Following a disappointing loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini, Head Coach Barry Odom, Ryane Browne, Charles Correra, Antonio Harris, and CJ Nunnally offered their thoughts as the Boilers fall to 2-3 on the season
and 0-2 in the B1G.
Head Coach Barry Odom
A few key points by Coach Odom:
- Frustration is obviously coming to the surface for Barry Odom on a number of fronts but the struggles in the secondary are likely at the forefront. Notably for Odom, he mentioned explosive plays given up by his defense numerous times. “If you give up explosive plays, you aren’t going to be good on defense. Two plays were communication errors that are day 1 stuff.”
- He appears to like the players in the defensive backfield athletically and that they aren’t asking them to do things they can’t do physically but he seemed to indicate an unhappiness about the possibility of the process of preparation for those defensive backs up to this point.
- He also seemed to praise the defensive line and linebackers for getting tackles for loss (8), pressure (2 sacks), and making plays at the line of scrimmage. Notably absent from that praise was anything about the defensive backs.
- Barry Odom: “I believe in Purdue and for us to play today, from staff all the way down, was awful. For us to play this way was very disappointing.”
- Barry Odom: “We would be naive to think this would be an easy road. We will get back to work; I don’t know any other way.”
Purdue Players Ryane Browne, Charles Correra, Antonio Harris, and CJ Nunnally
- Ryan Browne is clearly the leader of this team and his disappointment is evident. Browne was happy with some things they did on offense but noted the struggles on third down. Boilers were just 5-13 today on third down and are now 29/66 (44%) on the season. Purdue entered 38th in the country at 45% but that shows the level of expectations Browne has for himself and his offensive unit.
- Charles Correra is going to be a super hot commodity for big programs to pull away from Purdue. The Boilers need to keep him because he is a foundational piece type of player for the defense. He was special again today with 15 total tackles and 1 TFL. He is also clearly unhappy about the explosive plays: “We move as a unit. If an explosive play happens, it’s on all 11 of us. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is at the end of the day.”
- CJ Nunnally is likely Purdue’s best defensive line player. He echoed Barry Odom’s phrases about how they move forward heading into a road game against Minnesota: “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and make adjustments.”
