3 challenges awaiting Purdue's next defensive coordinator
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WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue football’s next defensive coordinator has the same first task as everyone else on staff — help find more talent.
The Boilermakers ranked at or near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference in almost every meaningful statistic. The staff planned to build on the handful of promising players who emerged last season and augment the roster with more additions from the transfer portal.
Mike Scherer’s departure interrupts any continuity from the UNLV success he and coach Barry Odom experienced together. Their relationship extended back to before Scherer’s playing days under Odom at Missouri.
Perhaps hiring a new defensive coordinator will also give Odom a new perspective on how to approach defending the Big Ten. Whoever it is will be charged with making three crucial improvements from the staff’s first season in West Lafayette.
Purdue football’s secondary must choke off big plays
Both of the following statements can be true. Purdue’s 2025 defense made tangible improvements over the debacle of 2024. Also, only Rutgers’ similarly horrific 2025 defense prevented the Boilers from ranking last in the Big Ten in a lot of categories.
For instance, only Rutgers allowed more explosive plays. Purdue, though, lapped the field on explosives allowed in the passing game. Its 26 pass plays of 30-plus yards allowed were 10 more than the Scarlet Knights. Its 16 pass plays of 40-plus yards allowed were nearly twice as many as the runner-up, Minnesota (nine).
The Boilers were well into the season and still talking about communication problems at the back end of the defense. They also seemed equally susceptible to zone issues (see Illinois QB Luke Altmeyer’s career day) or man-to-man (see Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis’ career day).
Allowing those game-breakers put immense pressure on an offense which could not handle the extra load. It also sabotaged those drives where the defense was on the precipice of success. Those explosives contributed to why Purdue was so vulnerable on third down (43.45%).
A lack of trust on the back end also makes it difficult for a defensive coordinator to take risks. To Scherer’s credit, he still dialed up occasional blitzes from the secondary with a decent race of success.
Purdue can return some young players in the secondary who gained a lot of experience, such as cornerback Hudauri Hines and safety Smiley Bradford. Frankly, though, we do not know how many true Big Ten starting-caliber players the defense will employ. Some part of this solution must be schematic — what coverages can prevent those record-setting days for opposing wide receivers?
Purdue’s defense needs to create more turnovers
When a defense allows a big play, it needs to find a way to steal one back. Purdue could not find a way to be more greedy last season.
Here’s another of those both-things-true examples. The program nearly doubled its interceptions and fumble recoveries under Odom and Scherer from five to nine. The problem is, those nine takeaways were second-fewest in the Big Ten.
With the offense turning the ball over a league-leading 21 times, that combination typically eliminated any chance of winning.
Turnovers are difficult to predict, and they don’t always perfectly correlate with defensive success. Wisconsin ranked last in the Big Ten in takeaways yet compensated by playing more solid down-for-down defense. Minnesota had the fourth-most takeaways but ranked sixth worst in yards allowed per play.
In general, though, takeaways result from either harassing quarterbacks — causing interceptions and strip-sacks — or confusing them with coverages and changing looks. Purdue’s pass rush was adequate, all things considered. It needs to find more playmakers in the secondary and set them up for success.
Purdue’s defense must build on small successes in red zone
Considering all of those ugly yardage numbers and rankings, you might be surprised to know Purdue ranked in the top third of the Big Ten in red zone scoring defense.
Counting only games against FBS opponents, the Boilers ranked fifth among Big Ten teams in how often opponents scored in the red zone (79.59%) and sixth in how often they scored touchdowns (53.06%).
Now, some important caveats here. Purdue’s 49 red zone attempts allowed in FBS games were the second-most in the conference. Also, some of those explosive plays above bypassed the red zone staging area and went straight to the end zone.
Yet it’s also fair to credit players for showing some resiliency with their backs against the wall.
In reality, all three of these factors must work in conjunction. Allowing fewer explosive plays and creating more turnovers means fewer opposing drives reach the red zone. If Purdue continues to play tough there, it might take a long-awaited step forward.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue football’s new defensive coordinator must fix explosive plays, turnovers
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