Purdue’s 2026 season opens with a familiar tune at Ross-Ade Stadium: Indiana State coming to West Lafayette, and a series that has never really been a series at all. Friday night will be the eighth all-time meeting between the Boilermakers and the Sycamores, and the numbers tell the story plainly - Purdue is 7-0.
The schools are close enough on the map to make this feel like an obvious yearly matchup, but the history has been oddly sparse. Their first meeting came all the way back in 1926, when Purdue rolled to a 38-0 win.
Then the teams went more than six decades without seeing each other again on the field, not meeting until 1990. Since 2006, though, the game has shown up more regularly, with Friday marking the sixth matchup since then.
And every one of them has been played in the same place. Purdue has hosted Indiana State in West Lafayette for all seven previous meetings, all inside Ross-Ade Stadium. There’s never been a trip to Terre Haute for the Boilermakers, and there won’t be one in this series now.
The results have been one-sided in every era. Purdue has shut out Indiana State three times - 38-0 in 1926, 56-0 in 2022 and 49-0 in 2024 - and the Sycamores have topped 14 points only once, in a 60-35 game in 2006. Indiana State hasn’t scored a touchdown against Purdue since 2015.
There have been a few memorable flashes along the way, though. The 2013 meeting gave Purdue its closest brush with disaster in the series.
The Boilermakers led 17-0 early in the third quarter, only to watch Indiana State rally behind quarterback Mike Perish and trim the margin to 20-14. Purdue had to punt with 53 seconds left, then watched the Sycamores take over at the Purdue 41-yard line.
Indiana State completed one pass to the 36, but Ricardo Allen intercepted the next throw and sealed the win.
That game also featured one of the series’ most electric plays. Akeem Hunt took the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to put Purdue up 7-0 immediately. He ended the day with 123 return yards, 82 rushing yards and 38 receiving yards.
The other defining moment from that 2013 game came at the finish, when Allen’s interception saved Purdue from what would have been the program’s most embarrassing loss. It also would have left the Boilermakers 0-12, while Indiana State entered that year at 1-11.
Purdue coach Darrell Hazell picked up the only two wins over Indiana State by the same head coach in the series, beating the Sycamores in 2013 and 2015. The 2013 win was also his first as Purdue’s head coach.
Two years later, the Boilermakers had a much calmer afternoon. Austin Appleby hit Dan Monteroso for a 51-yard touchdown as time expired in the second quarter, sending Purdue into halftime with a 24-7 lead on the way to a 38-14 win.
The most lopsided recent result came in 2022 under Jeff Brohm, when Purdue posted a 56-0 victory. Aidan O’Connell was nearly perfect, going 17-for-19 for 211 yards and four touchdowns.
Charlie Jones caught nine of those passes for 133 yards and three scores. Purdue’s defense was just as sharp, holding Indiana State to 145 total yards, forcing three turnovers and allowing only three first downs.
That win was part of a year that ended with Purdue claiming the Big Ten West title, its only division crown.
Indiana State’s most recent trip to Ross-Ade came in 2024, and Hudson Card delivered the kind of opener that jumps off the page. He completed 24-of-25 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns, with his 96% completion rate tying an FBS record. Purdue won 49-0, though that ended up being the Boilermakers’ only victory of the season.
So when the teams meet again Friday night, the history is clear: Purdue has controlled this matchup from the start, and Indiana State is still chasing its first touchdown against the Boilermakers in more than a decade.
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Purdue Enters Opener With Late-Week Injury Questions Still Lingering
Barry Odom spent part of the week emphasizing the value of opening at home, where Purdue can settle into a routine and give its new staff a familiar backdrop as the season begins. He also made clear he feels good about the way offensive coordinator Josh Henson and the rest of the coaches are working together, while pointing to the programs incoming class and the progress of the wide receiver room as reasons for optimism heading into the opener.
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Purdue Opens With Pressure On A Defense Fans Need To Believe In
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Indiana State arrives with its own motivation after a close loss to open the year and a chance to avoid an 0-2 start, with Elijah Owens returning at quarterback after injury. Purdue also figures to lean on transfer Curt Neal as part of the effort to tighten things up, but the bigger storyline is whether this defense can finally give the Boilermakers a foundation they can trust rather than another source of concern. [Read more 🡒]