What Barry Odom Said About Purdue's Poor Defensive Performance vs. Notre Dame

You could hear the frustration in Barry Odom's voice in the postgame press conference in South Bend on Saturday night. As a defensive-minded coach, it's easy to understand why he was upset with Purdue giving up 535 yards in a 56-30 loss to No. 24 Notre Dame.

There is no sugar-coating Saturday's performance; Purdue's defense was abysmal in South Bend. The Fighting Irish scored on eight of their first nine possessions of the game — even after a two-hour weather delay halted the game late in the second quarter.

"Defensively, we didn't play to the standard we need to. We didn't tackle well, we weren't very good at the line of scrimmage," Odom said. "We have a lot of things to fix."

Notre Dame's offense attack was clicking early and often. It began on their first play, as quarterback CJ Carr connected with Malachi Fields for a 66-yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead just 80 seconds into the game.

Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price, left, falls into the end zone for a touchdown | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Later in the half, return man and running back Jadarian Price returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, giving the Irish a 35-16 advantage over the Boilermakers. Although Purdue responded to both of those scores with touchdowns of its own, those were back-breaking moments.

"We can't open up the game and give up a 65-yard touchdown; we can't give up a kickoff return for a touchdown," Odom said. "The explosive plays, we're not good enough to overcome those things."

By the end of the game, Price accounted for 216 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. Running back Jeremiyah Love had 157 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Carr completed 10-of-12 passes for 223 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.

At one point in the game, Notre Dame was a perfect five-of-five on third-down attempts.

There's no question, Purdue has plenty to work on over the next two weeks before another rivalry game, this time against Illinois. But Odom is committed to fixing the issues and improving his football team with eight games remaining on the schedule.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy. Life is hard, and if you want something changed and you want to fix it, usually it's from the work that's hard," Odom said. "We're going to get it fixed, and it starts directly with the guy looking back at myself in the mirror."

Odom 'proud' of Purdue's offense

Purdue Boilermakers wide receiver Nitro Tuggle (0) makes a catch | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

It can be difficult to find the positives in a 26-point loss in a rivalry game. Odom said that Purdue's offensive performance, especially the resiliency it showed, was one of the good things from Saturday's game against Notre Dame.

"I was proud of a number of things we did on offense tonight. I thought they continued to give us opportunities to stay in the game," Odom said. "There were some extra effort and toughness plays that showed up that we'll certainly build on."

Although Purdue struggled to run the football, it did hang tough with Notre Dame for the first half.

The Boilermakers scored their first touchdown of the day on a trick play in which running back Devin Mockobee threw the ball to quarterback Ryan Browne. Kicker Spencer Porath made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 48-yard try.

After Price returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown with one minute remaining in the first half, Purdue's offense marched down the field and Browne connected with receiver Nitro Tuggle for a 24-yard scoring strike to make the score 35-23 at halftime.

In a game where Purdue's defense provided minimal assistance, the offense continued to show its resiliency and toughness throughout the game, giving the Boilermakers something to build on moving forward.

Odom 'proud' of Purdue's offense

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