To paraphrase the Beatles' song "Getting Better" from the Sgt. Pepper's album: "It's getting better all the time. (Can't get much worse.)" In that vein, let's take a look at the schedule, (neat! I figured out how to center the embedded links!), think fond thoughts about locomotives, and make some wild predictions.
Schedule
Predictions
HoustonBoiler: Well, year one under Barry Odom saw some very modest improvement in play and I expect this trend to continue in year two.
Coaching changes - following the 2025 season, the defensive coordinator and offensive line coach were let go. Hooo boy, Purdue fans and the various Purdue sports sites melted down when it was announced that Kevin Kane was returning as defensive coordinator. For those who have forgotten, Kane was the DC for Ryan Walters though technically, it was Walters’ defense and he made the calls. That said, the 2024 Purdue defense was probably one of the worst in the history of college football. Yeah, so you can understand the fanbase was a tad bit upset, which is another huge understatement. I'll add that Odom also brought in a grizzled veteran defensive coach in Dave Steckel, who has previously spent many years under Gary Pinkel both at Toledo and Missouri (Pinkel is one Odom's mentors), as a senior defensive analyst. Odom also brought in Zach Crabtree, formerly at Baylor (2 years), Oklahoma State (1 year), USC (3 years), and most recently at Fresno State (1 year).
Player changes - about half the roster returns but Purdue retained most of their frontline players from the 2025 squad and supplemented them with portal players and high school recruits. Newcomers to keep an eye on include RBs Fame Ijeboi (Minnesota) and Jerrick Gibson (Texas); WRs Asaad Waseem (Florida Atlantic), Bisi Owens (Penn), and Xavier Townsend (Iowa State); and OL Nuku Mafi (Oklahoma State). BUT, much to the dismay of many Purdue fans, Ryan Browne, who threw more INTs than TDs last season, is back at QB and there is no one to push him. However, there are new groups of receivers, who hopefully can catch the ball unlike last year's group, and running backs, and O-linemen. The hope is that Browne will have more protection and the running game will produce more positive yards.
Punting - I would be negligent if I overlooked Purdue's punting situation as they look to replace Second Team All-B1G punter, Jack McCallister, who definitely was Purdue's best portal pickup in 2025. Battling for the role this season are 2025 and 2026 portal acquisitions Sam Dubwig (Arkansas) and Dylan Drennan (Buffalo - Second Team All-MAC 2025 as a redshirt freshman).
Outlook - Week 1 features a game against Indiana State that Purdue will win, hopefully in blowout fashion. The next two weeks, against Wake Forest and at UCLA, will reveal just how much of a disaster this Purdue football team will be. Two wins would be amazing while no wins will be bad. Purdue needs to win one of these games and I consider Wake Forest at home to be a much better possibility than UCLA on the road, late at night. Notre Dame, at Penn State, at Iowa, fuck wisconsin (because reasons), and Indiana are losses with at Illinois being a likely loss. Purdue gave Minnesota a game last year in Dinkytown, perhaps the Boilers can pull an upset at home? Maybe. Washington is not so great on the road so perhaps Purdue has a chance? Maybe, but I'm sure the fans will let Ryan Walters know how they feel. The only other game where Purdue may have a chance beyond week 3 is their home game versus Maryland on November 7. Maryland will be the much better team on paper, but it will be November.
While I expect Purdue to take a baby step in the right direction, they’re still behind everyone else in the league in terms of talent. Perhaps they can avoid being blown out as much. Plus, for some reason Purdue scheduled 11 P4 games. What were they thinking? So in terms of wins and losses, I’m going say 3-9 overall and 1-8 in conference with wins over Indiana State, Wake Forest, and Maryland.
glassjawed: Does Odom get fired for doing worse than Walters through two seasons? Expecting 3-9 feels too optimistic, so it is possible (likely?) he lowers the coaching futility standard in West Lafayette. Regardless, I will be elbow deep in Torvik stats by mid-October.
HoustonBoiler: Barring a complete meltdown on the part of the team, i.e., 0-12 or 1-11 with the losses all one-sided, Purdue will not fire Barry Odom. While I haven't seen anything thus far that indicates Odom will lead Purdue to a B1G CCG appearance, he and his staff are a definite upgrade over the previous staff. IMHO, the primary reason Walters was fired after only two years is that his staff was a disaster, which was evident from the team's on-field performance, and he had no idea how to address this problem. Plus, Purdue will still be paying Walters $3 million both this year and next to not coach at Purdue. There's no way that Purdue will be paying both Walters and Odom to not coach at Purdue in 2027.
Transient Buckeye: I don't have any animosity toward Purdue, and I'd like to see our longsuffering contingent of BoilerBots have something to feel good about. But I am having a lot of trouble finding wins for Purdue in this schedule once we get past the season opener with Indiana State. Wake Forest wasn't good last season, but they were a middling ACC team, and it feels like "middling ACC team" > "Big Ten bottom feeder." Their five road games all feel like no-hopers, and they have a home date with Notre Dame on the schedule that's not going to go well at all. I'm going to say that they wind up 2-10 (1-8), picking off one of Minnesota, Washington, Maryland, or Wisconsin. But I'll be darned if I can guess where that win's going to come from, and I think I'd lean toward 1-11 more than 3-9. Hopefully they prove me wrong.
Kind of...: Odom is a good enough coach that I think there's a home win among the Minnesota/Wisconsin/Maryland trio. And Thumpasaurus would endeavor to point out that Illinois never makes things easy when they play Purdue (look back to two years ago...he's right). I'm see the win total set at 3.5 with +110 for the over and -145 for the under. I'd love to see what the money line would be if it was set at 2.5. I'd be tempted to take the over. Regression works for bad teams too, and I think Purdue is better than most people think (still not very good, mind you). But a likely 1-2 nonconference record is harsh.
AlmaOtter: One of these games, Purdue is going to break their 18 game conference losing streak. And god forbid it happen to your team, because you will never hear the end of it. An interesting fact: the last conference game they won was the 2023 Bucket game against Indiana!
