Purdue walked into Saturday afternoon with a chance to flip the mood around Ross-Ade Stadium. By the time it was over, the Boilermakers were left with one of those losses that hangs around long after the crowd clears.
At 3:35 p.m., Purdue was celebrating a fourth-down stop and what looked like a breakthrough win over a Power Four opponent for the first time since 2023. Seven minutes later, Wake Forest had turned the whole scene upside down, with Gio Lopez’s two-point conversion sealing a 38-36 double-overtime victory for the Demon Deacons.
That kind of swing is brutal, and it leaves Purdue at a crossroads with the season barely underway. The Boilermakers head to Los Angeles next week for their Big Ten opener against UCLA, and how they handle this moment will say a lot about where the program is headed.
Saturday’s matchup mattered. It offered Purdue a shot to end a 20-game losing streak to Power Four opponents and move to 2-0 before the trip west. Instead, the Boilermakers are dealing with another painful “coulda, shoulda, woulda” result, and the tone around the program has shifted fast.
That’s what makes next Saturday night at the Rose Bowl so important. Purdue has to show it can absorb a hit and keep moving.
Last season offered a warning sign: the Boilermakers nearly beat Minnesota on the road, then came back the next week and were blanked by Northwestern 19-0. If Barry Odom’s team wants to convince anyone it’s different this year, that kind of crash can’t happen again.
The coaching staff has two clear areas to clean up, and both were on display again against Wake Forest.
On offense, Purdue kept getting into scoring position and coming away with field goals. The Boilermakers were perfect on five red-zone trips, but three of them ended with Jacobo Echeverria Lozano field goals. Twice, Purdue got inside the Wake Forest 5-yard line and still couldn’t finish the drive with a touchdown.
That’s a problem for a team that has enough talent to threaten defenses. Purdue has more at receiver, Fame Ijeboi in the backfield, and a quarterback in Ryan Browne who has been productive and efficient. The next step is turning those chances into seven points instead of three.
Defensively, the story was familiar in another way. Purdue’s pass rush showed up late, but not nearly early enough, and Wake Forest was able to move the ball with soft coverage that led to chunk gains and long third-down conversions. The pressure on Gio Lopez didn’t really arrive until the second half, and by then Purdue was chasing the game.
There’s no mystery about what the Boilermakers need to do next. They need more touchdowns on offense and more consistent disruption on defense.
Simple? Sure.
Easy? Not at all.
But that’s the assignment for Josh Henson and Kevin Kane this week. Purdue’s response in Los Angeles will depend on how those two fix the details between now and kickoff.
In Other News...
Purdue Let A Winnable Road Game Slip Away In Painful Fashion
Purdue had a road game it could have closed out and instead let Wake Forest hang around long enough for things to turn into a double-overtime loss. The Boilermakers were in position late in regulation, but the game kept tilting toward the Demon Deacons as Gio Lopez kept making plays for Wake Forest, both through the air and on the ground, to keep the offense moving when it mattered most.
Wake Forest still had to survive some tense moments to finish the job, and it did so with a few critical stops when Purdue seemed to have momentum within reach. Lopezs dual-threat performance gave the Deacs a steady presence throughout the night, and the final result left Purdue with the feeling of a winnable game slipping away in painful fashion. [Read more 🡒]
Purdue Volleyball Just Sent A Loud Early-Season Message
Purdues womens volleyball team left the Paradise Invitational with a title in hand after running through the weekend and finishing with a convincing performance in the championship match. The Boilermakers got important production from Grace Heaney, Kate Hansen and Mimi Mambu, with the trio helping drive the attack and the net play that carried Purdue to a strong early-season result.
The finish pushed Purdue to 5-2 and gave the Boilermakers a little more momentum as they head back home for the next stretch of matches. For a team still sorting out its rhythm early in the year, the tournament offered a useful sign that Purdue can lean on multiple players to make a run, and the coming home date should bring another chance to build on it. [Read more 🡒]