What Barry Odom Said Following Purdue's 27-24 Loss to Rutgers

Purdue couldn't close the deal on Saturday. Despite having two different 10-point leads, the Boilermakers dropped a 27-24 heartbreaker to Rutgers on Homecoming in West Lafayette.

The Boilermakers are 2-6 on the year, 0-5 in Big Ten play and have lost 14 straight conference games. Here's everything coach Barry Odom said following the loss.

Barry Odom's opening statement ...

Odom: "I'm very thankful for the crowd that was there today, 103rd Homecoming for Purdue ... this place is special, because of the people. Not only the people who have followed Purdue for a long time, but the students make it a great place. And I also believe that Mike Bobinski (athletic director) and Tiffani Grimes (sport administrator and deputy AD) are two of the best in the country. They've given us absolutely everything thing that we need in the 10 months I've been here, to be successful.

"We're building it, and the wins are going to come. That's a hard way to lose one. My guys fought this week, they poured everything they had into the preparation this week. They played with energy, they played with emotion, they played hard, and we came up short.

"When you do that, when you invest with everything that you've got and you come up short, it's really difficult.

"I was raised in a small town in Oklahoma and the values that I learned there are about togetherness, love, family, toughness, resolve, and you just go find a way. You don't make excuses, you don't give up, you don't wave the white flag, you don't feel sorry for yourself, you find a way to go get it done. That's the way I was raised and that's the way this place is, and I guarantee you we're going to get this thing turned.

"We'll continue to work, pour everything we've got into it, and we'll get our team into the winner's circle at some point. We came up short and it's tough."

On Purdue's final possession of the first half ...

Odom: "I think they're all big. I told the team after, it's not one play, not one drive, it's a combination of a lot of those things. We always talk about the middle eight — the last four minutes of the first half, first four minutes of the second half. Coming out of halftime, we came out and scored and got a stop. That was a good part of it.

"We want to execute every single drive we've got. We didn't. And then, defensively, the broken coverage took a little aggressiveness out of us on how we were playing. We have to be able to overcome that and we didn't."

On Purdue's struggles offensively on 3rd downs ...

Odom: "I think you look at all aspects of the offense. You look at the ability to run the ball, I thought we had that on our side. You look at being able to execute and extend drives, obviously, 1-of-9 [on third down], you're going to have a hard time if you can't do that. We have enough playmakers to find a way to do it.

We'll certainly do a deep dive on the reasons we couldn't today. If I gave a lot of opinions as I sit right here, I know I'm probably going to be off on a couple of them."

On Ryan Browne's recovery timeline to play ...

Odom: "We ended up getting more testing done on Monday and then he just kept making progress throughout the week. Had a good week of preparation and felt comfortable on the information we had on putting him in and letting him go play. He wanted to come back last week, but I didn't feel comfortable with that without having a true MRI on it during the game.

"It says a lot about him, about this team ... [wide receiver] Jesse Watson broke his nose on Tuesday, had a chance to either get surgery and miss [time], he said 'No, I want to do what I can for this team,' and he went out and played today.

There are a lot of those small stories that our habits are moving in the right direction, I just want it, and we all do, to result in wins and we aren't there yet."

On the Ryan Browne turnover at the end of the game ...

Odom: "I haven't talked to Ryan, but as I saw it from the sideline, we had an RPO called, the defensive end set flat-footed on the line of scrimmage. There was a small window after he pulled it, got his hand on the ball, Ryan tried to make a play, and I don't know if it got punched from behind, if he didn't secure it at that point."

On if he's been part of this kind of loss before ...

Odom: "Unfortunately, in 1997 I was on the field against Nebraska. Kicked ball, they ended up catching it in the back of the end zone. That one hurt. I mean, guys, life is hard. You're going to win some, you're going to lose some. To lose it the way we did throughout the course of the game makes it a little more difficult."

On if the game plan was to rotate quarterbacks ...

Odom: "Yes. Ryan is our starting quarterback, but there are things we were trying to get because Malachi is playing well and has earned it. If anybody we feel like is in a position to help us play winning football, we're going to find a way to get them on the field. We feel that way about Malachi. I think it helped us out today."

On the number of games that have slipped through Purdue's fingers ...

Odom: "You say winnable games, you look at every single week, it's a life of its own. The thing you do after a game when you come up short, or win the game, you learn from your experiences and you continue to try to find ways to move your program forward.

"We're a heck of a lot better than we were when we started, we're just not there yet. We're going to keep working to get there. That's the only thing we know how to do.

"I thought our assistant coaches had a really good game plan this week, and I did challenge the guys to go play with energy, effort, and enthusiasm. For the most part, I thought we did that."

On Odom talking about Purdue finding a way to win this year ...

Odom: "I'm not going to back down from that statement. We're creating a winning culture, and eventually, we are going to win. I don't know when that's going to happen. We're swinging, scratching, and clawing, and we're going to get there. We're not there yet.

"I still stand and have strong belief in what our foundation is becoming. I have strong believe in this program, and I have no doubt we're going to win consistently, we're just not there yet."

On the play of Hershey McLaurin ...

Odom: "His practice habits have become better, he's become more invested in what it takes to play that position consistently ... He was in position to make plays. That was really good to see, because we needed it. He continues show up, be productive, and in that spot, defensively, we really need that guy to be a productive player."

On Purdue's struggles to get off the field ...

Odom: "We need to be better."

On a tough November schedule ahead ...

Odom: "I know we've got stretch and stride tomorrow for our players. Monday, we'll go to practice, have a great film study and a game plan for Michigan. And we'll take it one day at a time."

On if the breakdowns in the secondary felt similar to the Illinois game ...

Odom: "We got beat man-to-man three times. Their player made a play and we didn't. And then, one time, in coverage, the guy was wide open. We were in a man-free coverage and we didn't get that executed. You saw it just like I did, they threw three up and they came down with it. We have to continue to work on that."