The Purdue Football program is in a rough stretch in terms of success. Former head coach, Jeff Brohm’s leaving for Louisville in 2022 sparked the Boilermakers’ search for new leadership. Since the end of the 2022 season, the Boilermakers have a record of 7 wins and 21 losses, a 0.250 win percentage. With the arrival of Ryan Walters to Purdue in 2023, fans were optimistic about the upcoming season. Walters was a disappointment, to say the least. After year two of the Ryan Walters era, fans wanted him gone. One problem: he had three years left on his five-year contract. According to Purdue Athletics online, the Executive Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Mike Bobinski, fired Ryan Walters as the head coach of Purdue’s football program on December 1, 2024.
When Barry Odom arrived as the new head coach of Purdue, there was a cautious excitement. Odom came from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he had been successful in the previous years, leading the Rebels to their first bowl game since 2014, the Guaranteed Bowl against the Jayhawks of Kansas University. Purdue fans will surely be anxious to see if Odom can carry his success to West Lafayette.
There are doubts, however, Odom is coming into arguably the best power five conference, the Big Ten, without great success against power five schools (17-24). Purdue also has the thirteenth hardest schedule in college football, according to The College Football Preview sports writer Phil Steele. These factors will not make it easy, but Odom will need to rebuild the struggling program quickly.
Another major factor is NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and recruiting; if a quality player has recruitment options such as Ohio State, Michigan, or Purdue, it is not likely for them to choose a team like Purdue that is currently struggling. NIL is an issue because of Purdue’s budget and program funding. Purdue’s NIL budget for football, according to Nathan Baird from IndyStar.com, is around $1.165 million, which is very low compared to powerhouse Big Ten football schools. According to Sports Illustrated’s Ally Osborne, the University of Oregon, for example, has an NIL budget of $23 million. The Ohio State University gave out $20 million in 2024 (CBS Sports), and even the Indiana University Hoosiers gave out $13.5 million in 2024 (Osborne).
The Boilermakers started their season 2-0 against MAC (Mid America Conference) schools. MAC teams are the first couple of warm-up games of the season for some Power Five schools. Purdue played their home opener against Ball State University and beat the Cardinals 31-0. Young quarterback Ryan Browne was 18 of 26 for 311 yards and two touchdowns; he also had one rushing touchdown. In week two, Purdue played the Southern Illinois University Salukis (SIU). The Salukis shocked the Boilermaker defence, tied 14-14 after one quarter. Purdue went on to win the game 34-17, and former walk-on running back Devin Mockobee had two touchdowns on the ground. After two games, Purdue has already doubled their wins from last year, but there will be no more easy wins for the Boilermakers; five of their next nine games will be against top 20 opponents.
Next, the Boilermakers hosted the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans and experienced a three and a half hour weather delay. Coming into the game, USC averaged over sixty points a game and had a quarterback, Jayden Maiava, who was considered among the best, if not the best, in the Big Ten. There was no surprise to fans when the Boilers were going into the game as 21-point underdogs. Purdue competed against the powerful USC offense for three quarters but could not finish the comeback in the fourth quarter. A huge part of the loss was Ryan Browne’s three interceptions, two of which were in the red zone, and the interception outside the red zone was returned for a touchdown. Their most recent game was against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, who were 0-2 at the time. The Irish handled the Boilermakers with a score of 56-30; the Purdue defense struggled, giving up 250 rushing yards and allowing CJ Carr to pass for 280 yards and a touchdown.
Overall, Purdue has many weaknesses this season; the major ones include the whole offense and or defense, including the defensive line against the run and the secondary against the pass. Also, they have a young quarterback with many interceptions; Ryan Browne has thrown seven interceptions in his six starts. Even with their weaknesses, there is still hope for the future of Purdue football to finish 500.
