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Indiana has frequently blown out opponents this year en route to an 11-1 season that has them heading to the College Football Playoff under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. Heading into Saturday’s matchup with a terrible Purdue team in a rivalry game, many expected yet another blowout.
Not only was it a blowout, but it was a historic whooping of the in-state rival Boilermakers. And, the fact that Curt Cignetti once again decided to run up the score may have cost Purdue Head Coach Ryan Walters his job.
Purdue had a dreadful 2024 season under their second-year head coach, and had suffered plenty of blowout losses this year. But, rumors were that Ryan Walters was going to be retained for a third year at Purdue after going 4-8 in his first season a year ago.
Rivalry games mean a lot of fan bases, boosters, and to administrations, though. There was no bringing Ryan Walters back after a humiliating 66-0 loss for Purdue on Saturday. He was fired on Sunday.
66-0 is bad enough. But, the box score shows it could’ve been even worse. Total yards for the game was an ugly stat, as Indiana had 582 and Purdue had 67. That’s a margin you’d expect to see in a game featuring a top-tier program against a low-level FCS program, not in an in-state rivalry game.
Curt Cignetti kept his starters in the entire game, likely due to the fact that this is a rivalry game and to help Indiana get as high of a seed as possible in the College Football Playoffs. That contributed to such a lopsided score, and made it untenable for Ryan Walters to be retained.
At this point, Purdue has nowhere to go but up from here. Most fans wanted Ryan Walters fired, and they have Curt Cignetti to thank for that happening.