Purdue heads into its bye week at 3-4, fresh off a frustrating loss to Washington, but the bigger picture still looks better than what most people outside West Lafayette expected when the season began. The Boilermakers may be under .500, yet they’ve already cleared a much lower bar than the one set for them nationally.
Barry Odom has been part of that shift. He hasn’t been flawless, but his standing has improved in a meaningful way.
Purdue entered the year with one simple mandate: stay competitive enough that Odom’s job security never became a real issue. So far, he’s done enough to keep that from turning into a problem, and he’s helped pull Purdue out of the Big Ten basement in his second season.
Still, not everything has gone smoothly around the program. The handling of the Kevin Kane situation has been a concern, especially because there has been so little clarity.
That absence of transparency has left Odom partly exposed as the defense has struggled, allowing 413 yards per game. Purdue also wasn’t as prepared as it should have been for a Washington team that has been having its own issues.
Even so, Odom has consistently had this team fighting at Ross-Ade Stadium.
The clearest bright spot has been Ryan Browne. He’s made the biggest leap on the roster, going from 10 interceptions and nine touchdowns to operating with near-flawless control before the Week 7 game against Washington. The two picks against the Huskies dinged his numbers, but he’s still been good enough to keep Purdue in position to win most of its games.
Through seven games, Browne has passed for 1,822 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. The main thing holding him back from an A+ grade is Purdue’s red-zone execution. The next step is obvious: turn more drives into touchdowns instead of settling for field goals.
On the other side of the ball, Kevin Kane’s return to West Lafayette has not gone the way Purdue needed. The defense earns a D, and the numbers back that up.
Kane had a chance to silence the criticism that came with bringing him back after a difficult first stint, but that hasn’t happened. Purdue’s defense ranks 117th out of 138 FBS teams in yards allowed.
The pass rush has been a major issue. Purdue has managed only eight sacks in seven games.
To Kane’s credit, the defense did create five turnovers against Washington and it was strong in wins over Minnesota and Illinois. But the overall yardage allowed has been too much to overlook.
Odom did not need to attack the transfer portal as aggressively as he did last offseason, but he still added some useful pieces. On offense, Fame Ijeobi, Asaad Waseem and Xavier Townsend have made real impacts. On defense, Don Saunders and JoJo Hayden have stood out.
There have been misses too. Texas transfer Jerrick Gibson has not been the threat many expected, and Georgia transfer Elo Modozie has barely played.
If Purdue can keep some of the transfers who have contributed, that grade could move up. For now, though, the portal work gets a B.
The Washington loss makes the bye week sting a little more, but Purdue is still about where it should be. More importantly, it has exceeded the national expectations that surrounded it before the season. The Boilermakers weren’t expected to be favored against Washington, and they were, even if they didn’t finish the job.
There’s still plenty that has gone wrong, but Purdue has clearly moved in the right direction from a year ago. When you step back and look at where this team started, that matters. Purdue is not on pace to finish last in the Big Ten for a third straight season, and that progress brings a C+ overall grade.
In Other News...
Purdue Fans Have An Unexpected Colts Storyline To Watch Now
The Colts front-office shakeup has put an unexpected Purdue-adjacent storyline on the radar, with Indianapolis moving on from its general manager and now being linked to Peyton Manning in some capacity. For Boilermakers fans, that kind of conversation always carries extra weight, given Mannings place in Indiana sports history and the natural curiosity that follows whenever his name comes up in a Colts discussion.
There was plenty of NFL movement for former Purdue players in Week 6, too, with George Karlaftis making an impact in the Chiefs win and Tyrone Tracy Jr. finding the end zone twice for the Giants in a loss. Some other former Boilermakers were inactive or did not play, but the bigger wait-and-see item may be whether the Colts latest search turns into something far more familiar for fans around West Lafayette. [Read more 🡒]