Purdue gets its first real measuring stick of the season on Saturday, and it comes with a little history attached.
The Boilermakers handled Indiana State, but the slow start was enough to leave room for a sharper question: how much better can this team look when it comes out firing from the opening whistle? That answer starts against Wake Forest, which arrives in West Lafayette after beating MAC opponent Akron last week.
This is also the first meeting between Purdue and Wake Forest since 2003, when the Boilermakers won 16-10. Now the two teams meet again at Ross-Ade Stadium in what should be a tight one, and Purdue knows it can’t afford another sluggish opening if it wants to keep building momentum.
Purdue eventually found its rhythm against Indiana State, rattling off 31 straight points after a slow beginning. That kind of recovery is useful once, but it’s not the sort of formula you want to rely on when the competition stiffens. Wake Forest can say something similar after its own opener, which is why Saturday feels like a true early-season test for both sides.
If Purdue wants to be taken seriously as a team with bowl aspirations, this is the kind of home game it needs to own.
Wake Forest is listed as the favorite, according to BetMGM odds as of Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026. The spread sits at Wake Forest -4.5.
Saturday’s game is set for noon and will air on FS1. It can also be streamed on Fubo. The matchup is at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.
In Other News...
Purdue Gets Pulled Into A Big Ten Officiating Debate Fans Hate
A messy finish in the Big Ten has spilled into the broader conference conversation, and Purdue found itself in the middle of it through Barry Odom's reaction. After officials reviewed the final sequence in Western Michigan's game with Michigan and put one second back on the clock, the Wolverines got a chance to win it with a touchdown, a ruling the league later stood behind as part of its standard process.
Odom said he was caught off guard by the idea that the conference operates with an official clock beyond what fans see in the stadium. Even so, the Purdue coach stopped short of turning it into a larger complaint, expressing confidence in the Big Ten's leadership and in the officiating process, even as the episode fed the kind of frustration that always seems to trail close calls in this league. [Read more 🡒]
Barry Odom Sees One Early Sign Purdue Fans Will Care About
Barry Odom walked into his Week 2 press conference with Purdue sitting at 1-0 and a bigger test ahead against Wake Forest, but his attention still leaned back to what the Boilermakers showed in the opener. He talked through the slow start from the previous game, the kind of early stretch that can shape how a teams next week feels, and pointed to leadership emerging from within the locker room as part of why the response mattered as much as the result.
Hudauri Hines was part of that conversation, along with Fame Ijeobis work at running back, and Odom also weighed in on the controversial finish to another Big Ten game while looking ahead to clearer defensive growth this week. For Purdue, the encouraging sign is not just that the coach believes the team can tighten things up, but that some of the correction seems to be happening from the inside, where players are already taking ownership of what the next step needs to look like. [Read more 🡒]
Purdues Goal Line Approach Already Gives Fans Something To Debate
Purdues season opener offered plenty to like in a 44-19 win over Indiana State, especially once the offense got near the stripe. The Boilermakers were efficient in scoring territory, turning every red-zone trip into points and showing the kind of sharp finishing that usually travels well as the schedule toughens.
Even with the production, the conversation already has a familiar fall theme to it: how much creativity is too much when the ball is sitting close to the goal line. Some of the play-calling choices near the end zone raised eyebrows, and there is a growing sense that getting Ijeboi more involved inside the 20-yard line could make Purdue even harder to defend when the field gets compressed. [Read more 🡒]