10 Observations Michigan-Purdue

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Here is what has us talking after Purdue’s 21-16 loss in the Big House vs. No. 21 Michigan.

1 – Devin Mockobee was out with an ankle injury. No doubt, Purdue missed him. Still, Antonio Harris (54) and Malachi Thomas (68 yards) held their own as the main ballcarriers.

“I think anytime you lose a four-year starter, that’s a captain, that’s a leader of the team, and there’s a void of him not being here. I think that would always be a miss. He brings so much to the program, to the team.”

Will Mockobee be back this season?

“I’m not sure yet,” said Odom.

(We may never see him again, as there is a chance he’ll want to heal up and prepare to make a run at a pro career.)

2 – Purdue’s losing streak now numbers seven with possibly no end in sight with games left vs. Ohio State, at Washington and vs. Indiana. The Boilermakers are 2-18 in their last 20 games, losing 14 Big Ten games in succession. The last victory over a Power Four foe? It was 2023 vs. Indiana. The last Big Ten road win? At Indiana in 2022.

“I do think we’ve got a locker room full of guys that are going to fight and do everything they can to try to go win a game,” said Odom. “And we’ll keep on swinging, we’ll keep on digging, we’ll keep on trying to find a way to get in the winner’s circle.”

PDF: Purdue-Michigan statistics

3 – Trailing 14-10 and riding all kinds of mojo, Purdue went for it on 4th-and-1 at midfield. Malachi Singleton got stuffed. Michigan took over and proceeded to score a TD to go up 21-10 with 10:04 to go. Essentially: Game Over.

Purdue had just 276 yards on offense. The Boiler attack is averaging 15 points in its last four games. Odom have any regrets on the fourth-down play call? Or not punting?

“No, I was here to win the game, and I thought we needed to find a way to get points out of that position,” said Odom. “And we didn’t. We came up a couple inches short, but absolutely no regrets on the play call. If I had to do it again, I’d go do it.”

4 – Purdue just has little explosive big-play ability on offense. It had just four passes over 15 yards and just three runs over 10. It makes it very difficult to score, especially vs. good defenses like Michigan. The Boilers cut the Wolverines’ lead to 21-16 with six minutes to play, but the Purdue defense could not get one last stop.

5 – Michigan had no issues ripping off big plays. It needed just two plays and 18 seconds to cover 79 yards to score their its TD. The monster play was a 54-yard scoring run by Jordan Marshall.

“On the line of scrimmage, there were times that we got pushed around a little bit,” said Odom. “We’ve got to address those things and try to find a way to get an extra hat there when we get blocked. I thought the pass coverage, other than two plays off the top of my head, I thought they did some good things. We tried to get the quarterback off the spot going into the week with the plan, and we did that, but also we lost leverage and contain a couple times in an attempt to get (Bryce Underwood) off the spot.”

6 – Jack McCallister picked the wrong time for arguably his worst punt of 2025, shanking a 21-yarder to Purdue’s 32-yard line. Michigan needed just five plays and 41 seconds to hit paydirt and take a 14-7 halftime lead. A really deflating sequence.

“I’ve talked about that before in a press conference, about how important that is, the last four (minutes), the first half, the first four, the second half,” said Odom. “We didn’t win that in the last four minutes of the half. And, obviously, I thought that starting the second half would get better.”

7 – To have a chance at victory, Purdue needed to slow down the Michigan run game. It didn’t. The Wolverines finished with 252 yards rushing. Purdue had no answer for Marshall, who had 181 yards rushing subbing for injured Justice Haynes. Michigan salted the game away with run after run after run. Purdue could do nothing about it.

“They’re damn good up front with really good runners, and sometimes one guy is going to beat the next guy, and we don’t get off the block and make the tackle,” said Odom. “So, they rushed the ball for a lot of success this year. I’m frustrated that we couldn’t get a stop there at the end, they made plays.”

8 – How about a 16-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 9:30 and resulted in a TD? It was an impressive execution by the Boiler attack in forging a 7-7 tie in the second quarter. Drive of the year?

9 – Yes, Purdue lost. But this was its best effort in a Big Ten game. No doubt, Odom’s team is still fighting and battling even though the losses are mounting.

“We’re going to learn from our experiences,” said Odom. “We’ll learn from this one, the good, the bad. And then if we let anything prior to tomorrow, when we start back to work, if we let anything other than learning from those experience, if we let anything take away from what the preparation is needed to go play Ohio State, then we’re cheating the opportunity to prepare the right way, good or bad. I am not going to question. We’re going to line up, we’re going to go compete our tails off. We’re going to prepare like we’re going to win the game. That is the mindset for us, whoever the opponent is.”

10 – OC Josh Henson continues to make prudent use of QB Malachi Singleton as a change-of-pace option in the red zone. No doubt, Singleton is a adept runner. Still, you wonder if yanking Browne out disrupts his rhythm and mojo? Just wondering out loud.

Subscribe to GoldandBlack.com
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on Instagram
Like our Facebook page
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Talk about it on Knucklehead Central