Quotes That Matter From Barry Odom Following Purdue's 31-17 Loss to Penn State
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Coming off a bye week, Purdue was hopeful it could go on the road and get a signature win over Penn State in Beaver Stadium. Instead, the Nittany Lions dominated the contest on both sides of the ball, posting a 31-17 victory and getting their first conference win of 2026.
Purdue struggled both offensively and defensively on Halloween night. Penn State rushed for 269 yards in the victory, its highest total in Big Ten play this year. The Nittany Lions also possessed the ball for more than 43 minutes.
The Boilermakers amassed just 175 yards of total offense, had only 33 rushing yards on 15 carries, and never entered the red zone. The passing attack, outside of two big plays, was non-existent.
What did head coach Barry Odom have to say after the loss? Let's dive into some key quotes from the Purdue head coach.
The struggle to run the football
For a second straight game, Purdue struggled to run the football. The Boilermakers ended the game with just 33 rushing yards on 15 carries. Star running back Fame Ijeboi had just 11 carries for 20 yards and quarterback Ryan Browne finished the game as the team's second-leading rusher with a mere seven yards.
At one point in the game, Odom said Purdue was "abandoning the run too early." At the end of the night, he said the team's lack of success on the ground was a result in the offensive line struggling to win one-on-one battles.
"I've always said it: if we can't run the ball, we're going to struggle offensively," Odom said in a video posted by GoldandBlack.com. "Some of the slower-developing things, they were able to get penetration. And then winning and not winning one-on-one blocks was really difficult ... They were whipping our tail. That's hard to say out loud, but that's the truth."
Purdue's 33 yards against Penn State is the lowest rushing total in a single game since the 2024 season.
Giving up big plays to Penn State
Entering Saturday's game, Penn State's offense struggled to move the football, especially on the ground. It didn't have that problem against Purdue's defense in the first half.
Penn State averaged 130 rushing yards entering the Week 9 game against Purdue. By the end of the first quarter, the Nittany Lions had already amassed 124 yards on the ground. They also ripped off a pair of 40-yard runs and had three explosive carries in the first half.
"When you look at run defense, it's not just the defensive line. It's the linebackers, it's the secondary, it's a number of things," Odom said. "The three [big] runs in the first half — a leverage problem on one, another one we were short a helmet ... and then the last one, we were in position and didn't make the play."
Cam Wallace led the charge for the Nittany Lions, totaling 135 yards on 22 carries. Carson Hansen had 96 yards and quarterback Rocco Becht had 27 on the ground. As a team, Penn State amassed 269 yards and three touchdowns.
Testing the deep ball
One of Purdue's offensive strategies was to test Penn State on the deep ball. Ryan Browne connected on a few early passes, including one to Asaad Wasseem and a touchdown pass to Xavier Townsend, both in the first quarter.
The Boilers didn't have much success through the air for the rest of the game. Browne finished the night with 142 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. He completed just 10-of-28 passes.
"I thought it would loosen them up a little bit," Odom said. "There was one that Asaad caught early. Another we had a chance on our sideline would have been a big-time play. Then, a few competitive balls, we came up out of bounds a couple times and didn't have a chance to catch the ball. I did think we could connect on some of those."
Finding a way to move forward
Purdue let a major opportunity slip through its fingers on Saturday night. Beaver Stadium isn't an easy place to win, but this is a struggling Penn State team. Rather than getting to 4-4 heading into November, the Boilermakers are now 3-5 with four games to play.
"We're light-years ahead of where we were last year at this time, but I also know that it's a results-driven business," Odom said. "We all want the wins to come faster than they are. We've got the three on the right side of that column; we've got four games in the month of November that will all be huge.
"I'm not disappointed in this team, we want the progress and the result to happen faster."
Although Purdue is now fighting a major uphill battle, Odom said the goal is still to get the program back into the postseason.
"The month of November is going to be huge for our program," Odom said. "I've gotta get answers; our staff does, too."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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