Is Oregon State a must win?

[bonefish1]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

 

[BBG]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

No because I think whether we win or not is irrelevant as we follow up OR ST with tougher teams that if they blow us out, quickly erase any win we might have had.

The only must win game I see is the bucket game. We aren't going to a bowl, but if we lose that game or even worse lose by a lot... then the fans will explode even more than is going on now.

And depending on how things are leading up to the bucket game, even a win there may not be enough.

 

[pboiler18]

No because I think whether we win or not is irrelevant as we follow up OR ST with tougher teams that if they blow us out, quickly erase any win we might have had.

The only must win game I see is the bucket game. We aren't going to a bowl, but if we lose that game or even worse lose by a lot... then the fans will explode even more than is going on now.

And depending on how things are leading up to the bucket game, even a win there may not be enough.

If we lose out or go 2-10 I don’t think you can justify keeping this staff around.

 

[boiledmeconium]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

Yes. Absolutely. After seeing the team quit on Walters in the 2nd quarter, I think they'll quit on him for the year if they lose bad.

But even if he wins at Corvallis, he still has a lot to prove. He will need to beat NW, MSU, IL and IU to show progress.

If he can't win 6 this year, he'll never us get there, imo.

 

[Rodeopepper]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

Define “must win” ….. or what? The fair weather fans we were starting to pick up are probably already out the door after Saturday. Even if they look improved I’d say it’s a pretty bad reflection on the staff in the fact that they weren’t able to keep the team focused over the bye week before ND. Don’t forget we have another coming later in the year too.

As for Walters being the right hire the answer is no he wasn’t. Purdue has always had success when brining in a full staff with experience and Walters doesn’t check either of those boxes. Doesn’t mean he’s a bad coach or can’t be a great head coach someday ….. it just ain’t gonna be here and it ain’t gonna be today.

 

[pboiler18]

Define “must win” ….. or what? The fair weather fans we were starting to pick up are probably already out the door after Saturday. Even if they look improved I’d say it’s a pretty bad reflection on the staff in the fact that they weren’t able to keep the team focused over the bye week before ND. Don’t forget we have another coming later in the year too.

As for Walters being the right hire the answer is no he wasn’t. Purdue has always had success when brining in a full staff with experience and Walters doesn’t check either of those boxes. Doesn’t mean he’s a bad coach or can’t be a great head coach someday ….. it just ain’t gonna be here and it ain’t gonna be today.

If you clean up and perfect half of went wrong last Saturday I still don’t think that puts us in a spot to win this game.

 

[TopSecretBoiler]

Yes. Absolutely. After seeing the team quit on Walters in the 2nd quarter, I think they'll quit on him for the year if they lose bad.

But even if he wins at Corvallis, he still has a lot to prove. He will need to beat NW, MSU, IL and IU to show progress.

If he can't win 6 this year, he'll never us get there, imo.

wut...most did not predict a 6 win season with this schedule. Even a good team would struggle to get 6.

 

[FLAG HUNTER]

i don't know how Walters interacts with players and assistant coaches , but he needs to kick a few butts or big percent of fan base will give up on team if they lay another egg this coming Saturday. So i would say a win is needed this weekend.

 

[boiledmeconium]

wut...most did not predict a 6 win season with this schedule. Even a good team would struggle to get 6.

The schedule is tough but it won't get any easier. Not in the new B1G. I've said it before and I'll say it again... We need to beat our peer programs. If Walters can't beat similar teams with similar coaches such as NW, MSU, IU, IL and Oregon State, then we need a new coach. Simple as that.

 

[qazplm]

The schedule is tough but it won't get any easier. Not in the new B1G. I've said it before and I'll say it again... We need to beat our peer programs. If Walters can't beat similar teams with similar coaches such as NW, MSU, IU, IL and Oregon State, then we need a new coach. Simple as that.

I mean next year's is slightly easier.
You schedule creampuffs in the nonconference, get three easy wins and then you only need to find three more in conference.

Bowl games means extra practice, better recruiting, more positive press. Makes no sense to schedule big time schools or tough nonconference teams until you have the talent to compete.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

The schedule is tough but it won't get any easier. Not in the new B1G. I've said it before and I'll say it again... We need to beat our peer programs. If Walters can't beat similar teams with similar coaches such as NW, MSU, IU, IL and Oregon State, then we need a new coach. Simple as that.

I think TSB's point was that your line of "If he can't win 6 this year, he never will" is a bit over the top. We aren't supposed to win 6 this year, specifically considering the schedule. Odds were for 4 or 4.5 depending on where you look. Now, is even 5 less likely after Saturday? Yeah of course, but 6 was going to be extremely difficult from the get-go this year, when you're looking at 4 essentially sure losses right off the bat.

 

[qazplm]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

Well we aren't getting to six wins but that was unlikely just from the schedule.

At this point, forget about W/L as a coaching staff. Build up the fundamentals, get this team back to having pride in working hard and playing fundamental basic football.

Because they weren't there yesterday and I don't think they were there against ISU, they just physically overmatched them. Until you get there, schemes won't matter.

Either this team got a wakeup call and pays attention now or the team is hopeless and everything is going to have to be blown up. I suspect OSU will tell us something about that

 

[TC4THREE]

I mean next year's is slightly easier.
You schedule creampuffs in the nonconference, get three easy wins and then you only need to find three more in conference.

Bowl games means extra practice, better recruiting, more positive press. Makes no sense to schedule big time schools or tough nonconference teams until you have the talent to compete.

So your solution is to create the illusion of a good football team by scheduling crap competition. That has done wonders for IU over the years.

Problem is reality is still going to smack you in the face. You can look great against all the FCS teams you schedule but there are still big boy teams you will have to play. When the Notre Dame or Ohio State eventually smacks you around, there is no escaping the truth. You simply aren't a good team no matter whether you schedule yourself into the crap pizza bowl on a Wednesday night in mid December or not.

 

[boiledmeconium]

I mean next year's is slightly easier.
You schedule creampuffs in the nonconference, get three easy wins and then you only need to find three more in conference.

Bowl games means extra practice, better recruiting, more positive press. Makes no sense to schedule big time schools or tough nonconference teams until you have the talent to compete.

Definitely schedule the wins in nonconference. I would schedule Indiana State and UCONN every year if possible. But we still need to beat the peer programs.

 

[bonefish1]

So your solution is to create the illusion of a good football team by scheduling crap competition. That has done wonders for IU over the years.

Problem is reality is still going to smack you in the face. You can look great against all the FCS teams you schedule but there are still big boy teams you will have to play. When the Notre Dame or Ohio State eventually smacks you around, there is no escaping the truth. You simply aren't a good team no matter whether you schedule yourself into the crap pizza bowl on a Wednesday night in mid December or not.

I think I may have resigned myself to the fact that Purdue will never be an upper echelon B10 team consistently (maybe every few years but not every year like an UM, OSU, PSU and now, USC). But, they should be consistently in that second level with Iowa, MSU, Wisky and never down at the bottom feeder level of iu, NU.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

To answer the original question, for the sake of the team psyche and the fan support, it might not quite qualify as a must win, but more of a must-play-well.

 

[KentuckyBoiler]

I don't think whether we win or lose this game will define the season. We have such a tough schedule that we are not going to go to a bowl game, well maybe the toilet bowl.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

Spread is +4.5 at my site. Saw it at 6 on whatever CBS uses, and 5.5 on FanDuel. Probably would have been right around even if we had even half a heartbeat Saturday. Oregon State certainly isn't good either. Anyone complaining about the non-conference schedule being too hard shouldn't use this as an example.

 

[boiledmeconium]

I think TSB's point was that your line of "If he can't win 6 this year, he never will" is a bit over the top. We aren't supposed to win 6 this year, specifically considering the schedule. Odds were for 4 or 4.5 depending on where you look. Now, is even 5 less likely after Saturday? Yeah of course, but 6 was going to be extremely difficult from the get-go this year, when you're looking at 4 essentially sure losses right off the bat.

It doesn't matter what the odds are. Vegas doesn't decide how good we are, how we are coached, or how well we play.

For example, Vegas had us at +10.5 vs ND. What did it actually end up at?

All I expect Walters to do is beat our mediocre peer programs. I'm not expecting upsets. I just want to beat NW, Oregon State, IU, IL, and MSU. That is not unreasonable. It doesn't matter what the other games are. Losses are Losses. Just beat those you should beat.

 

[Chi-Boiler]

It doesn't matter what the odds are. Vegas doesn't decide how good we are, how we are coached, or how well we play.

For example, Vegas had us at +10.5 vs ND. What did it actually end up at?

All I expect Walters to do is beat our mediocre peer programs. I'm not expecting upsets. I just want to beat NW, Oregon State, IU, IL, and MSU. That is not unreasonable. It doesn't matter what the other games are. Losses are Losses. Just beat those you should beat.

True, I'm just trying to say that even going into the season, winning 6 games was going to be a stretch. Even without what we saw Saturday. And it's not a loser's mentality, just reality right now.

 

[qazplm]

So your solution is to create the illusion of a good football team by scheduling crap competition. That has done wonders for IU over the years.

Problem is reality is still going to smack you in the face. You can look great against all the FCS teams you schedule but there are still big boy teams you will have to play. When the Notre Dame or Ohio State eventually smacks you around, there is no escaping the truth. You simply aren't a good team no matter whether you schedule yourself into the crap pizza bowl on a Wednesday night in mid December or not.

My solution is to get to six wins consistently. Which gets you better players. Which gets you a good football team.

Getting smacked by big boys isn't turning you into a good football team. Reality check, our school isn't a good football program. We are a mediocre program. .500 winning average which means every once in awhile we do a little better or a little worse.

So just getting to mediocre is the current goal. You don't get there by scheduling so you struggle to find six wins.

 

[qazplm]

Definitely schedule the wins in nonconference. I would schedule Indiana State and UCONN every year if possible. But we still need to beat the peer programs.

You do that with talent, you get that with money (which we are cheap on) or winning games, any games.

If we went to four bowling games in a row, players see a program that wins at least sometimes, they aren't going to care in the nonconference is creampuffs

 

[bonefish1]

You do that with talent, you get that with money (which we are cheap on) or winning games, any games.

If we went to four bowling games in a row, players see a program that wins at least sometimes, they aren't going to care in the nonconference is creampuffs

Why can't Purdue have the football success like a Wisconsin? Or, even a MSU? IL could ask the same question.

 

[msfboiler3]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

This schedule is brutal but there's losing and getting humiliated. We play a competitive game and see progress this season that's OK. We see another nd game and he shouldn't be here after the season.

 

[qazplm]

Why can't Purdue have the football success like a Wisconsin? Or, even a MSU? IL could ask the same question.

Because we haven't been able to maintain sustained success for over a century?

I get folks don't like Walters but he's just the latest in a long line of coaches putting us somewhere around .500, sometimes a game or two under or over.

And now? Now it requires money. Which we are stingy with. Brohm and Tiller would struggle in this league in this current environment.

It's probably part of why Brohm left. Why be a little fish in a big pound when you can be a medium fish in a tiny pound. Until this school realizes money matters... there's no savior out there to turn us into Wisconsin.

 

[msfboiler3]

Because we haven't been able to maintain sustained success for over a century?

I get folks don't like Walters but he's just the latest in a long line of coaches putting us somewhere around .500, sometimes a game or two under or over.

And now? Now it requires money. Which we are stingy with. Brohm and Tiller would struggle in this league in this current environment.

It's probably part of why Brohm left. Why be a little fish in a big pound when you can be a medium fish in a tiny pound. Until this school realizes money matters... there's no savior out there to turn us into Wisconsin.

U think he's going to have purdue around .500? Did hazzell? We have to quit hiring guys with no head coaching experience. Walters seems like a good guy but let's say he took a hc job at central Michigan instead of purdue. do you think he would be successful based on what you've seen so far? I dont. Bobo and burke fell for the same bs....charisma and winning a press conference is great but you still have to play.

 

[pboiler18]

Because we haven't been able to maintain sustained success for over a century?

I get folks don't like Walters but he's just the latest in a long line of coaches putting us somewhere around .500, sometimes a game or two under or over.

And now? Now it requires money. Which we are stingy with. Brohm and Tiller would struggle in this league in this current environment.

It's probably part of why Brohm left. Why be a little fish in a big pound when you can be a medium fish in a tiny pound. Until this school realizes money matters... there's no savior out there to turn us into Wisconsin.

Walters has us nowhere close and we will be even further away by the end of the year.

 

[mryankee2397]

a must win? i dont see this team winning another game. maybe the goal should be to not get waxed

 

[mryankee2397]

It doesn't matter what the odds are. Vegas doesn't decide how good we are, how we are coached, or how well we play.

For example, Vegas had us at +10.5 vs ND. What did it actually end up at?

All I expect Walters to do is beat our mediocre peer programs. I'm not expecting upsets. I just want to beat NW, Oregon State, IU, IL, and MSU. That is not unreasonable. It doesn't matter what the other games are. Losses are Losses. Just beat those you should beat.

at this point i dont think there are any teams we should beat.

 

[boiledmeconium]

at this point i dont think there are any teams we should beat.

Not if we played the way we did... Nope.

But... I'm interested to see how the team responds next game. The masochistic Purdue fan in me is always optimistic.... Poor me.

 

[goboilers2]

After a historic loss to ND, a lot of fans are questioning whether Walters is the right hire. Fair or not, it is what it is.

If Purdue can get the win vs OR ST, then people will stay on board. If they get beat bad, look bad and don't see significant improvement over how they played vs ND, then this season could already be in the crapper.

It is a must win to build any hope of going into the Big Ten. I hope everyone on the team has a real sense of urgency.

 

[Bippus33]

I think TSB's point was that your line of "If he can't win 6 this year, he never will" is a bit over the top. We aren't supposed to win 6 this year, specifically considering the schedule. Odds were for 4 or 4.5 depending on where you look. Now, is even 5 less likely after Saturday? Yeah of course, but 6 was going to be extremely difficult from the get-go this year, when you're looking at 4 essentially sure losses right off the bat.

We are now entering that time period in CRW's coaching tenure where players and other coaches will examine his body of work and the mountain ridge to success gets much steeper......

 

[qazplm]

U think he's going to have purdue around .500? Did hazzell? We have to quit hiring guys with no head coaching experience. Walters seems like a good guy but let's say he took a hc job at central Michigan instead of purdue. do you think he would be successful based on what you've seen so far? I dont. Bobo and burke fell for the same bs....charisma and winning a press conference is great but you still have to play.

I mean we were "around" .500 last season, and yeah probably will win 4 games this season.
Bobo and Burke went cheap. JUST like they don't pay for players, they don't pay for coaches.
So basically, they asked a guy with no experience to win with no money in an environment where money is everything now.

Here's the cold hard truth, if Purdue said tomorrow, we are going to put a ton of money down into NIL, we'd get top players coming here pretty easily, REGARDLESS of who the coaches were.

LIKEWISE, as long as we are Sisters of the Poor adjacent on spending, we are going to struggle recruiting great players REGARDLESS of who the coaches are.

Our path will be restricted to getting somewhat lucky with diamonds in the rough, undiscovered talent, and transfers that work out. Which is recipe for mixing in 3-4 win seasons with 6-8 wins seasons (you know, like Brohm did, the guy who had 4 win seasons and ended up 2 games over .500 here).

You're all focused on Walters, and not on the real issues, the lack of financial commitment to the program.

 

[Rodeopepper]

The schedule is tough but it won't get any easier. Not in the new B1G. I've said it before and I'll say it again... We need to beat our peer programs. If Walters can't beat similar teams with similar coaches such as NW, MSU, IU, IL and Oregon State, then we need a new coach. Simple as that.

Only thing I’d say different is that we need a new staff. The next guy needs a staff he’s brining in with him.

 

[POTFHBTFU]

The schedule is tough but it won't get any easier. Not in the new B1G. I've said it before and I'll say it again... We need to beat our peer programs. If Walters can't beat similar teams with similar coaches such as NW, MSU, IU, IL and Oregon State, then we need a new coach. Simple as that.

This is the hardest schedule Purdue has had in at least 20 years and it’s not close. I do think it will be harder than past years but not this year, it will absolutely be getting easier. I think we have 6 teams currently ranked on our schedule and 3 in the top 10.

 

[Rodeopepper]

I mean we were "around" .500 last season, and yeah probably will win 4 games this season.
Bobo and Burke went cheap. JUST like they don't pay for players, they don't pay for coaches.
So basically, they asked a guy with no experience to win with no money in an environment where money is everything now.

Here's the cold hard truth, if Purdue said tomorrow, we are going to put a ton of money down into NIL, we'd get top players coming here pretty easily, REGARDLESS of who the coaches were.

LIKEWISE, as long as we are Sisters of the Poor adjacent on spending, we are going to struggle recruiting great players REGARDLESS of who the coaches are.

Our path will be restricted to getting somewhat lucky with diamonds in the rough, undiscovered talent, and transfers that work out. Which is recipe for mixing in 3-4 win seasons with 6-8 wins seasons (you know, like Brohm did, the guy who had 4 win seasons and ended up 2 games over .500 here).

You're all focused on Walters, and not on the real issues, the lack of financial commitment to the program.

True story …… but I do think Walters was a terrible hire regardless of what type of coach he is. You can’t bring an inexperienced guy in without a staff like that and expect him to win. But that lies at the feet of Bobo too.

 

[Wolegib]

Every game should be treated as a must win game. If it is not, you will surely lose. And if accept losing but playing well, you will surely lose every game you play.

Ask yourself is the goal to look well in losing? Or is it to win the game?

The goal of successful teams is to win rather than to look good. Iowa never looks good, but they find a way to win. Looking back, would you rather enjoy the winning success of Iowa? Or Purdue’s looking good stats in their many losses? I would take Iowa and their success and boring team any day

 

[ImRonBurgandy?]

Every game should be treated as a must win game. If it is not, you will surely lose. And if accept losing but playing well, you will surely lose every game you play.

Ask yourself is the goal to look well in losing? Or is it to win the game?

The goal of successful teams is to win rather than to look good. Iowa never looks good, but they find a way to win. Looking back, would you rather enjoy the winning success of Iowa? Or Purdue’s looking good stats in their many losses? I would take Iowa and their success and boring team any day

Pretty good take here Wole

 

[bonefish1]

Because we haven't been able to maintain sustained success for over a century?

I get folks don't like Walters but he's just the latest in a long line of coaches putting us somewhere around .500, sometimes a game or two under or over.

And now? Now it requires money. Which we are stingy with. Brohm and Tiller would struggle in this league in this current environment.

It's probably part of why Brohm left. Why be a little fish in a big pound when you can be a medium fish in a tiny pound. Until this school realizes money matters... there's no savior out there to turn us into Wisconsin.

Wasn't Brohm one of the top 3 highest paid B10 coaches? Can't fault him for going to UL because of the personal connection and the fact that UL was going to pay whatever it took.

 

[bonefish1]

This is the hardest schedule Purdue has had in at least 20 years and it’s not close. I do think it will be harder than past years but not this year, it will absolutely be getting easier. I think we have 6 teams currently ranked on our schedule and 3 in the top 10.

Yeh, the athletic dept didn't do Walters any favors. Playing 2 P5 teams in pre-con is sort of stupid for a rebuilding team.