Purdue football notebook: September to remember
Welcome to September, the most important month of Purdue’s 2023 season … or so it seems.
The Boilermakers play four of five games in September at home. It goes without saying that Purdue needs to take advantage of all of that home-cooking if it wants to back up last year’s Big Ten West title with a third bowl bid in succession.
“I think you obviously want to start fast and don’t want to ease into the season,” said first-year Purdue coach Ryan Walters. “Our schedule doesn’t really allow for that anyway, and we have set up summer workouts and set up the way we have practiced this fall to be able to hit the ground running.
“It’s important to get off to a good start, to build confidence and build comradery and chemistry with a group of guys that is a veteran group, but don’t have a whole lot of experience playing with each other.”
Debuts of last 10 Purdue head coaches
SeasonCoachOpening game result2017Jeff BrohmL, 35-28 vs. No. 16 Louisville (at Indianapolis)2013Darrell HazellL, 42-7 at Cincinnati2009Danny HopeW, 52-31 vs. Toledo1997Joe TillerL, 36-22 at Toledo1991Jim CollettoW, 49-3 vs. Eastern Michigan1987Fred AkersL, 28-10 at No. 12 Washington1982Leon BurtnettL, 35-14 vs. Stanford1977Jim YoungL, 19-14 at Michigan State1973Alex AgaseW, 14-13 at Wisconsin1970Bob DeMossW, 15-0 vs. TCU
This is the 100th season of Ross-Ade Stadium, which underwent a $45 million update in the offseason highlighted by a re-imagined south end zone and construction of the Tiller Tunnel. … Purdue never has played Fresno State. The new capacity of Ross-Ade was unveiled this week: 61,441. … Fresno State is riding a 9 game winning streak, the third-longest active winning streak in the FBS. … The Boilermakers’ helmets will include a special sticker in remembrance of senior associate athletics director for performance and sports medicine Doug Boersma, who passed away in June at the age of 48. … Purdue’s depth chart features 17 players from the transfer portal. … Fresno State was picked to finish third in the Mountain West this season. The Bulldogs received five first place vote. … The Bulldogs have announced UCF transfer Mikey Keene as their starter. He was 8-3 as a starter for the Golden Knights. … At 37, Ryan Walters is the fifth-youngest head coach in the FBS this year. Fresno State coach Jeff Tedford is 61. … The last true Big Ten opponent the Bulldogs have faced was Minnesota. The Bulldogs fell 38-35 at home in overtime on Sept. 7, 2019. The Bulldogs beat Rutgers in overtime in 2013 (52-51), but the Scarlet Knights weren’t a member of the Big Ten that year. … Fresno State has 40 wins all-time against current Power 5 programs. The Bulldogs have defeated a Power 5 opponent in back-to-back seasons. … The average age of the Purdue staff is 39. … Walters is the first Purdue head coach hired who came from a defensive background since Leon Burtnett was promoted from DC to head coach in 1982. … Purdue is one of only 15 FBS teams that doesn’t play an FCS opponent.
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