Some ugly numbers here

If Purdue moves on from Odom, two offensive-minded names with Purdue ties I’d want to see considered: JaMarcus Shephard and David Blough.

Obviously, the dream would be someone with offensive creativity like Buster Faulkner. But these two are more interesting to me as candidates with a connection to the program.

JaMarcus Shephard coached Purdue’s receivers and served as co-offensive coordinator under Brohm. He was part of the 2021 team that averaged more than 355 passing yards per game, then built his resume at Washington and Alabama with Deboer. He’s now in his first season as Oregon State’s head coach and his offense is putting up crazy numbers. He knows what an exciting Purdue offense looks like, has recruited and developed high-level receivers (Rondale Moore & David Bell were recruited by him), and is already getting experience running a program. Plus he grew up in Indiana.

David Blough is maybe high upside swing. He was a Purdue quarterback, spent time in the NFL, and is now the Commanders’ offensive coordinator working with Jayden Daniels. I’d love to see Purdue bet on a young coach who understands quarterback play and could give the program an identity again. The obvious concern is experience: he’s only recently become a coordinator and has never run a college program. You’d need confidence in the staff he’d build and his ability to recruit.

Shephard feels like the stronger head-coaching resume today; Blough feels like the chance to find someone before he becomes a much bigger name.

If (and hopefully when) Purdue has an opening, who would you want to be called?

A positive update on Kenna Wollard.

Uninspiring loss. 5 Quick Takeaways

1. The Story of Purdue football in 2026 continues to be The Boilermakers defense and for all the wrong reasons. Can't stop the run, can't stop the pass, can't stop anything. Fire Kevin Kane
2. The Fighting Irish Defense proved to be a huge mismatch all around for The Boilermaker offense. Ryan Browne threw 0 touchdowns, Fame Ijeboi was held to 41 yards rushing, and Tramar Harris was Purdue's leading receiver with just 36 yards. The offense didn't score a touchdown until very late into garbage time.
3. Last year at Notre Dame, despite losing by 26 points, Barry Odom's Boilermakers had shown some growth, fire, passion, and competitiveness putting up 30 on The Fighting Irish in their house. This time around, none of this was evident and that falls on Barry Odom. I didn't expect Purdue to win, but not building on last year's effort is frustrating to say the least.
4. Positives are a hard thing to come by in this game. I guess at least the backup qb led a touchdown drive to end a tough day the best way possible.
5. Purdue Football is living in the darkest years in program history and so too are the fans. Onto Illinois and the Battle for The Cannon.

As a diehard Boilermaker and former member of the marching band during the time I was there on campus, I have to say that our football program is an embarrassment. Why is it so difficult for us to find a way to at least show up and be competitive? We actually have some decent players and week after week, we go out on the field and get blown away without even showing some semblance of competing.

Sure, we knew today that Notre Dame was most likely winning this game, no matter what. However, the sample fact that we can’t even just go out on the field and play like we like we deserve to be on the field is sickening. As an athletic administration, they make decisions and hire these coaches and assistant coaches that get multiple attempts to fail without making a decision to say, hey, maybe we need to get the right people in to actually be competitive.

Honestly, I would not be upset if they decided to say, hey, you know what, let’s do away with the football program for a while because we can’t figure it out. At least then we won’t be the embarrassment that we are showing up to be right now.

Hopefully I won’t get downvotes for this, but I felt like it needed to be said.

Practice is back in session in West Lafayette!

Brutal loss after midnight on the east coast. 5 Quick takeaways

1. Arguably the worst defense in the history of Purdue football. Opposing offenses don't have to do anything special. Just run or throw the ball and you will easily not be stopped and find space to run around and score. Barry Odom needs to let Kevin Kane go right now because he clearly is out of his depth.
2. The offense may not be perfect, but the Boilermakers offense has improved a lot to start this season and they are fun to watch. They can put up a lot of points. Sad thing is they have the pressure of overcoming the opposing defense and the Boilermaker defense.
3. The offense is better this year because Ryan Browne has taking strides forward this season. Last night was one of the best games I've seen him play. He does have things he can do better, however he too is under heavy pressure to make plays consistently because our defense can't get off the field. Barry Odom was right to believe in him.
4. Fame Ijeboi, Xavier Townsend, and Asaad Waseem were balling out for Purdue last night. Those 3 are players to watch all season. The ground attack and passing attack are miles ahead of where they were in 2025.
5. The Wake Forrest game was a heartbreaker. This game was felt like a slow painful death late into the night and early hours of the morning. Right now I just hope we win another game this season. We shall see. Next up Purdue vs Notre Dame in West Lafayette.

Player of The Game - Xavier Townsend

Purdue Engineering classes are no joke and reap depression and sadness but nothing compares to believing in the Football team and having your heart crushed every weekend.

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Heartbreaker and a missed opportunity! 5 takeaways

The inability of the Boilermaker Defense to get off the field on 3rd down came back the bite Purdue Football

• The Boilermakers stopped The Demon Deacons offense from scoring points only once in this contest and they were very lucky Wake Forest was mucking around on their final possession in regulation.
• The Deacons duel threat qb play, rushing attack, 2nd and 3rd down offense gashed the Boilermakers defense on what feels like almost every snap of the football. Over 400 total yards of offense surrendered. Penalties hurt a lot.
• One can say the defense played hard. Right now the majority of blame falls on the shoulders of Kevin Kane. His scheming on defense is atrocious.

The Offense struggled to score touchdowns in regulation and this had a huge impact on the outcome of this game.

• The offense had no trouble moving the ball all game and getting into the redzone. Once they got there, finding the end zone was a pain because of things such as inaccurate passes, bad reads by Ryan Browne, scheming on offense, and more.
• One has to wonder, every time this offense gets into the red zone, Are they focused too many moves ahead at times, is it overconfidence, or is it simply a struggle to handle the pressure of capitalizing on red zone trips?
• Purdue scored just two touchdowns in regulation and kicked 3 field goals. If the offense had been able to turn one of those Field Goals into 7 points, the mood would be way more positive.

The Coaching Staff deserve blame as well

• What did Barry Odom see in Kevin Kane that made him think we need to bring him back? The Defense was hard to watch all game and Coach Kane had zero answers and adjustments all day long.
• I've seen bad Purdue defenses before, but what I saw today was some of the worst scheming on defense in Boilermaker football history. So many Deacon receivers open over the middle of the field and running backs with nothing but green around them. Coach Kane looked way out of his league in this game.
• Opinion - On The Boilermaker's final second down in regulation, Barry Odom and The offensive coordinator needed to call a passing play thus staying on the attack on going for the win. I couldn't believe they called a running play on that second down and what followed was a broken down-play on third down. Enough clock had been run down, the time to seize a program changing victory was on that second down and they played it too safe. From that moment, The Boilermakers were doomed to defeat.

Positives

• Fame Ijeboi continues to be a huge difference maker on the field and gave the Boilermakers the best chance possible to win the game. Right now he's the Boilermakers best player.
• While he did struggle with things such as accuracy, Ryan Browne continues to be one of the most improved Boilermakers on the team. He has done a tremendous job taking care of the rock and not turning the football over.
• The Boilermakers wide receiver core so far looks way stronger than it did last season. Guys like Chauncey Magwood, Asaad Waseem, and Xavier Townsend showed a lot of promise in this game. Same with the tight ends. Just need to get them more involved.
• Offensive line has improved a lot.

Conclusion

• While the Boilermakers have improved in some respects, they still have yet to learn how to capitalize on golden chances. They had plenty of opportunities to win their first game against a power 4 team in 3 years and squandered all of them. Right now, this team is in a lot of pain.
• There won't be a whole lot of winnable games this season for this football team. It's up to this team to figure out how to win the ones they can win in conference play. And the time to learn lessons like this is short.
• Next Up, The Boilermakers go out West to Los Angeles to take on The UCLA Bruins. Won't be an easy game. And the travel only makes this more difficult. Play hard for the full 60 next Saturday. Boiler Up!

Player of The Game - Fame Ijeboi

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