Ryan Walters returns to Purdue as Washington's defensive coordinator with his Huskies D struggling

Ryan Walters is going back to Ross-Ade Stadium on Friday night, this time as Washington's defensive coordinator. He returns to a Purdue program that has started winning again since it moved on from him, and he brings a Huskies defense that has given up a lot of points in October.

The Indianapolis Star reported that Walters went 5-19 in two seasons as Purdue's head coach in 2023 and 2024. His second team finished 1-11, the low point that led the school to hire Barry Odom. The Star expects the Purdue crowd to give Walters a hostile welcome, since fans see the program as just now climbing out of that stretch.

The Boilermakers are 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten, and they are playing their best football of the season. Purdue beat Minnesota 41-13 on Saturday for its second straight win. A win over Washington would put the Boilermakers at 4-3 and make a bowl look like a real possibility. According to the Star, Purdue has not had a record like that since before it hired Walters.

The last five games are hard. Purdue plays at Penn State, Iowa and Indiana and hosts Maryland and Wisconsin. The Star called road wins at Iowa and Indiana unlikely even with Purdue's recent improvement. That could leave the Wisconsin game as the one that decides bowl eligibility, and Purdue has lost 18 straight to the Badgers. The Star's point was that none of that matters much if Purdue doesn't beat Washington first.

Washington's season is going the other way. The Huskies won last year's meeting in Seattle and opened this season 3-0. Since then they have lost three straight Big Ten games, including one to the same Minnesota team Purdue just routed. The defense allowed 40 points total in the first three games and is giving up 31 per game in conference play.

The offense may be short-handed too. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. was knocked out of Friday's loss to Iowa. The Star cited coach Jedd Fisch as saying Williams is unlikely to play against Purdue.

The market has the home team ahead. Purdue is favored at -160 on Novig, one of the venues listing the game, and FanDuel also has the Boilermakers at -160. The spread is Purdue -3.5 and the total is 51.5. Full pricing is on the Washington at Purdue odds page.

Kickoff is 8 p.m. EDT Friday on Fox. Both teams are 3-3 but headed in opposite directions. Purdue can keep its October run going and move into bowl contention. Washington is trying to stop a three-game slide, likely without its starting quarterback. For Walters, the job is slowing down an offense that just scored 41 points in a Big Ten game, in the stadium where he lost his last job.