Purdue’s opening-night win over Indiana State didn’t tell the whole story, and that’s exactly why Saturday matters.
The Boilermakers are 1-0 under Barry Odom, but the real test is still waiting. Purdue opened with a lopsided win over an FCS opponent that hasn’t had a winning season since 2018, so there’s not much to learn from the box score alone.
The bigger picture is last season’s 2-10 finish, a record that came with plenty of context: Purdue played the 4th toughest schedule in the country, faced five ranked teams including No. 1 Ohio State and No.
2 Indiana, saw seven opponents finish with nine wins or more, and had nine opponents reach the postseason. The year ended with a 53-point loss to in-state rival and eventual national champion Indiana.
That ugly finish came after Purdue started 2-0, then dropped its final 10 games. Odom’s first year was the opposite of what Dickert did at Wake Forest, and the Boilermakers now enter a season with a win total of 3.5 and a roster that looks very different on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, Purdue was 123rd in scoring last season at under 19 points per game and 102nd in total offense at 342 yards per game. There should be some improvement, but expecting the kind of production the Boilermakers posted against Indiana State would be a mistake. A lot of the offense is brand new, and that makes the transfer portal the key to everything.
Junior quarterback Ryan Browne is the one established piece. Last season he completed 59% of his passes for 2,100 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. There’s also a little extra edge here: after transferring from Purdue to UNC in December of 2024, he came back to Purdue after spring practice when Gio Lopez signed, entering the portal one day before Lopez was announced.
The backfield has fresh faces too. Purdue added sophomore transfer Fame Ijeboi from Minnesota and sophomore Jerrick Gibson from Texas.
Ijeboi was the featured runner in the opener, carrying 11 times for 87 yards and a touchdown while also adding 2 catches for 30 yards. His style could be a problem if he gets space; he waits patiently, then explodes once he finds a crease.
That makes perimeter discipline a priority for Wake Forest.
At receiver, the Boilermakers brought in Xavier Townsend from Iowa State and Asaad Waseem from FAU, and both were heavily involved against Indiana State. The duo accounted for half of Purdue’s 27 receptions, with Townsend catching 6 passes and Waseem hauling in 7. No one else on the team had more than 2 catches, which says plenty about where the ball is likely to go if Saturday turns into a passing game.
Defensively, Purdue is also working with a nearly new cast. The Boilermakers allowed 19 points to Indiana State, though that game was effectively over long before the final two touchdowns.
Purdue led 44-6 before the Sycamores made the score look more respectable late. Last season, though, the defense gave up nearly 32 points and 424 yards per game, and the Boilermakers have now hired Kevin Kane as defensive coordinator after he spent a season at Minnesota and returns to the program.
The losses from last year were significant. Purdue said goodbye to 6 of its top 7 tacklers, including All Big-10 LB Mani Powell, who posted 110 tackles, 12 TFL, and 5 sacks; All Big-10 Honorable Mention DB Tahj Ra-El, who also had 110 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and 5 PD; and DL CJ Nunnally IV, who finished with 10.5 TFL and 5 sacks.
The portal additions showed up right away against Indiana State. Utah transfer Donovan Saunders, Michigan transfer Jaden Mangham, and FIU transfer Mister Clark stood out in the secondary. Saunders had 3 tackles and a pick-6, Mangham finished second on the team with 4 tackles, and Clark led the defense with 5 tackles, 2 TFL, and a sack.
That kind of playmaking matters because Purdue was one of the worst teams in the country at forcing turnovers last season, ranking 121st with just 4 interceptions and 5 fumbles. If this defense is going to take a step, creating more takeaways has to be part of it.
Even so, the numbers from the opener don’t change the bigger concern: Purdue has allowed more than 30 points per game for three straight seasons, including two under Kane. The Boilermakers gave up just 66 rushing yards and 284 total yards to Indiana State, but Wake Forest should be a much tougher barometer. This is the first real test for Gio Lopez and the Wake offense, and it should say far more about where both teams actually stand.
Based on what we’ve seen so far this season and what Purdue did a year ago, Wake Forest looks like the stronger team heading into Saturday. If the Deacs keep the mistakes down and stay away from the kind of penalties that kill drives, they should have a good shot to head home 2-0.
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Wake Forest Already Has Two Transfers Fans Need To Watch
Wake Forest got an immediate boost from two newcomers in its win over Akron, and both sides of the ball had transfer additions making their presence felt. Linebacker Vinny Frienze led the team in tackles, forced a fumble and was recognized as the ACC Linebacker of the Week, while quarterback Gio Lopez delivered a sharp passing day that earned him the Manning Award Star of the Week.
For a program looking to build momentum early, those kinds of debut-level impact performances matter because they hint at real staying power, not just one good afternoon. Frienze's activity in the middle of the defense and Lopez's comfort running the offense gave Wake Forest a pair of players worth tracking closely as the season moves forward, and each seemed positioned to keep carving out a larger role. [Read more 🡒]
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Wake Forest heads to West Lafayette on Saturday with a little early-season momentum and a rare opportunity to measure itself against Purdue in a series that has barely existed for nearly a generation. For Jake Dickert, it is also another chance to see how quickly his group is settling in after a strong opening week, with the Demon Deacons carrying themselves like a team that expects to travel well and play with some edge.
Much of the attention, naturally, will land on quarterback Gio Lopez after his first start gave Wake Forest the kind of clean, productive performance every coach wants to build on. The matchup adds a layer of intrigue because the programs have only met five times before, and Wake Forest is still chasing just its second win in the series, which gives this early test a little extra weight even before the deeper questions of September really start to form. [Read more 🡒]