Purdue Boilermakers 2026 College Football Preview & Predictions

Year 1 of the Barry Odom era didn’t start well at Purdue. Actually, the Boilermakers did win their first two games of 2025 before ending the season on a 10-game losing streak. For the second year in a row, Indiana’s other Big Ten program failed to notch a single conference win.

Purdue Boilermakers Snapshot

• 2025 Record: 2-10 (0-9) | Big Ten Finish: 18th
• P. Poll: NR | Coaches Poll: NR | SP+: No. 83
• Head Coach: Barry Odom (2nd Year) | Record: 46-43 | At Purdue: 2-10
• Offensive Coordinator: Josh Henson (2nd Year)
• Defensive Coordinator: Kevin Kane (1st Year)

I liked the hire, and while this is a tremendous rebuilding job, given how quickly things turned around in Bloomington, you can understand if the fan base loses patience. Odom did himself no favors by bringing back DC Kevin Kane, who ran the defense under Ryan Walters’s two failed seasons.

Purdue Futures Odds (DraftKings)

• Regular Season Wins: OVER 3.5 +120 | UNDER 3.5 -140
• Conference Wins: OVER 2.5 +150 | UNDER 2.5 -180
• National Championship Odds: +150000 | CFB Playoff Odds: +50000
• B1G Championship Odds: +100000 | To Reach B1GCG: +50000

The Boilermakers are in the bottom tier of the Big Ten. Really, they’re in a class of their own. The next-lowest teams to make the B1G Championship Game are Rutgers (+18000) and Michigan State (+15000). They are closer to Ohio State than Purdue in terms of dollars to make the CFP. The Boilermakers are tied for the longest CFP odds, the only Power 4 school at +50000. The sportsbooks see minimal improvement, with three wins. If they can grab multiple conference wins after the past two seasons, that could be seen as progress.

Purdue Preview: Why You Should Buy

• Fame Ijeboi Was Minnesota’s Second-Leading Rusher in 2025
• Jerrick Gibson Was Texas’s Third-Leading Rusher in 2024

With the addition of two transfers, the running game could be decent. Fame Ijeboi had a solid redshirt freshman season for Minnesota, as he ran for 441 yards (4.5 YPC) and two touchdowns. A hard runner who isn’t shy of contact, Ijeboi carried the ball 12-plus times in four games for the Gophers, including a 100-yard game against MSU. Fellow sophomore Jerrick Gibson only played in four games last season at Texas but flashed his potential as a true freshman for the Longhorns with 377 yards (4.8 YPC) and four TDs in 2024. He brings a little more burst to the backfield.

The offensive line is a work in progress with just one starter back. A positive is that most of the projected starters have a nasty side, with strength and toughness as the reasons they’re starting. That should give Gibson and Ijeboi a chance to flourish and lead the way for Purdue’s offense in 2026.

Purdue Preview: Why You Should Sell

• 86 Returning Starts: 14th in the Big Ten
• 247Sports’ 48th Portal Class
• 247Sports Composite’s 55th Freshmen Class

The Boilermakers lack the talent at every position to compete in the Big Ten. They didn’t just go 0-9; they lost six by 16 points or more. Seven if you include their out-of-conference games at Notre Dame. Purdue only returns a handful of starters and didn’t bring in as many “ones” as they needed. They are 14th in the Big Ten in returning starts and tied for 11th in starts brought in with 73 (per SP+). That’s low compared to the teams below them in returning starts: Penn State (brought in 158 starts), Wisconsin (93), Michigan State (92), and Rutgers (83).

The talent they did add is, for the most part, unproven and offers little upside. The 2026 recruiting class doesn’t have a single four-star recruit, which is rare, even for Purdue. They had four in 2024. There aren’t many three-stars that make an immediate impact at the Big Ten level. The portal class isn’t much better, with just one four-star incoming transfer.

Purdue Breakout Player: TE George Burhenn

• Player in 11 Games as a True Freshman; 8 Games in Past 2 Seasons
• Career Stats: 15 Receptions, 171 yards, 1 TD

When TE Max Klare hit the portal, it opened the door for a potential breakout campaign for George Burhenn in 2025. However, his season was cut short due to injury. He had nine receptions in three games against Southern Illinois, USC, and Notre Dame. His best game remains their season finale in 2023, when Burhenn caught five passes for 74 yards against Indiana, Purdue’s last Big Ten win. After suffering a broken foot in 2024 and a broken arm last season, if he can stay healthy, expect bigger things from the tight end. His versatility allows him to play both in-line and line up on the outside.

Purdue X-Factor: The Transfers

• 5 Offensive Starters From the Portal
• 6 Defensive Starters From the Portal

Just because not much is expected from this transfer class doesn’t mean much isn’t needed. The one four-star in the group is EDGE Elo Modozie, who hopes to rediscover his mojo from 2024 when he recorded 6.5 sacks for Army, which landed him at Georgia. Curt Neal (8 starts with Illinois) projects to start inside. Neal’s teammate with Illinois, LB Jojo Hayden, is a likely starter, with LB Tre Moore (6 sacks with San Diego) also in the mix. Cornerbacks Mister Clark (All-CUSA first team at FIU) and Don Saunders (Utah) were underrated gets; however, safeties Jaden Mangham (Michigan) and John Slaughter (Colorado) were below-average performers at previous stops.

We already mentioned Ijeboi and Gibson at running back. At wide receiver, they added: 6’4” Bisi Owens (696 yards with Penn), Asaad Waseem (699 yards with FAU), and Xavier Townsend (243 yards with Iowa State). Two will start. Two more starters along the offensive line are OG Micah Banuelos (5 starts with USC) and C Boaz Stanley (9 starts with South Carolina). Odom needs this group to exceed expectations.

Purdue Schedule Analysis

• SP+ SOS Rank: 18
• Phil Steele Toughest Schedules: 9

To be where Purdue is as a program and to have one of the top 10 or 20 toughest schedules in college football is brutal. They open with a win against Indiana State, followed by visits from Wake Forest (winnable) and Notre Dame (not winnable) in their non-conference games.

In the Big Ten, they avoid Ohio State and Oregon, but rival Indiana is always on the schedule. The Hoosiers are one of five challenging road games, along with trips to UCLA, Illinois, Penn State, and Iowa. The four B1G teams coming to West Lafayette are Minnesota, Washington, Maryland, and Wisconsin. Of the eight ranked B1G teams, Purdue plays only four. They also only play one of the conference’s bottom four.

Purdue Best Bet, Long Shot, and Prediction: OVER/UNDER 3.5 Wins

• Win Total: UNDER 3.5 Regular Season Wins (-140 @ DraftKings)
• Best Bet: UNDER 2.5 Conference Wins (-180 @ DraftKings)
• Long Shot: Exactly 3 Wins (+280 @ DraftKings)

The Boilermakers should be better in 2026, but by how much? It’s hard to back them, even with a modest win total, considering there’s only one team on the schedule they’re power-rated higher than. Within the Big Ten, Bill Connelly has a large gap between Purdue and the next-worst team (No. 62 Michigan State).

Let’s say they beat the worst FBS team on their schedule (No. 57 Wake Forest) and the worst Big Ten team they face (No. 53 Wisconsin) per Connelly’s SP+. Who else are they beating? And it’s more likely that they lose both of those games than win them both. Four wins is the ceiling, and one is a realistic floor.