9/14/2026 Boilermaker Water Cooler Chat: Hope Edition
Rants, ravings, and somewhat sensical opinions following the wild, wacky, and wide-wide world of Purdue sports.
I hope you all had a great weekend. I hope you have a great week ahead!
Defining hope is a strange thing. I am not talking about former Purdue head coach Danny Hope, despite several things I could say. I am not talking about Hope Solo, yet another one of my favorite “Hopes” out there. Just plain, hope. I can plainly hope something, like, say, winning the lottery. I can hope that I one day find enough time to write a best selling novel. I can hope that McDonald’s will accidentally give me an extra McNugget in my happy meal. That is superfluous hope.
There is something more macro about the word hope. When I shoot darts and miss the bullseye by a fraction of an inch, it still isn’t a bullseye. I got close and I have hope that I will eventually hit it. I have hope that I will eventually birdie that par-3 that I keep getting par on. When you see your kid showing extra effort on their math homework. You have hope that they will get the A+ that they are striving for. You know… hope based on some reasonable results, and tangible evidence.
You know this, by now, but Purdue lost their twenty-something’th straight latest football game against a power program. This time, finding a whole new creative way to do it! If it is not one heartbreak, it’s another, with the Purdue Boilermakers. The sports gods hate me, specifically, as you all know.
You know what? Screw that negativity (at least for one week). I have hope. Purdue lost a heartbreaker. Add it to the list. Purdue showed heart. Purdue could’ve folded but didn’t. Purdue had a chance to win the game and couldn’t quite come through. They looked sharp. They looked disciplined. They looked fun.
I am absolutely sick and tired of losing. So are the players. Seeing the forest from the trees, this Purdue team is already better than last year’s team. They’re better than the Ryan Walters’ teams. Despite the outcomes of the last several seasons, Saturday’s contest gave me hope. Not necessairly for a bowl appearance. Not necessairly for a playoff birth. At minimum, I have hope that Odom is righting the ship, and the players are pulling their weight.
Hope that every Saturday might not be miserable. Hope that wins are nigh. Hope that in the near future, I don’t have to stretch to make these columns positive. One can hope.
The Game:
Wake Forest 38, Purdue 36 (2 OT)
A mostly one sided affair early, Wake Forest held multi-score leads in the first half, as Purdue’s defense couldn’t get a stop. The defense stiffened in the second, and an offensive surge by Purdue led the Boilermakers to have a chance to win it in regulation. After forcing overtime, the Boilermaker Special ran out of fuel, at Wake Forest was a 2 point conversion better than the Boilermakers.
Fame Ijeboi ran for 114 yards and 3 TDs, carrying the Boilermakers on his back. Ryan Browne had another excellent performance, throwing for 329yds and a TD.
The Boilermaker defensive scheme may not have been optimal, but there were still several impressive performances on that side of the ball. Charles Correa had 12 tackles, with Slaughter and Hayden adding 9 each. As a team Purdue had 2 sacks and 6 tackles for loss.
Purdue – Wake Forest Photo Gallery: https://iscpurdue.com/purdue-vs-wake-forest-9-12-26/
Break It Down:
Listen, I have to keep these columns to a respectable length. I could talk in volumes about what happened. I presume you already watched the game, so I am not teaching anyone anything… for character count sake, let’s talk in over simplifications.
- Purdue’s offense was excellent, at least until goal line situations. Ryan Browne brought it, and Fame Ijeboi is a bonafide stud. The WRs caught most of the balls thrown their way.
- Purdue’s defense was awful in the first half and two OT segments. It was much better in the second half, and only gave up 23 points in regulation. The soft zone defense in the first half was on pace to stop nobody, ever. After working in some man in the second half, things moved in the right direction. The soft zone returned in the OT segments, both unfortunately and detrimentally.
- This team played passionately. They were excited to be here. They hustled, flew around, and kept the energy high on the sidelines.
- The fans, particularly the students, were incredible. Ross Ade got wild there in the 4th quarter and the OT segments.
- This team has some shit to them. They are not cowards. They showed that they will not fold when the going gets tough. That, in itself, gives me hope that the 2026 season will be entertaining.
- When Sandstorm blared to start the 4th quarter, there was a palpable buzz in the air. It was fun. Purdue played themselves back into the game, and the stadium had hope that our Boilers would break through! Having fun in the 4th quarter of a Purdue game is a welcome change!
What Went Well:
- Fame Ijeboi: Is incredible. His ability to keep forward momentum after the initial hit is incredible. His clutch, winding, long run late in the game when he was dead to rights in the backfield was a highlight that whipped RA Stadium into a frenzy.
- Ryan Browne: Continues to be a consistent, reliable, steady hand. His box score is everything that Purdue needs right now. No turnovers, get the ball to the receivers, and let them do their thing.
- 9: Receivers caught passes, 8 of which had multiple.
- Ross Ade Brigade: You were fantastic. Loud. Raucous.
Opportunities for Improvement:
- Soft: … zones do nothing to stop teams. They simply allow the short gains, the clock to run, and for the opponent to control the flow of the game. This is not great when you are down multiple scores, as the clock-management offense needs plenty of time to matriculate up the field. Luckily for Purdue, the Boilers showed some man-looks in the second, and forced a few stops. I will give credit when it is due. Purdue only gave up 23 points in regulation, that is a good number. The eye test, however, showed that this defense was lacking for most of the game.
- Settling: … in the redzone will end up hurting this team. Purdue had a chance late in the first half to put a touchdown on the board, and uncreative playcalling stalled the offense out. Purdue had a chance to win the game in regulation and, guess what happened… uncreative playcalling stalled the offense out. Settling for a field goal forced OT, which is good, but a bit of a creative look could’ve led to a TD over a field goal. One more touchdown wins this game.
- Penalties: … didn’t kill Purdue today, but there were a couple biggies which had huge ripple effects throughout the game. Ryan Browne’s intentional grounding was not great. Holding penalties, pre-snap penalties, happen here and there. However, when you see a Purdue player rip an opponent’s helmet off, garnering a personal foul facemask penalty on a Wake Forest reverse play… 45 yards away from the ball… adding 15 yards to an already big gain… you just have to hang your head. This penalty pushed the Deamon Deacons into field goal range, allowing them to cash in 3 points. Purdue lost by 2.
Big Man on Campus:
Due to unfortunate circumstances, there will be no BMOC award this week. Coffee is for closers.
One More Thing:
I need to comment on Big Ten Officiating for this game. It is what I do. I will say, right now, the officials were NOT why Purdue lost. Purdue did not take advantage of the gifts which were given to them. The officiating, however, was still mock worthy. Several holds were missed, including one of the most egregious holds that I have ever seen on the Wake Forest TD in the first overtime. Missed calls, in this instance, is more damaging than wrong calls. Likewise, in the 3rd quarter, a flag was thrown. After the officials conferred, a holding call was called on Purdue’s offensive lineman. Ok, that is fine. After a moment of hesitation, the lead referee corrected himself, changing it to a facemask penalty on the defense. How can you mistake the two, even after conferring? Those aren’t even remotely similar calls.
Now, I will address the elephant in the room. The infamous reversed first down call in the second OT. On the field, it was called that the WF wide receiver stepped out short of the line to gain on 4th & 15. Game over. Purdue wins. Fireworks. Celebration. Then the play was reviewed. The review took ages. Extra long. Too long. Longer than any circumstance with definitive video evidence would suggest. I was in the stadium, I didn’t see what TV saw… but I looked over to my son and said, “They’re taking too long. It is getting over turned.” It was. Bing bang zoom… Wake Forest eventually wins.
I am not saying that it was the wrong call. In fact, a simple logic leap would indicate that he probably -DID- get the call right, in theory. I was getting sunburned in Ross Ade, so I couldn’t see the TV feed. Upon my own review, following the game and on rewatch… Purdue had several first downs that were very close throughout the game. They needed reviews. There was no definitive video evidence to overturn the calls, so they stood. This same concept, however, was not used in this review. No perfect camera angles. No definitive video evidence. By the Big Ten’s own standards, this call was not supposed to be overturned.
It is almost like the Big Ten didn’t want to have yet another game changing video review scandal (in the B1G home team’s favor), following the Michigan debacle. They hyper focused on the video. Electron microscopes and quantum measurements abound. This officiating crew changed the call on theory, rather than definitive video evidence. The technicality is important here. If there is no definitive video evidence, then it cannot be proven.
Was it the right call? Probably. I will freely admit it. Was there video evidence to change what was called on the field? That is extremely debatable. This is the difference between the “spirit of the rule” and the “process” of determining the outcome. In spirit, overturning the call is right. On a technical and a “process” standpoint it absolutely should not have. Let’s be fair, Wake Forest did earn it. Purdue blew a 4th & 15 stop. Regardless, I would give my fortune for Purdue to get a technicality to go their way, just one time.
Oh well. C’est la vie.
A Look Ahead:
Purdue will be traveling on their first road trip of the season, traveling out west to take on UCLA. The Boilermakers will kick off at 11PM (on BTN). Eleven PM? Eleven PM! Eleven freaking PM! The Big Ten schedule makers pretty much said, “Lulz, screw Purdue! They get the Pac12 after dark spot! Nobody cares because… Purdue!” That kickoff is several hours after my bedtime! How will my energy reserves, my sleep schedule, and my liver recover from this?
Not like Purdue needs to be rested or anything for their following opponent, or anything (Notre Dame). Flying 5 hours and over 3 time-zones to get home at… ~8 am on Sunday is brutal. This should never happen.
Anyways, UCLA opens as a relatively significant favorite, with the ESPN Matchup Predictor giving the Bruins an 80% chance of victory. Nevertheless, I have hope!
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