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Purdue Football head coach Ryan Walters spoke with the media in his weekly press conference as his team gets ready to take on Notre Dame on Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium. A sell-out crowd awaits the Boilermakers in their first game battling for the Shillelagh Trophy since 2021.

Q. (In progress.) A lot of different ways you can spin it. Do you expect an angry Notre Dame team or a Notre Dame team filled with some doubt now?

RYAN WALTERS: You know, we're going to err on the side of thinking they're going to be an angry football team. Any time you're Top 5 in the country and lose the home opener, that's going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. I know Coach Freeman will have those guys fired up and ready to play.

We are fully anticipating getting their best shot.

Q. Do you see this as sort of an early prove-it game? Obviously for 2024, but your career as a head coach?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I definitely think there is an element of proving it or earning respect. You know, I would be lying to you if I didn't say this game was circled on my calendar. You know, so we're excited. We're glad that we had a bye week to get some guys healthy. To get some extra prep in. We had a really good practice on Sunday. I'm anticipating having a really good week of practice this week and we'll line it up and go compete on Saturday.

Q. What were the one our two biggest things you think you were able to accomplish during your bye week?

RYAN WALTERS: Just you get back to like basics on fundamentals, technique, a lot of good on good just to maintain speed of the game. You also get a jump on early downs. We introduced third downs a little bit earlier than we usually do. Introduced red area a little bit earlier than we usually do.

Get a chance to get your legs back fresh coming off fall camp and that first game. So just you're continually improving. That's got to be the goal throughout the course of the year.

Q. Speaking of health, obviously no Nyland Green, CJ Smith on the depth chart. You said you were hopeful they would be ready. Are they for sure out or cautionary at this point?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I wouldn't anticipate them being out there this week. They're close, really close. You watch them, I got to like not watch them work out in rehab. It's making me more excited wanting them to be out there.

But they're doing a great job just attacking every day, trying to get back healthy, champing at the bit to get out there. Our training staff and strength and conditioning program have collabed very well to put them in a position to get back as early as possible.

Q. We talked about this a couple weeks ago now. Seven different guys getting into the end zone. Not Mockobee; not Hudson; Drew Biber, some of these guys who are going to score a lot of touchdowns this year. Is this more indicative of how much depth have as far as receiving weapons, backfield weapons?

RYAN WALTERS: I do think obviously week ago we probably played more guys than you would anticipate playing in a normal game, so I think the numbers are a little bit skewed that way. The guys that got in early, that scored, you know, the good thing about our offense is the ball can find anybody. Just depends on what the defense is presenting and how they're reacting post-snap.

You know, Hudson does a great job spreading the ball around and not forcing the issue, taking what the defense gives him.

Q. Graham said you made a concerted effort to make sure Jahmal got the ball early. First two were screens to him. How valuable is it for him to get in the flow of a game when he hasn't played in two years?

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, that's exactly why we did it. Just spit it out to him. Let him take that first contact. Get him get the juices flowing a little bit, get his first reception, and then let's go tempo and do it again.

I just think it allowed him to sort of settle into it, get the cobwebs out of there, and get used to taking a blow.

Q. What is your appreciation of the history here? Talking about the gravity of Notre Dame, but also the rivalry that exists here. When you took this job you knew you were coming into an extended period where that would be an annual thing.

RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I'm a football fan, you know what I mean? You talk about Notre Dame. Obviously my dad played at Colorado in the late '80s, early '90s, so Notre Dame was like their arch nemesis in the National Championship game.

I remember the Rocket Ismail days and all the great players that have come through there. So to be able to host a ranked Notre Dame team at home in Ross-Ade in front of the best and loyal fans out there, like it's a special moment.

I'm excited for it. I know our guys are excited for it. So it'll be fun to go out there and compete.

Q. Did you have specific memories of Notre Dame maybe that you related to you?

RYAN WALTERS: You know, I remember Rocket took a punt return back and there was a phantom holding call which led to Colorado winning the game. That's probably the most pivotal play I remember.

Q. What's the biggest difference you're seeing right now in Antonio Stevens from a year ago to now?

RYAN WALTERS: I think he's a lot more confident with what he's doing. You know, I think the Michigan game sort of validated his belief in what he's capable of doing.

And then us as a staff trusting him to be the starter in that position. And that's an important position in our defense, our scheme.

So he's more comfortable, confident with what we're asking him to do. I've been really impressed with his leadership and his willingness to hold other people accountable. He's a guy that's been around here for a long time and has overcome a lot of adversity, has been resilient. I think guys in the locker room respect that.

He works at it. Like he's diligent in his craft. You respect his preparation. I think that's why he's playing with confidence right now.

Q. More general question: As the Big10 has expanded coast to coast, now the west coast footprint, has it changed at all the approach in recruiting at least in terms of how much you're looking out there? Changed at all the response you're getting out there?

RYAN WALTERS: Not really. Still time on task. Still three time zones away from the west coast. It's a long travel day. It's not worth it really to go all the way out there when you got a bunch of talent within a two-and-a-half to three-hour driving radius.

It's awesome that you get to see different venues and play against different storied programs, but there would have to be a prior relationship or a guy reaching out to say he's interested for us to travel that far and skip over a bunch of talented guys right in your backyard.

Q. When you recruited Tanona, did you think there was any possibility he would be on the field for you right away or did you take him as a year two, year three guy?

RYAN WALTERS: I didn't really know what to think. You watch his high school tape and you're like, yeah, you see why he was rated as high as he was and recruited as hard as he was.

So when we decided to take him I think the thing that I was most excited about was his excitement, like his willingness and desire to be a Purdue Boilermaker and to play football again. His excitement and passion for that led me to believe it would be a quick turnaround.

And then just the way he went to work when he got here and changed his body and kind of got back into the swing of things from a technique standpoint. You know, his mindset and study is -- that's why it's not surprising he's been able to give us some quality minutes right now.

Q. You and Marcus have had a relatively similar career arch. Do you know him or feel any sort of kinship with him?

RYAN WALTERS: You talking about Coach Freeman?

Q. Marcus Freeman.

RYAN WALTERS: You went Joey Tanona and said Marcus; I thought you were talking about Marcus Johnson. You're good. The thing that's unique about this profession is everybody's career path is different and there is no blueprint for success, right?

I think the thing that I've sort of admired from afar is just the quick rise, the consistent success and consistent play on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously I'm a defensive guy, so you study a little bit. You pay attention to people that are also playing good defense, and he's definitely done that.

You know, I was happy as heck for him when Notre Dame decided to hire him as the head coach when Coach Kelly went to LSU. I thought that was a bold and deserving response to that departure.

So, yeah, I have a lot of respect for him. Can't wait to go compete against him.

Q. The Notre Dame secondary came into the year with a lot of hype. Mostly backed it up the first two games. What makes them so good from what you've seen on tape?

RYAN WALTERS: You know, obviously they've got some experience on the back end. They're athletic. They play some man coverage and they understand where their help is and where they can get beat.

I think that experience and also the two teams they've played, they haven't stretched them a whole lot either, but you can tell it's a group that's played a lot together and is well versed with what they're doing schematically.

Q. How did you spend your Saturday, Ryan?

RYAN WALTERS: Watching a lot of the ball. Saw a soccer game also with my eight year old. And then, yeah, went home and watched a lot of football.

Q. I think I know the answer just going to ask for confirmation: Corey Stewart and (indiscernible) will play on Saturday?

RYAN WALTERS: Yes.

We've updated our depth chart for Saturday's game at Purdue.

Notre Dame's defense only allowed 16 points, but it let Northern Illinois score 13 of them on its first three drives, gave up 6.0 yards per play and let NIU convert twice on its final drive to kick the game-winning field goal.

Join us at 7 p.m. EDT on YouTube as @Eric Hansen and I go live for the next weekly edition of "Football Never Sleeps."

We'll discuss the lasting impact of Notre Dame's 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois, news from head coach Marcus Freeman's Monday press conference, where the Irish go from here, and we'll answer questions live from viewers.

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I don’t recall him getting any if he did it was maybe one. How does a RB who is by far our most dangerous weapon not touch the ball more after the opening drive of the 2nd half?

Also why does freeman rely on some 25 year old kid that makes $20 an hour to tell him whether to take the penalty or when to take a timeout?

I've made my way to the press box at Notre Dame Stadium for today's Notre Dame-Northern Illinois game.

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Lost in the shuffle of marveling at the lack of downfield passing… oof. Love should be a national name, and Price is probably just as talented.

Really hope the offense looks much different sooner than is probably reasonable

What a cluster

What does he think about Leonard’s performance and does he think one of his backups could do better. I wonder if Freeman, Denbrock and Guidugli are having a discussion about that today? I wonder if Guidugli‘s influence holds weight?

Also notable: DE Joshua Burnham is questionable with an ankle injury.

I joined WSBT sports director Pete Byrne to share takeaways from Notre Dame football head coach Marcus Freeman's Monday press conference, looking back on ND's loss to Northern Illinois, the play of quarterback Riley Leonard, the performance of ND's offensive line, the inconsistent offensive production, how the defense has been impacted and looking ahead at Saturday's game at Purdue (3:30 p.m. EDT on CBS).

Inside ND Sports is partnering with WSBT to provide even more coverage of the Notre Dame football season. James and Byrne will record a video every Monday following a Freeman press conference.

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Here's our transcript from Marcus Freeman's Monday press conference.

Qb was 24 of 25 in opener and 4 Td passes. From Austin, top 40 recruit and portaled from Texas. Why didn’t we portal him?
So they have qb advantage, how do we win?

Here's the depth chart for Notre Dame football. No Jordan Faison on it, but he's expected to be available.

Full injury report here:

I was a sophomore student manager in 1993 when we got upset by Boston College the week after beating Florida State. Today is the worst I've felt after a loss since then. After last week I thought this was a team that was more likely than not to go 12-0.

I haven't read anything else on this board yet, so if I repeat themes I'm sorry, but here are my unfiltered thoughts:

Offense - Riley Leonard was awful when not running, and that's pretty self-evident so I won't belabor that point. What compounded the frustration is that Mike Denbrock seems to still be running LSU's offense with ND's personnel. Our wide receivers aren't fast enough nor good enough blockers to make those quick, wide screens work. Just stop calling them. QB runs were working but they quit calling them. Also, enough with the long passes. Not a strong suit of the QB nor the receivers. A deep route on 2nd and 1 when all you need are a couple first downs to ice the game is Brian Kelly-level stupid. Finally, both the run and pass offense are much, much better when Mitchell Evans is in the game. Have to get him back to playing 70+% of offensive snaps.

Defense - The trademark of Al Golden's defense is aggressiveness. This defense is built for that. They're at their best when they rush five, pressure the QB and play man coverage. It's hard to keep track from in the stands, but it seemed that there were very few times when the defense did this. It almost seemed like they felt like they didn't need to use optimal strategy. The first TD allowed was a fluke, but even taking out that play the defense allowed 5.8 yards/pass and 4.2 yards/rush, which is unacceptable unless NIU turns out to have the best offense in the history of the MAC. They ran that wildcat so many times and Golden never figured out how to defend it.

Coaching - Both coordinators had horrible games, yet ultimately that's on the head coach. Upsets like these are inexcusable in year 3. Nobody wants Marcus Freeman to succeed more than me, but he gets no more free passes.

Eric & Tyler, as Eric written in his articles CMF has recruited better than his predecessor, and unlike his predecessor has the full AD & university backing with a wiliness to play by todays rules while keeping the spirit of the university. Although unlike his predecessor CMF has not yet figured out how to win games he should. I can remember the exact number but Coach Kelly had won around 40 in a row against teams outside the top 25. At the time he left that was the best streak in the country. CMF has had his teams overall perform better against better teams. A few tidbits form the game

1. in qtr 2 Riley Leonard was thrown to the ground and tries to throw the ball away to avoid a loss. By extending his arm he exposed his shoulder and appeared shaken after he hit the ground. He also seemed to hit his left rib area. He never ran the ball once after that play. I think he was hurt and it affected his throws.
2. ND offense ran 62 plays; 38 pass plays and 24 run plays. Why such a split? Is it because Riley was held back from running the ball. This is per PFF Was his throwing motion affected. That would show more on a deep pass and what know what happened on the one he tried.
3. Mitchell Evans played 22 plays; 4 run block, 1 pass block and 17 pass plays. This is a very easy read for the NIU defense to play pass when Evans was in.
4. For all the hoopla from CMF that KK Smith was looking good and ready to play, he only was in for 3 plays. Here are some breakdowns of plays, pass plays, targets, receptions. I am very surprised in how little Jayden Thomas played. He is our best wide receiver blocker and could of helped the running game. So much for WR rotation. Also to my eye Riley was not clicking with Kris Mitchell yet. We heard Jaden Greathouse could play multiple positions; why didn't he?
   1. Beaux Collins; 59, 38, 5,5
   2. Kris Mitchell ; 50,33,8,3
   3. Jaden Greathouse; 43, 30,9,5
   4. Jayden Thomas; 14,6,2,1
   5. Jayden Harrison; 11,7,0,0
5. Eli Riordan played only 10 plays and Jadarian price only 13
6. Couldn't ND have run multiple backs and more multiple TE sets. I felt like Denbrock was Diaco in the 2010 Navy game 2010
7. Defensively Golden has stated that his D is designed to avoid big plays. ND gave up three. IMO KVA picked off Morrison on the NIU touchdown pass. I also think it was his man that was open on the other long pass play where Drayk Bowen noticed that and began to chase but it was too late. Two NIU players game around the edge. Normal reads that I am familiar with is the outside guy, KVA, gets the first one and the inside guy, Bowen gets the second one.
   1. Th D played slow like they were not getting the read and overran several run fills. Sneed did this often.

CMF has fit this year to a young line, a new QB that has missed practice, new WR's that have not worked a lot with the QB, a TE that is just getting back to form. That is a lot of newness. Still with better preparation and adjustments the game was there to win.

Google is no help

When Riley committed to Notre Dame I was ecstatic thinking this was our year. I did not know he was so inaccurate and couldn’t throw the ball past 10 yards. We have to give Angelli a chance. This was a horrible loss!!

Those are Angeli's numbers against a ranked Oregon State team. He plays yesterday and ND wins by 20. Or more.

We have all seen Riley 3 times - once vs ND and two for ND. At no time did he impress with his passing. Love and Price won the game for ND at Texas A&M, no matter what the media try to tell us.

But as has been pointed out on this Board... they only get 15 carries combined vs NIU??

What the coaches saw in Riley to hand him the keys to the team (and run him as often as they do) is mystifying to me. He may be a great kid, but if anybody thinks he is a good QB who makes quick decisions when dropping back to pass hasn't been watching.

I blame Freeman and his coaches. They become enamored with a shiny object someone else has and don't realize what they have are already as good or better (and Carr or Michey may win that game yesterday too, but we don't have the body of evidence in a college game like with do with Angeli).

I expect nothing to change, but I hope I am wrong.

Note: longtime reader, first time posting.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman spoke to reporters following Notre Dame 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois.

Transcript provided by ASAP Sports. Answers are largely verbatim. Questions may have been edited for brevity and clarity. We'll circle back to check for errors.

MARCUS FREEMAN

Opening statement:

“Obviously disappointing. Disappointing in the performance. You know, it's our job as coaches to make sure these guys are ready to go. We've got to go back and evaluate the way we prepared and figure out exactly the mishaps occurred in the preparation. I've always said performance is a reflection of preparation. We've got to figure out where we failed in preparation.

“It's disappointing. You go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a tale of two weeks, but we've got to own this thing. As coaches and players, we've got to own it, and we've got to fix it. We've been here before, right? We've been here before. Now it's time to get it fixed. We've got to get it fixed and get back to playing football the way we know how to play, we've played before, and we can, and we will.”

At the very end of the game, I think it was a 62-yarder. Is that well within Mitch's range, or were you thinking Hail Mary potentially as well?

MF: “No, it's right there on the edge. We had the wind at his back. The thought process being, with the wind at his back, if he gets under this thing and drives it, there's a shot that he could make it.

“He's made it probably not from that distance, but close to that distance. With the added wind, we thought that was the best option for us.”

Riley's second interception, second and one seems like a good chance to take a shot. Was that the look that you guys wanted, and was it just an under throw? How would you evaluate his performance as well?

MF: “Yeah, we wanted to take a shot on that situation. Obviously not the execution that we wanted. Obviously never intend to throw an interception. That's the look we wanted. That's where we wanted the ball to go. We've just got to throw a better ball. Everybody's going to try to point a finger at somebody, some side of the ball, one play, one person. It's the entire program that underachieved the day. The entire program has to own it and improve from it.”

The defense last week, very tight performance. Today was it misdirection? Was it youth? What do you think happened defensively today with the breakdowns?

MF: “I think I told you guys on Thursday, they've got a unique offense. I think about the explosive plays in the first half, and the very first pass really good throw, really good catch in a two high coverage, and we've got to down the ball. We didn't get a chance to down the ball, and it goes for a touchdown. The rest of the explosives were, I think, a mixture of eye control, you having your eyes on the man, but also edges toward defense. We let the ball get outside of us too much.

“That's not the Notre Dame defense we've built over the past three or four years. That's not a performance that we're proud of. But we've just got to get it fixed.”

This is probably too big picture of a question, but did you feel as a head coach, as a program, you guys had evolved beyond days like this?

MF: “Absolutely. Absolutely. I felt the preparation was exactly where we needed. To come off that big win and come back and have two tough practices, which was the only option for us. I thought we had a sharp practice Thursday and Friday in terms of obviously not the physical side of things.

“I thought, maybe in the first, I was like, okay, we need to -- I don't know exactly why we're not executing the way we need to, but maybe that was the wake-up call we needed to go out and change this the second half. It started to go that way, and defense started playing better in the second half. We just couldn't capitalize off it on offense. We could not. Other than the one touchdown, I think J. Love had, we just couldn't continue. We couldn't move the chains either. That's the other thing. We can't go three and out, and we can't turn the ball over. Those are areas we've just got to get fixed.”

What did you tell the team just now in the locker room?

MF: “I just told them the same thing I just said. I said, we've got to own this. Every person in here, every coach has to own it first, and not blame somebody else. That's the only way to fix it is when every, I'm sure, person, everybody outside of here will try to point the finger at some coach, some player, some person. It should be at the head coach. It's my job.

“But we all have to own this, and we all have to really take a deep dive and fix it. Our leadership will show. If we have true leadership, which I believe we have, they'll take care of the locker room. They'll make sure that these guys, they don't separate.

“But I also told them I've been here. I've been here. This is as low as it gets, and there's only one option for me, and that's to get back to work and get it fixed. That's who I am, and that's who this team is going to be, and that's the way I'm going to lead is I'm not going into hiding. I'm going to get it fixed.

“Man, I'm going to be just as confident in what we're going to be able to do as a football program moving forward as I was going into this game. But there's some serious, some schematical things that we have to attack and get corrected.”

They were able to run the ball pretty effectively in the second half. What did you see them doing up front that was challenging for you guys?

MF: “Some of them were good schemes. They got a good stretch running game, where they were able to puncture some holes that we didn't have a backer or a D-lineman in that gap.

“But a couple of them were missed tackles. We've got to make sure we're tackling and we're knocking the ball carrier back. As I said earlier, two or three times they get around the edge defensively, and when that happens and you're a man coverage team and you're playing man coverage, they get outside of you, that thing's going to go for a little while.

“So a lot of different areas we've got to improve on to stop the run defensively.”

You said moments ago it's our job as coaches to make sure they're ready to go, and you said today we underachieved as an entire program, but you had good practices during the week. Did you sense it at any point today, and how specifically do you own it and fix it moving forward?

MF: “I think you go back and evaluate everything. You go back and you evaluate, okay, how did we practice? You go back and look and say, okay, was our game plans good enough to give us a chance to win? Like all those different areas. It's not just the physical part of practice, but it's looking at, okay, what did the opponent do in the game that we were prepared for and weren't prepared for? If we were prepared for them, did we execute or didn't we execute? If we weren't prepared for it, why? Hey, is this something that a team is trying to attack us because of some area we showed in a previous game?

“All of those different things are ways to evaluate. You have to debrief. You have to evaluate every single thing that you did in the previous week. If it was practice structure, then I'm going to evaluate and say , okay, what do we have to do to make sure we have better output?

“That's the only way you can do it. As you move forward into the week, as you move into the game, you say, okay, I feel good about preparation. Preparation is done. Now it's about performance. The performance is a reflection of preparation. The performance isn't where we wanted it to be. Let's go back and evaluate the preparation A to Z.

“Preparation is so much more than practice. It's obviously the game plans and the choices that we make as players too, coaches and players. All these choices that only sometimes we, as individuals, know. Hey, did I do everything in my power this week to prepare the way I needed to? That's a long look that each individual in this program has to make in the mirror too.”

Maybe in the third quarter you guys had to use a defensive timeout. What happened there?

MF: “I can't even remember. I know we did. I don't know if it was personnel. We were in the wrong personnel at the time or maybe a call we didn't like. I just can't remember exactly why I called it, but I know it was something, and we didn't like it defensively.”

(more)

I had no idea they thought the kicker would be able to make a 62 yarder so I wasn't as hard on the decision not to call time out and instead clock it and lose 3 ticks..

My thought was after watching several football games with new clock rules that you're going to burn 3 seconds by the time they wind the clock and the time it's killed. I've seen some teams lose 5 seconds in this operation.

Why not call a timeout at 12 seconds to preserve 3 ticks and up to 3 shots at least two to get the kicker closer to a 50 yard shot.

I like an out route to the sideline with no timeouts or try to bust a quarters / cover 2 look and it seems they didn't begin that series with the end in mind.

Such as life with this coaching staff.

Disjointed to say the least.

Baby shit Charmin soft! Pathetic

And below is my ballot ... remember, I know USC is in the Big Ten. You know Utah is in the Big 12. But the AP voting software doesn't know any of that. It still reflects old conference affiliations ... thus they appear in my ballot screen shot.