Barry Odom has walked this road before, and Purdue suddenly looks like a team following the same script.
Back in his second season at Missouri, Odom watched the Tigers stagger to a 1-5 start in 2017 and look headed for another rough finish in the SEC. Then came a turning point: a blowout win over Idaho that flipped the season on its head. Missouri rolled into a six-game winning streak, picking up victories over Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas along the way before finishing the regular season 7-5 and reaching a bowl game.
Ten years later, Odom is trying to spark something similar in West Lafayette.
Purdue opened the year 1-3, with losses to Wake Forest, UCLA and Notre Dame putting the Boilermakers in a hole by the time October arrived. Since then, though, the tone around the program has changed fast. Purdue beat Illinois 24-17 to snap a nearly three-year drought without a Big Ten win, then followed that up Saturday night with a 41-13 rout of Minnesota that pulled the Boilermakers back to .500 at 3-3.
The difference has shown up on both sides of the ball. The offense has been clean and efficient, taking care of the football while finding success through the air with quarterback Ryan Browne and on the ground with running back Fame Ijeboi. The defense, which had been a problem through the first month, has tightened up as well.
Now the schedule opens up a little, and the next stretch could tell Purdue a lot about how far this turnaround can go. The Boilermakers host Washington on Friday at Ross-Ade Stadium.
The Huskies are 3-3 and still looking for their first Big Ten win. After that comes a bye week, then a trip to Happy Valley to face Penn State, another 3-3 team that also remains winless in conference play.
If Purdue keeps trending the way it has over the last two weeks, October could end with the Boilermakers sitting on at least four wins. That would put them in position to head into November needing just one more victory to get back to the postseason, a possibility that felt far-fetched when September wrapped up.
For Odom, the focus is not on any of that down the road. He’s keeping the conversation pointed at the next rep, the next practice, the next game.
"I think you look at how hungry we are to go get the next one and have a 1-0 mindset. Whatever we did five weeks ago, we learned those lessons, and then it's gone.
Whatever we did last Saturday, we learned from those lessons, and it's over," Odom said during his Monday press conference. "The mindset that takes.
The understanding of having a great Tuesday practice, that's the most important thing we've got right now."
That steady approach has defined him all season. Odom hasn’t gotten swept up in the wins or buried by the losses, and Purdue has kept the same edge even after its strongest showing in four seasons against Minnesota.
So the next test is simple enough: go 1-0 this week. If the Boilers do that, they’ll be 4-3 heading into the bye, sitting well ahead of where most people expected them to be at this point.
In Other News...
Purdue Just Backed Up Its Big Ten Surge In A Huge Way
Purdue kept its Big Ten surge rolling at Ross-Ade Stadium with a 41-13 win over Minnesota, and the result gave Barry Odom plenty to like about the way his team is starting to look on both sides of the ball. The Boilermakers controlled the line of scrimmage on offense, the defense made Minnesota uncomfortable, and Odom pointed to the way Purdue played across all three phases as a sign the program is beginning to stack complete performances.
The biggest individual spark came from Fame Ijeboi, whose night turned into one of the best performances in Purdue football history and gave the Boilermakers a featured weapon they could lean on throughout the game. After back-to-back conference wins, Purdue now has a little more legitimacy behind this run, even if the wider question is whether this level of balance and physicality can hold up once the schedule tightens again. [Read more 🡒]
Purdue Defense Faces A Personal Friday Test Against A Familiar Mind
Friday brings a familiar chess match to Purdues sideline, with Kevin Kane preparing his defense for Washington and the challenge of facing Ryan Walters, a former colleague who now runs the Huskies defense under Jedd Fisch. Their paths have been tied together before, both at Illinois and again at Purdue, and this meeting adds a personal layer to what is already a meaningful test for Barry Odoms staff.
Kane has been open about the respect he has for Walters, and the matchup carries a little extra edge because of how much Walters helped shape his own approach. Purdue will be looking to sort out an opposing defense directed by someone who knows the mindset and language of the men on the other sideline, which makes the preparation as interesting as the game itself. [Read more 🡒]
Purdues Big Ten Surge Is Suddenly Paying Off In Indiana
Purdues recent momentum in its home state kept rolling when Wesley Summersett, a high school football player from Berne, Indiana, switched his verbal commitment from Bowling Green State University to the Boilermakers. Recruited by defensive coordinator Kevin Kane, Summersett announced the move on social media, adding another in-state name to Barry Odoms early work on the 2027 class.
For Purdue, the addition matters beyond just the headline of a flip. Summersett is the fifth in-state pledge in Odoms 2027 group, and he also becomes the programs 17th overall commitment, a sign that the Boilermakers are starting to turn local interest into real recruiting traction. The broader class is still taking shape, but this is the kind of development Purdue has been trying to stack as it builds momentum closer to home. [Read more 🡒]