Purdue 2025 Football Schedule: Best & Worst Scenarios, Season Prediction

Who does Purdue miss from the Big Ten schedule?

Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin

There are too many no-shot games for the Boilermakers on the schedule - more on that in a moment - but missing Oregon and Penn State is good no matter what.

Not playing Maryland, Nebraska, UCLA, and Wisconsin - at least until the Terps, Bruins and Badgers get their mojo back - hurts, though.

Purdue football schedule, the good and the bad

The Good: Again, missing Oregon and Penn State is nice, and it’s not a bad thing to miss Iowa from the slate, too.

The team doesn’t leave Indiana until October 11th, and there’s just one away date after going to Michigan on November 1st. There should be chances to pile up just enough wins in the Barry Odom era to hope for a bowl game with a win at Northwestern, but …

The Bad: The midseason run of three road games in four and four in six over the second half of the season hurts. But it’s worse than that.

After the back-to-back road games at Minnesota and Northwestern in the middle of the season - and with an almost certain loss at Notre Dame early on - there’s a must-win against Rutgers, and then comes a brutal November. At Michigan, Ohio State, at Washington, Indiana.

Purdue Football Schedule: Best and worst case scenarios

Best Case Scenario: The Odom magic from UNLV shows up in West Lafayette right away with wins over Ball State and Southern Illinois, and a win over Illinois instantly changes the program.

It splits the road games at Minnesota and Northwestern, and a win over Rutgers keeps bowl hopes alive. In the biggest moment of the season, the Boilermakers get bowl eligible with a win over Indiana.

Worst Case Scenario: The program is still a year away. There’s no luck after beating Ball State and Southern Illinois to start the season with five losses to start the Big Ten season.

The Rutgers game is 50/50, and there’s nothing fun in November, closing out with four straight blowout losses including a rough home performance against the Hoosiers.

Season Prediction: (Feb 7) After a 1-11 season without a win over an FBS team, starting out 2-0 will feel like Christmas. The team will be far stronger and more competitive, but the losses will still pile up in the Big Ten. However, the Boilermakers will come up with at least two wins in conference play in a great-step-forward type of season.

The Season Prediction will be updated several times this offseason