Everything Purdue Coach Barry Odom Said Following Loss to Northwestern

Purdue suffered an ugly 19-0 loss to Northwestern in Evanston on Saturday, falling to 2-5 on the season and 0-4 in Big Ten play. It was one of the worst performances of the season for the Boilermakers.

After the game, coach Barry Odom voiced his frustration about the way his team played. Here's everything he had to say after the contest.

Barry Odom's opening statement ...

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Barry Odom looks on | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

"That was obviously not very good in any of the three areas — offense, defense or kicking. Credit to Northwestern, they kicked our tails, from the head coach all the way down, in every way. They played their brand of ball and won the game.

"We didn't play anywhere close to what it needs to look like to play winning ball in any phase. As bad as it was in the first half, still, you come out in the second half and it's a two-score game. We could never get anything formulated offensively. Defensively, we weren't good enough on third downs. I didn't see us getting off blocks, didn't see us playing with energy and enthusiasm. We couldn't create enough things in the play-calling to give them chances to be successful.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us. I'm frustrated for all the people that support Purdue, frustrated that that's how we played today. I know that."

On why the team started slowly ...

Odom: "Man, I don't know. You could feel it on the field, obviously we were a slow-starting group. I'm never ever going to point fingers, for whatever reason I missed, we weren't ready to go play from when the ball was kicked off.

"I didn't feel that, I thought we had a really good week of preparation. I thought the things we did at the hotel last night, this morning, I felt like we were ready to go play and we didn't. That's as disappointed as I have been.

"When I sit here and think about that statement, how could I not get this team ready to go play a conference game. We didn't. So, very frustrated, disappointed in our coaching staff and myself."

On evaluating the QB position with Ryan Browne's injury ...

Odom: "No matter what it looks like depth-chart-wise or repetition-wise, we have to get guys ready to go play. If you're not one of the guys out there with the first 11, you've got to train like you're the starter. I think Malachi [Singleton] has done that, Bennett Meredith has done that.

"Hopefully Ryan will be able to get back and go lead us, but we also have to get ready to go play with who's available from a health standpoint."

On how Malachi Singleton played ...

Purdue Boilermakers quarterback Malachi Singleton (3) runs the ball | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Odom: "We didn't have to change the playbook, and we knew we wouldn't have to, because he's done a really good job of preparation. Minus the turnovers, I thought he did a lot of good things to help us at least move the ball. He didn't have a lot of help around him."

On what might be missing ...

Odom: "I don't know. I do feel like from where we started in December to where we are today, it's a different team in a great way, in a number of things. But still, we have to win games. I don't want to hear — I've said from the first day I spoke publicly, there is never a rebuild. Those don't exist anymore. It's putting a team together and an organization together that plays winning ball, and we're coming up short right now.

"There are a number of people that have to get it right, and it starts with the guy standing right here."

On if he anticipated the Purdue job being this challenging ...

Odom: "Winning is really, really hard, it doesn't matter where you are. Those things are hard. And when you make it more difficult on yourself than it needs to be, then it gets frustrating.

"The options are, do you stay in the path and keep doing what you're doing? Or are you going to fix things and go to work, and find a way to grit and grind and find a way to go get it? I choose that side."

On the biggest issues offensively ...

Odom: "I didn't think we blocked very well at the point of attack. I didn't think we executed very well on third downs. I would start with that."

On the overall effort of the team ...

Odom: "It wasn't very good today. That's hard to say out loud, but it wasn't."

On the penalties continuing to hinder Purdue ...

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Barry Odom | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Odom: "As well as we played in the secondary last week with our man-to-man coverage and tight coverage, we weren't able to get in the same position today. We had a number of [pass interference penalties].

"We had one return — the front line, you don't know if it's a touchback or not, so we're teaching our guys to go block. So, we have to go change some things we're doing there.

"The punt return, the block in the back, that was not only a 10-yard difference, but that was a 30-yard difference, because we had a 20-yard return. We just gave Northwestern 30 yards and we had to try to overcome that.

"Penalties are never good. We look at every single one of them and identify the reason that it happened, then we coach and we teach it. Eventually, the team has to understand how important it is not to commit those mistakes. That takes self-discipline and we're not there yet."

On Northwestern's red zone defense ...

Odom: "We didn't execute. One of our goals was take care of the ball and then finish drives. Unfortunately, we came up short in both of those areas.

"They played really well, Northwestern. Anything I'm saying, I don't want to take away from the way that they played. They played exactly into their hand. They executed it very, very well.

"Red zone defense for them — we knew when we got down there, we were going to have to be spot on every single time. If not, they were going to make it difficult and they did. We didn't make plays and certainly they did."