Why Purdue football felt its plan for 3-hour weather delay was 'flawless'

WEST LAFAYETTE — The mental preparation was there for a 3:40 p.m. kickoff.

Purdue football had to pivot its focus due to Mother Nature having other ideas.

Lighting delays and thunderstorms pushed the start of the Boilermakers' Big Ten opener against USC to 6:45 p.m.

Then again, so did USC and without the comfort of a cozy home locker room.

Still, it was Purdue which looked flat early against the Trojans once the game began.

USC led 17-3 at halftime on its way to a 33-17 victory.

How did having to wait for what was expected to be a momentous day, given Purdue's 2000 Big Ten championship team was at Ross-Ade Stadium, affect the Boilermakers early?

According to Barry Odom, not too much.

The behind the scenes effort went off without a hitch.

"Plan wise, we have a plan that we're ready to active, home or away, with extra meals, time built in, the philosophy of what we're going to do meeting wise no matter how long the delay is whether its 30 minutes or three hours or whatever it is, we kind of have different plans," Odom explained. "The people who executed that plan from nutrition to sports medicine to strength and conditioning, game day management on communication piece, I thought it was flawless.

Despite being down 17-3 at halftime, Odom didn't point to a weather delay as the cause.

"(We're) playing a good team and you know you've got to step into the arena and be ready for them to swing," Odom said. "We've got to swing and swing first."

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What Purdue football did during weather delay vs USC: 'Flawless' plan