Purdue’s 44-19 win over Indiana State gave Barry Odom plenty to like, but the first-game tape also left him with a clear list of things that need cleaning up fast.
The Boilermakers opened the 2026 season on Friday night with a 1-0 record, yet the performance came in two very different halves. Purdue moved the ball early but couldn’t consistently finish drives, settling for field goals when the offense reached scoring territory. On the other side, the defense allowed too many explosive plays, and that left the Boilermakers with only a 16-6 halftime edge.
Everything changed after the break. Purdue’s defense opened the third quarter with a three-and-out, the offense answered with a touchdown, and the game tilted hard from there. The Boilermakers rolled through a 21-0 third quarter and never looked back.
Odom said his team recognized what was going wrong before halftime and handled the correction the right way.
"I think they knew during the course of the first half that we were not playing clean enough to play winning ball," Odom said. "Good teams find ways to self-correct, and I thought that was a good sign for this team, at this point in the year, to be able to do that and go out and execute in the third quarter."
That third quarter was the kind of response Purdue needed. Indiana State managed only 34 yards in the period while the Boilermakers put up 21 points and stretched the lead to 37-6.
Whatever was said at halftime didn’t need to be repeated publicly. It clearly landed.
There was also a defensive highlight late that helped put the finishing touch on the night. Don Saunders picked off Brady Allen to start the fourth quarter and took it 35 yards for a touchdown, the only turnover of the game and a play that went Purdue’s way.
"A lot of times, creating takeaways becomes contagious," Odom said. "If you know what you're doing, you understand your assignment, your eyes are in the right spot and you play fast, you have a chance to create a turnover."
That was an important moment for a program that spent much of last year on the wrong side of the turnover battle. Purdue made ball security a priority after the season ended, and Friday night brought a clean result: no turnovers.
The opener also offered a strong early look at Ryan Browne, whose development has been a point of praise from the staff. He finished 23-of-29 for 317 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and Odom said the quarterback was still frustrated with the slow start.
"He said that things seemed slow to him tonight. He said he has to be a better self-starter to start the game," Odom said.
"But in a dual-call system, he also made some really good checks to put us in position to make big-time plays. That was good to see."
Browne was sacked lightly in terms of workload, running only four times and taking two hits. Purdue’s offensive line helped keep him upright enough to let the passing game take over.
The biggest issue that kept showing up for Purdue was the flag count. The Boilermakers were penalized nine times for 85 yards, and one of the most costly wiped out a 62-yard touchdown run because of holding.
Odom made it clear that the mistakes have to get fixed before Wake Forest.
"We had three scrimmages in fall camp, and we had Big Ten officials at all three. We had some penalties, but not this many," Odom said.
"The thing that we have done well together as a staff is look at those things ... How do you teach that?
Is it a habit? Is it a fundamental error?
How did it occur? We have to learn from it.
We're not going to be good enough to overcome 85 yards of penalties."
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