WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue football coach Ryan Walters made the boldest decision of his tenure in the dead of night last week.
Walters said the decision to call the offense himself against Illinois came at “like Thursday morning at 2:30.” He had not suddenly been hit with an epiphany, though.
A defensive coordinator by trade prior to becoming the Boilermakers’ coach, Walters wanted to refine his fluency of the offense’s terminology and procedures. By mid-week, he was satisfied he would make a positive impact.
Purdue football news:Will Ryan Browne start Friday against No. 2 Oregon?
Insider:Purdue’s new QB-play caller combo woke up Boilers offense. Will they stick with it?
Walters said he will continue to call the offense moving forward. Interim offensive coordinator Jason Simmons will continue to handle the daily practice scripts and provide in-game insight from the coaches’ box.
“The week of the Wisconsin game I spent learning the vocab, learning the rules within the offense,” Walters said. “I didn’t feel comfortable calling it that game, just because I wouldn’t be able to spit out plays fast enough. We got to midweek last week, and I felt like I had the vocab down enough to know what play I wanted to get to.”
Walters played safety at Colorado and began his coaching career overseeing positions in the secondary. He served as defensive coordinator at Missouri and Illinois.
He never served as an offensive position coach, nor had he called an offense prior to last Saturday. Hard to argue with those results. What had statistically been one of the nation’s worst offenses put up 536 yards and five touchdowns on the road agianst a top 25 opponent.
Walters had called Purdue’s defense up until the Wisconsin game, when he handed those duties back to defensive coordinator Kevin Kane. He said that switch required an intellectual shift, in football terms.
“On defense, you’re sort of reacting and anticipating, and offense, you know what the play is before the defense does” Walters said. “There’s sort of a chess game, and you try to present pictures and run plays that set up other plays.”
Purdue opened up the playbook while also breaking in quarterback Ryan Browne, who made his first career start in place of an injured Hudson Card. Examples included greater use of double stack receiver formations, running out of the flexbone with tight ends as the wingbacks and a reverse flea-flicker which led to a big gain.
The offense also clicked when Browne kept the ball himself on more zone read calls, building a rhythm and setting up some of those other successful plays later.
“It was fun, because the kids made it fun” Walters said. “And obviously when they are having success, and you sort of see some of the things that you thought would work work it’s enjoyable, because the the guys are having fun.”
Next up: No. 2 Oregon, which boasts a top-25 pass defense in opposing quarterback efficiency and yards allowed per attempt and ranks third in the Big Ten with 2.83 yards per game.
(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy)
Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.
