10/27/2025 Boilermaker Water Cooler Chat: Creativity Edition
Rants, ravings, and somewhat sensical opinions following the wild, wacky, and wide-wide world of Purdue sports.
October is my favorite month of the year. The weather changes, the leaves turn colorful, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. I use October to flex a bit of my creative side. I decorate my house, make homemade props, and put a fair bit of work into costume for my annual Halloween party. Creativity in the spookiness.
As for Purdue Football, October is the most important month of the season. With the weather changing, this month, the schedule changed as well. Several winnable games dotted the schedule, and Purdue had a shot to actually make some headway and have a somewhat respectable season. Alas, like me in October, Purdue Football flexed their creativity, capping off the month with one of the most creative ways to lose that I have ever seen.
The Game:
Now stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Purdue led by double digits multiple times throughout the game, refused to put their cleats on their opponents’ necks, and ended up losing.
The Boilermakers ran for 217 yards, but only passed for 117. Despite cushion, the Purdue defense allowed Rutgers to put up 543 yards of total offense, and the Scarlet Knights stormed back.
Tied after a late field goal, Purdue had about a minute left on the clock, decent starting field position, and one dream of stardom. Optimism gleaned in the collective Boilermaker fandom. All Purdue needed to do was move the ball some, 40 yards… and they could kick their own heroic field goal for the walk-off homecoming win!
First play of the drive: Ryan Browne completed a pass to himself, fumbled the reception while trying to advance, and Rutgers recovered the ball in field goal position.
If you didn’t watch the game you would think that my previous sentence is a typographical error, or the raving lunacy of a sportswriter at his wit’s end. Not at all. The sentence is logical and you are simply witnessing Ben Kolodzinski’s slow descent into madness, brought on by the newest of creative ways for Purdue to lose.
Purdue – Rutgers Photo Gallery by Mark Elsner: https://iscpurdue.com/purdue-football-vs-rutgers-10-25-25/
Break It Down:
I am absolutely not blaming Ryan Browne for this loss. Did he play lights out? Nope. Did he fumble the ball on the last drive? Yep. Was it a viral, “Purdue” style of play for all the wrong reasons? Yep. Football is game of 22 men playing their positions. Mistakes inevitably happen. After all, Browne is a fighter and was playing through a significant shoulder injury. Tougher than you and I. If you don’t think his shoulder injury played into that fumble… Then I do not think you are paying attention.
Simply because he had the ball in his hands last, doesn’t mean that the entire game rested on his shoulders. Purdue had two 10 point leads this game. Purdue’s defense couldn’t stop anything in the second half. Purdue play calling relied too heavily on the pass when the run was taking care of business. Purdue simply couldn’t walk through the door and slam it shut. This is a pattern right now, and the Boilermakers have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory yet again.
This season, Purdue has 3 losses by self infliction. They just as easily could have 5 wins right now, but that’s not how the world works. Gotta take care of business in between the lines. Sometimes you need some luck, sometimes you make your own luck. This team doesn’t have either.
What Went Well:
- 0: Penalties for 0 yard total.
- 80%: Of Jack McCallister’s punts ended up inside the 20, pinning Rutgers deep several times.
Opportunities for Improvement:
- 0: Wins in 3 tries against Rutgers all time. Purdue is the only team in the currently constituted Big Ten to have never beaten the Scarlet Knights.
- 128: Passing yards, in the year of our lord 2025. Purdue had more rushes than passes today, but they still passed too much. Whether it was deep balls with no shot, dropped passes, or little dinks/dunks, there was very little positivity in the passing game.
Big Man on Campus:
Due to popular demand, there will be no BMOC award this week. Coffee is for closers.
BASKETBALL!!!:
The #1 team in all of the land traveled to Lexington to take on the #9 team in the nation, the Kentucky Wildcats in an exhibition contest (Read the underlined word again before you proceed any further). These exhibition games, under recent Matt Painter history, are coached without scouting, with strange lineups, and unique offensive calls. Often times, Purdue is also playing a team which in which this is their Super Bowl, in front of a raucous away crowd.
Essentially, Matt Painter treats these games as if they are a first road-test, and lucky for the Boilermakers, it doesn’t count! That is good, because the Boilermakers lost 78-65. These games are designed to set the stage for what to improve going forward, and to provide that edge leading into the season.
Several fans on the UK and IU side have talked a ton of trash following this game. Several Purdue fans are melting down over an exhibition loss. CALM DOWN, PEOPLE. An exhibition loss is the Matt Painter special. Saw this coming from a mile and a half away.
In case you wondered, the Big 3 (Smith, Loyer, TKR) combined for 44 points. Purdue shot 17.6% from 3, and 38% from the floor. I don’t suspect they will shoot that poorly again this season.
A Look Ahead:
Purdue football’s weak October schedule (in which they went winless), will be inversely brutal for November. On Saturday, Purdue will travel to the Big House to take on #21 Michigan, where they will be heavy underdogs.
The Burly Basketball Boilermakers have one more exhibition game against UIndy on Wednesday 10/29. This game doesn’t count, either, folks. Relax.
For more content like this follow @ISC_PU on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. For a deeper look into the mad mind of Ben Kolodzinski, follow him at @BRKolo on Twitter. WARNING: Viewer’s discretion is advised…
