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Iowa football 2023 early opponent preview: Purdue
Former Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters now leads the Boilermakers
Editor’s note: This is sixth in a 12-part series previewing Iowa’s 2023 football opponents.
IOWA CITY — The Jeff Brohm era in West Lafayette, Ind., is over and that might not be a bad thing for Iowa football.
Before Brohm arrived at Purdue, Iowa had won eight of the previous 10 games against the Boilermakers.
But Brohm bested the Hawkeyes in four of six matchups, including a 17-point outcome that busted Iowa’s No. 2 ranking in 2021.
Now, former Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters is leading the Boilermakers.
Walters, 37, has quickly risen the college coaching ranks. He is the youngest head coach in the Big Ten, and few across the country are younger than him.
Texas transfer Hudson Card is expected to lead the offense at quarterback. In three years with the Longhorns, Card appeared in 22 games and started five.
Card completed 69 percent of his passes last season and threw six touchdowns and one interception. He backed up Quinn Ewers, who was 247Sports’ top quarterback prospect in the 2021 recruiting class.
Running back Devin Mockobee and wide receiver T.J. Sheffield are among the offensive players returning from last year’s team.
Mockobee set a Purdue freshman record last year with 968 rushing yards. The all-Big Ten honorable mention did so at an efficient clip, too, averaging 5.0 yards per carry.
Sheffield caught 46 passes for 480 yards and four touchdowns last year.
Purdue’s defense, which was 12th in the Big Ten with 5.8 yards allowed per play, has added several potential contributors via the transfer portal.
Ex-Penn State defensive back Marquis Wilson, ex-Arkansas defensive lineman Isaiah Nichols and ex-Stanford defensive back Salim Turner-Muhammad are among the newcomers who could contribute immediately.
Iowa vs. Purdue: 3 things to watch
- How will Walters’ scheme affect Purdue’s offensive style of play? Purdue has a long history of hiring offensive-minded head coaches and relying heavily on the passing game. The former changed with the hiring of Walters. We’ll see if/how that affects the latter.
- Hudson Card vs. Iowa’s secondary. If Card does what he did in an albeit small sample size at Texas, he could emerge as one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten.
- How healthy are the Hawkeyes at this point in the season? Iowa will seek its first road win at Wisconsin since 2015, and then a well-rested Minnesota team will come to Kinnick. Avoiding a grind-it-out game against the Boilermakers could pay dividends in the subsequent two weeks.
2023 prognosis
Is it possible for Walters to make Iowa-Purdue a competitive series like what Brohm did? Yes. Is that likely to happen in 2023? No.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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