Purdue is three games into the 2026 season, and the picture is pretty clear: the Boilermakers have been dangerous in the passing game, shaky on the ground, leaky on defense and strong on special teams. That adds up to a 1-2 start for Barry Odom’s team, even though there have been stretches that looked good enough to put Purdue in position to be 3-0.
The most encouraging part of the first quarter of the season has been the offense through the air. Ryan Browne has thrown for more than 300 yards in all three games and sits second nationally with 341.3 passing yards per game. He has also been efficient, completing 73.3% of his throws, and he has protected the ball with seven touchdown passes against just one interception.
Purdue has given Browne help with a deeper group of targets. Asaad Waseem, Xavier Townsend and Chauncey Magwood have all provided reliable options at receiver, while tight end George Burhenn has made several important catches of his own.
Offensive coordinator Josh Henson has also helped the passing game by getting the run established early, which has opened things up for Browne. Compared with the last three seasons, this is simply a more entertaining offense to watch.
Fame Ijeboi has been a major reason the rushing attack has held together as much as it has. His toughness, power and elusiveness have covered up a lot of issues up front, and he has a knack for turning negative plays into gains.
Even so, the run game as a whole has struggled. Purdue is averaging just 2.25 yards per carry, and even against Indiana State, the Boilermakers managed only 4.43 yards per carry, which is not the kind of number you want against an FCS opponent.
The run blocking flaws showed up again in Saturday’s game against UCLA, when Ijeboi was banged up and the offense had to deal with the line’s shortcomings more directly. Purdue has tried to be creative on the ground, and that has produced some success in bursts, but Ijeboi has been the piece keeping the conversation from turning even harsher on the offensive line.
Browne’s start has lived up to the hype. Odom, Henson and quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw have all praised his development, and he has backed it up on the field. With better defense behind him, Purdue could be sitting at 3-0, and Browne has been a huge reason the offense has been able to keep games competitive.
The defensive side has not offered nearly the same level of consistency. Purdue has shown flashes of being able to create pressure and make quarterbacks uncomfortable, but those moments have been scattered rather than sustained. The only turnover the Boilermakers have forced came in the opener, when Don Saunders intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown against Indiana State.
Since then, the takeaways have disappeared. The run defense has been decent against Indiana State and Wake Forest, but UCLA exposed it badly in Pasadena.
Purdue is allowing 207 rushing yards per game, which ranks second-worst in the nation and last in the Big Ten. Opponents are averaging 5.50 yards per carry, and in the two games against FBS opponents, the Boilers have given up 277.5 rushing yards per game.
Wake Forest and UCLA combined for seven rushing touchdowns against Purdue, and quarterbacks are adding another layer of damage by scrambling for 58 yards per contest. The defensive line is not winning at the point of attack, the edge rush has not produced enough pressure and the linebackers and defensive backs have been caught out of position too often.
Mister Clark’s absence has been part of that story, too. He played well in the opener against Indiana State but has missed the last two games because of injury.
Even with that, Saunders has been one of the few steady performers on defense. He has 21 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and the team’s lone interception, and he has emerged as a leader on a unit that still needs a lot more.
Special teams, meanwhile, have been a real bright spot. True freshman Jacobo Echeverria Lozano has been excellent, going 7-of-8 on field goals and 13-of-13 on extra points.
His only miss came from 49 yards against Wake Forest in Week 2. With Spencer Porath having transferred to Notre Dame in the offseason, Purdue needed exactly that kind of reliability.
Dylan Drennan has also given the Boilermakers a boost in the punting game. The one frustration for the special teams group is that several big returns have been wiped out by penalties. The offense has managed to overcome some of those setbacks, but with Big Ten play approaching, Purdue needs to clean that up and start drives with better field position.
In Other News...
Purdue Faces A Bigger Test Than Notre Dame This Week
Purdue gets Notre Dame at home in Week 5, and the matchup already looks like more than just another nonconference game on the schedule. The Boilermakers are trying to sort through their own internal uncertainty as speculation continues around the athletic director search, even though no official hire has been made. Against a Notre Dame team with recent performance trends pointing to a difficult test, Purdue is staring at a game that will say plenty about where the program stands early in the season.
For a team still looking for stability off the field, the timing of this one matters almost as much as the opponent. Home field gives Purdue a chance to steady the conversation, but Notre Dame is the kind of matchup that exposes issues quickly if the Boilermakers are not sharp on both sides of the ball. The broader question around the program remains unresolved for now, and this game offers another reminder that the pressure around Purdue is building on more than one front. [Read more 🡒]
Barry Odom Put Himself On The Spot Before Notre Dame
Purdues Big Ten opener against UCLA left Barry Odom with plenty to address, and he did not try to sidestep it. The Boilermakers fell to 1-2 after a night in which the defense was pushed to the edge, allowing 645 yards, and Odom took responsibility for the way the unit played. He also acknowledged being more involved on that side of the ball, a notable posture for a head coach trying to steady a defense that has already been stressed early in the season.
The timing matters because Notre Dame is next, and No. 3 on the schedule is a brutal place to look for a reset. Purdue is preparing to face one of the sports more dangerous offenses while the broader series between the schools also has some uncertainty hanging over it beyond 2028. For Odom, the immediate issue is less about long-term scheduling and more about whether his defense can show a much cleaner response before the test gets even tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Purdue Is Starting To Feel Like The Big Tens Chaos Team
The Big Ten has already taken on a strange shape this fall, with USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon now part of the mix and even Indiana sitting in the conversation as the defending national champion. Against that backdrop, Purdue is starting to look like the conferences built-in source of weekly drama, the kind of team that can make the standings feel unstable no matter how the rest of the league is sorted.
A week 3 power ranking of the conference reflects just how much volatility there already is, with results and performances across the league forcing quick recalculations. For Purdue, that is the larger issue and the larger opportunity: in a season when so many Big Ten teams have already delivered surprise wins and puzzling losses, the Boilermakers fit right into the chaos, and it is beginning to feel like that role may be theirs to own. [Read more 🡒]