With the second of two bye weeks upon us, Penn State fans will need to find a way to entertain themselves, and a way to do that is following the Big Ten.
Sure, itโs fun to watch college football games without any stress. But sports are always more enjoyable when fans have a dog in the first.
Friday night, that dog will be an underdog for Penn State fans.
Purdue, which comes in as a 28.5-point home underdog against newley-minted No. 2 Oregon, would help Penn State out in both the rankings and the Big Ten title race if it somehow, someway beats Mighty Oregon. It is certainly a long shot.
A ROUGH START FOR THE BOILERMAKERS IN AND OUT OF BIG TEN
We are past mid-October and Purdue doesnโt have a win over an FBS school. That looks bad enough. But beneath the surface, things are even uglier for the 1-5 Boilers. Hereโs a brief rundown of Purdueโs games since opening the season with a 49-0 win over poor Indiana State at home.
- 66-7 loss to Notre Dame at home
- 38-21 loss at Oregon State
- 28-10 loss to Nebraska at home (was 28-3 before Purdue scored a meaningless touchdown with 1:29 left)
- 50-49 overtime loss at No. 22 Illinois.
The Illinois result is the only thing thatโs happened in the past month and a half that should provide encouragement to Purdue fans. Purdue was down 27-3 and ended up taking a lead with 46 seconds left before ultimately falling short. But if one believes in moral victories, Purdue got one this past Saturday and now finally has some form of momentum, especially if firing coordinator Graham Harrell ends up making a big difference for the offense this season
A PERFECT STORM?
Purdue is known for playing spoiler, hence the โSpoilermakersโ nickname. Since 1950, Purdue has upset a No. 2 team while unranked nine times. Thatโs more than any other school. The most recent victim was Iowa in 2021, which Purdue upset on the road. The most recent No. 2 to fall in West Lafayette was Ohio State in 2018. So history is on Purdueโs side. But at the same time, Purdue is 0-4 against ranked opponents since Ryan Walters took over as coach before the 2023 season.
DOMINANT DUCKS
EUGENE, OR – OCTOBER 12: Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) runs for a 27-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter during a college football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks on October 12, 2024, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.(Photo by Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire)
Oregon came into the season as a team many felt was a threat to win the Big Ten, if not the national title. Nothing has happened in the first half of the season to change that. In fact, the Ducks are on fire. Oregon just beat Ohio State, which had been No. 2 and the odds-on favorite to win the Big Ten. Now, thereโs a new king, and it would take an almost superhuman effort for Purdue to dethrone it.
Yeah, itโs probably not gonna happen.
We can talk all night about how anything can happen in college football (it can) and how Purdue is bad news for a No. 2 team (it has been in the past). But Purdue is the worst team in the Big Ten and has played like it in four of six games so far. There are upsets, then there are super duper mega upsets. This would be the latter. Fortunately for Penn State, itโs undefeated, so as long as the team keeps winning, everything is still right there.
