Express Thoughts From The Weekend: Devin Mockobee, Purdue vs. USC and more

Gold and Black Express Thoughts from the Weekend column, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting, or whatever else comes to mind.

ON DEVIN MOCKOBEE

Nobody’s going to look back in 20 years and remember where they were the day Purdue beat Southern Illinois in Ross-Ade Stadium, but if you needed 60 minutes of football that reflects why Purdue and its fans love Devin Mockobee, this would work.

The Boilermaker senior is Purdue’s most established, steadiest guy, an equilibrium of sorts, a player it’s going to lean on, with shoulders wide and strong enough to bear the weight, we’d think. Very early in this game, it was evident this would be an evening the Boilermakers could just Mockobee the Salukis to death. That’s exactly what happened.

The kid’s heart has always been bigger than the sum of his physical talents, but him running against the FCS in September as hard as he might the CFP in December speaks volumes of Mockobee’s will.

That’s always been the operative term: Will. His took that of Southern Illinois Saturday night.

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ON THIS WEEKEND TO COME

Big opportunity to come this weekend for Purdue as USC visits. It’s a three-touchdown spread, but no one knows enough about either of these teams yet to really know what they’re talking about, outside of the fact one team’s helmets are more iconic in college football’s than the other’s.

Here’s what I know:

• The nobody quotient among USC’s first two opponents is every bit as distinct as Purdue’s.
• USC, which shouldn’t be in the Big Ten, has yet to win a game in the Eastern or Central time zones as an ill-fitting member of this conference.
• Lincoln Riley is hemorrhaging goodwill at a flagship program where 7-6 doesn’t cut it and patience doesn’t always prevail. When things get difficult, we’ll see what happens.
• Purdue has some insider-trading punch here with former Trojan assistant Josh Henson calling its offense. He should have valuable knowledge of both USC’s offense and defense. Last time a Purdue coach called plays against this familiar an opponent, that one-win team essentially won at Illinois last season. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to call plays or prepare game plans, but receiver Michael Jackson III played three years at SC before being at Georgia last year,
• Ross-Ade Stadium is going to be a living, breathing thing. Purdue’s fans have showed up through two buy games. Now comes a marquee opponent under the lights (in the second half at least).

Purdue will be an underdog regardless but that’s part of what sets this up to be a splash-game opportunity for the home team.

ON PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

Purdue’s had some pretty damn good players visiting the past few weekends, most recently center Sinan Huan the past few days, but this is a different kind of year.

With two players committed now and a springtime portal visit or two inevitable, these stud recruits on the line are all gravy if you get them.

Purdue doesn’t really desperately need anything an early deciding high school recruit is likely to provide.

It’s still going to build through high school recruiting, but the program has reached a level where staying good is the mission. It’s going to have to keep adding older guys and developing, often redshirting, younger guys.

Are some of these high school players good enough to be great players from Day 1? Sure. But recruiting 18-year-olds needing them to be great now is a tough business and a dangerous game.

Purdue’s going to get more high school players as part of this weird 2026 cycle, but with what it has committed now, the most important part now is getting portal frontcourt help months from now and keeping Omer Mayer for Year 2. He was the biggest 2026 recruit Purdue could have gotten. They just got him a year early.