will the plan be as far as the use of those guys? You think maybe just should be a two-man rotation?

RYAN WALTERS: You know, I don't know if two man, because I still think Dylan is also very capable and has a role. The three of them complement each other well. Tyrone is playing lights out right now in offense and special teams. Like he really has been a bright spot for us. Every time he has the ball in his hands something good happens.

Mockobee, as you guys have seen, is hard to bring down. We fixed the ball security issues from the Syracuse game and he's hard to bring down. His big run the other night was negated by a holding call. Those penalties really stall drives so we got clean up that for sure.

I think we've got listed Tyrone and Mockobee as "or" starters, and that's sort of how we view them.

Q. The offensive line sort of struggled to protect. Will there be any changes there? I notice there is an aura between Moussa and Daniel Johnson. Talk about the offensive line.

RYAN WALTERS: You know, obviously having Gus back in the lineup really helps. He is a really, really good player. I think it calms everybody else down around him just its way he communicates. We moved Kaltenberger to guard at times to see how he fits there.

To be honest, still trying to find the right mix of the five guys that will do the majority of the playing. You know, I think Marcus Mbow is playing at a high level at tackle.

Like I said, we are understanding what type of plays they are good at running and are trying to do more of those.

Q. Is Ben Freehill back this week?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah.

Q. And then --

RYAN WALTERS: No, no. Sorry. You said Freehill?

Q. Yeah.

RYAN WALTERS: No.

Q. And then just I guess you talked earlier about the slow starts. What can you do to start quicker, Ryan? I think I added it up. You're getting out scored 76 to 48 in the first half. What can you do to charge it up and come out and get on the board?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I mean, obviously we have had discussions on do we take the ball if we win the toss to try it kick start it.

We started on offense first at Virginia Tech and started offense first the other night and didn't go so well, so I think part of it is mentality standpoint and coming out the gate ready to attack.

I feel like right now at times we still are looking around wondering, like are we as good as we think we are? Like am I going to make the play or is my buddy next to me going to make the play? Instead of just playing the game and playing with aggression.

Football in its nature is an aggressive sport, and so if you're not aggressive in your approach you'll get hit in the mouth. We got hit in the mouth in the games we lost, especially early.

Q. You've seen this from both sides now, but how big of a deal is that cannon, for winning that in rivalry game with a traveling trophy?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, any time there is a trophy involved it's a big deal. You're playing for something more than just a mark in the win or loss column. It's something that we talked about and preached. The cannon has to stay here, and we will do everything we can to make sure that happens.

Q. Obviously Luke Altmyer is mobile. Just how much emphasis are you going to put on stopping him in the run game?

RYAN WALTERS: Just depends how much they try to use him in the run game. Have a couple design runs here and there, but I also don't know what they think of their backup situation.

So you seen like the last couple games him not running as much. We'll definitely be ready for it. They're going to try to do everything they can to win a game, and I'm sure using the quarterback will be part of that.