Purdue’s first week went according to plan, but Saturday is where the temperature rises. After opening the season with a 44-19 win over Indiana State, the Boilermakers now welcome Wake Forest to Ross-Ade Stadium in what feels like an early measuring stick game.
There’s plenty hanging over this one for Purdue. The Boilermakers are trying to end a 20-game skid against Power Four opponents, and they’d love to build some momentum before the Big Ten opener against UCLA on Sept.
- Wake Forest, though, brings a tougher challenge than the box score from Week 1 might suggest.
A big part of the afternoon will come down to how Purdue handles a quarterback who can move. Indiana State’s Elijah Owens gave the Boilermakers problems when they turned up the heat, slipping away from pressure and finishing with 60 of the Sycamores’ 66 rushing yards.
Wake Forest’s Gio Lopez presents a similar headache. In the opener, he ran for 39 yards on seven carries and showed he can extend plays and steal first downs with his legs.
That puts Kevin Kane’s defense in a familiar spot: pressure the pocket, but don’t let the quarterback turn chaos into chunk plays. If Purdue sends heat and a play breaks down, can the Boilers finish the job with sacks or force Lopez into mistakes?
Or does Wake Forest keep converting in those moments? That matchup is going to matter all day.
Discipline is another issue Purdue has to clean up fast. The Boilermakers were penalized nine times for 85 yards against Indiana State, and those flags had real consequences. One wiped out a long touchdown run by Fame Ijeboi, another erased a big special teams return, and a third turned what could have been a touchdown in the red zone into a field goal.
After the opener, Barry Odom said Purdue simply can’t survive 85 penalty yards against better teams. He also suggested the issue wasn’t new, noting that penalties were a problem in fall camp, too. That makes Saturday a chance to show the sloppiness can be fixed before it costs them against stronger competition.
The line of scrimmage is another area to watch. Purdue’s offensive line opened holes in Week 1 and gave Ryan Browne time to throw for most of the night, though it wasn’t spotless.
Wake Forest, however, is a different test. The Demon Deacons bring back eight defensive starters, including Langston Hardy, who had 17 tackles for loss and seven sacks in 2025.
Wake Forest’s front made its presence felt against Akron, finishing with seven tackles for loss and two sacks. The Zips did still run for 149 yards on 36 carries, so there’s room for Purdue to find answers there if the blocking holds up.
Then there’s the secondary, which had some shaky moments late against Indiana State. Purdue led 44-6 before the Sycamores hit two deep balls to make the final score look more respectable.
Wake Forest has the kind of receiver group that can punish those lapses. Three of the Demon Deacons’ touchdowns against Akron came on explosive plays: a 27-yard strike from Lopez to Kam Shanks, a 72-yard touchdown to Antonio Meeks, and a short pass to Carlos Hernandez that turned into a 78-yard score.
Purdue’s defense has to keep those kinds of plays in front of it. That means tighter coverage, more physical tackling, and fewer missed chances once the ball is in the air or in the open field.
The red zone also deserves a close look. On paper, Purdue was perfect there against Indiana State, going 6-for-6 and scoring four touchdowns.
But the path to those numbers wasn’t clean. Penalties and execution issues forced the Boilermakers into two field goals inside the red zone, and they also benefited from a third-down penalty against Indiana State.
Ijeboi bailed them out in the third quarter by corralling a bad snap before disaster struck.
Against a Power Four opponent, those empty trips become a bigger problem. Purdue has to turn those possessions into touchdowns and avoid settling for field goals if it wants to keep pace with Wake Forest.
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The most obvious concern for Purdue is how much the quarterback can tilt the game if he gets comfortable, especially against a secondary still searching for an early-season read on itself. Wake Forest has an attack that can stretch a defense horizontally and vertically, and it comes into this matchup with enough rhythm to make the Boilermakers respect every layer of the field. There is also the question of whether the Deacons can have one of their top receiving threats available after he left the Akron game early, a detail that could shape how aggressive they are when the ball goes up. [Read more 🡒]