Look. It wasn't an ideal season for the Boilermakers. It wasn't like they expected to immediately bounce back to something akin to the Brohm days. Anything at all that would clear the bad taste from the Ryan Walters days would have been fine. But going 2-10 while your rival hamblasts the entire college football world en route to a national championship? Yeah, that's rough, buddy.
Let's relive the fun!
What were the expectations?
Transient Buckeye: Well, to look on the bright side, Purdue fans didn't go into 2025 worrying about how they'd manage to work bowl tickets into the family budget.
HoustonBoiler: Any reasonable Boiler fan had very low expectations in 2025. When Coach Barry Odom arrived a week after the portal opened, only about 20 players remained, including very few notable players, e.g., Devin Mockobee and George Burhenn, while the rest of the roster, most notably Dillon Thieneman and Max Klare, departed via the portal. You could argue that turning over the roster of a 1-11 team is a good thing and I would agree in general. However, I would have preferred if a few more of very talented players, i.e., Thieneman, Klare, etc., remained. As such, the cupboard was pretty bare for Coach Odom's inaugural season.
Kind of...: Low.
So, how'd it go?
Transient Buckeye: 2025 Purdue was not as god-awful as 2024 Purdue. In a lot of ways, they were significantly better. Unfortunately, since they'd hit rock bottom in 2024, that improvement only got them up to....
HoustonBoiler: Even with a lot less talent, Purdue played better in 2025 than they did in 2024 and a few of the best players, including RB Devin Mockobee (game 5) and TE George Burhenn (game 4), suffered season ending injuries. QB Ryan Browne also suffered a shoulder injury (game 7) but continued to play, though his performance was greatly diminished. While the talent gap between Purdue and the rest of the B1G was larger in 2025 than 2024, Purdue played much harder in 2025, clearly an outcome of better coaching. The results were still not good, but there were a few signs of hope, reflected in one score losses at Minnesota (10/11), versus Rutgers (10/25), and at Michigan (11/1) and Purdue scored 30 in their loss at Notre Dame. All that said, the season overall was another ...
Kind of...: Poorly.
What were the highlights?
Transient Buckeye: Basketball season eventually started?
Okay, that's rude. If you sorta-kinda squinted at them in just the right light, Purdue was almost respectable. Some of the time. They didn't get blown out by USC. They hung 30 points on Notre Dame. They only lost by one score to Minnesota. And Rutgers. And Michigan–in Ann Arbor, no less. Am I grasping at straws here? Of course I am. But Purdue went 2-10 last year, I don't have a lot to work with.
Houston Boiler: Building on Transient Buckeye said, not only did basketball season start, Purdue won the B1G Tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight.
As for football, Purdue did more in 2025 with much less talent compared to 2024. I attribute the improvement in overall play to better coaching. Even with this modest progress, baby steps if you will, there is still a long way to go to the mushy middle, let alone the upper third of the conference.
Kind of...: Not going winless vs. the FBS? One-score loss to Michigan??
And the lowlights?
Transient Buckeye: You read the part about them going 2-10, right? When every "highlight" I've referenced came in a game they lost, that tells you how their season went.
HoustonBoiler: A non-competitive game at Northwestern's bunny hutch where the Boilers just kept turning the ball over and three straight blowouts, versus Ohio State, at Washington, and versus Indiana to closeout the season.
Kind of...: They lost their last ten games. Are we really going to split hairs?
AlmaOtter: I mean, they went 2-10 and the Hoosiers (the HOOSIERS) won the freaking national championship. The lowlights didn't end when Purdue's season did.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: Purdue was generally terrible last season, but they'd hung around with Rutgers into the final minutes, and looked like they had a legitimate shot at pulling out a feel-good win for their fans. After Rutgers kicked a game-tying field goal with just over a minute left in regulation, Purdue had a chance to drive for a winning score. Surely the worst thing that could happen would be that the game went to overtime, right? Right? RIGHT!?
Nope. On the first play of the drive, Ryan Brown's pass was deflected into the air. He caught it, tried to run, and fumbled the ball, with Rutgers recovering already within field goal range. The Scarlet Knights ran the ball twice, picking up solid chunks both times and setting their kicker up for a chip-shot walk-off field goal.
HoustonBoiler: While Transient Buckeye already covered the heartbreaking loss to Rutgers, I will add some discussion of Purdue's very frustrating loss at Minnesota. While Purdue was making mistakes, the outplayed Minnesota on both sides of the ball and controlled the game through three quarters. To their credit, Minnesota took advantage of what Purdue handed them - a second quarter Purdue interception led to a Minnesota field goal. Purdue led 17-13 at the half and 20-13 after the third quarter. But the tide shifted early in the fourth quarter after Purdue missed a 47 yard field goal. Minnesota took the ball and drove 70 yards to score a touchdown to tie the game. Purdue did not return the ensuing kick off and had the ball at their own 25 yard line with scored tied and 7:47 remaining in the game. On the first play, Ryan Browne made a horrible decision in forcing a throw over the middle that Koi Perich picked off and returned for a touchdown. Minnesota won 27-20 by doing just enough and allowing Purdue to implode.
Kind of...: Shut out Ball State. Gave up 56 to Notre Dame. Gave up 56 to Indiana. Spot in state pecking order confirmed.
