Purdue football is having its worst season in eleven years. They are on a nine-week losing streak and will not be bowl-eligible again this year for the third consecutive year. Purdue has not been bowl-eligible since 2021. Former head coach, Jeff Brohm, left after the 2022 season, and the team has only won five games since then. Can the Boilermakers come back next season, or are they going to continue to be in the bottom of the B1G Ten and all of Division One college football?
The last time Purdue was this bad was in 2013 when they finished with only one win and eleven losses. In 2013, Purdue football was being coached by Darrell Hazell during what many called the “Darrel Hazell era.” This was not a good time for Purdue football winning only nine games in four years. Historically, Purdue has been more of a “basketball school” than a “football school.” According to ESPN, the all-time record for Purdue football is 0.506 while basketball is 0.638.
When Jeff Brohm left Purdue in 2022 to return to Louisville, some of his players followed him there including senior quarterback Jack Plummer. Purdue then hired coach Ryan Walters after the 2022 season and hopes were high because he was a young coach and he was “considered one of the nation’s fastest rising young coaches” according to athletic director Mike Bobinski. Before Walters came to Purdue he was the defensive coordinator for the Illinois Fighting Illini. PurdueSports.com said, “In his second season as defensive coordinator for Illinois in 2022, Walters emerged as one of the nation’s best defensive play callers. The Illini posted an 8-4 record, with five wins holding their opponents under seven points and seven wins at ten points or fewer. Along with guiding the Illini defense to top ten national rankings in seventeen different defensive categories, Walters was named 247Sports Defensive Coordinator of the Year and On3 Coordinator of the Year.” (PurdueSports.com)

Walters was transitioning from defensive coordinator to head coach and some people worried about that and some of their worries became reality. Like every new head coach, Walters needed to build his team with the style of players he preferred. Walters received some transfers including a quarterback, Hudson Card, from Texas. Devin Mockabee would also be returning after having a successful season as a walk-on. Coach Walters, having to defend against Mockabee at Illinois, realized that he deserved to be more than a walk-on and awarded him with a scholarship in the first team meeting. Drew Schneider from HammerandRails.com stated, “People say, “Ryan Walters inherited a team that played for a Big 10 Championship,” but in reality, there wasn’t much left of that roster when he hit town. Any recruiting bump Purdue would have received from playing for a Big 10 Championship was blunted when Brohm returned to his family in Louisville.” There was not much left of that championship team when he came to Purdue, only fifteen of the starters returned, all others leaving due to the transfer portal, following Brohm to Louisville, or graduating.

Purdue has never been compared to an Alabama, Tennessee, or any powerhouse football school but has a history of beating them. In 2018 Purdue shocked college football by beating Ohio State, who was ranked number two in the nation at that point. In 2022 they beat number two Iowa in Iowa City. Most people are unsure that Purdue can have these major upsets anymore.

The 2024 season is a horrible year to be a Purdue football fan. Winning only one game through the first ten and a tough two games coming up. Michigan State, who Purdue plays this coming Saturday is not a great team, but will more than likely, handle the Boilermakers. After that, they travel to Bloomington to play the current undefeated, projected number four seed in the College Football Playoff, the Indiana Hoosiers. At the end of the day and the end of the season, Purdue has to find a team that competes with the best of the B1G Ten and everyone on their schedule. If that means finding a new head coach and starting over with a new coaching staff or finding something with the current team, something has to change.