Number Crunching

Here’s our weekly feature on some of the numbers surrounding Purdue football. Former GoldandBlack.com intern, now turned highly skilled professional, Griffin Herdegen gets a major assist on this.

2

Purdue scored on its second play from scrimmage against Ball State (Ryan Browne’s 49-yard pass to Ahrmad Branch). It is the first time the Boilermakers openedthe season witha score in three or under plays from scrimmage since Ralph Bolden (in the above photo) ran 78 yards for a TD in a 52-31 win over Toledo. Coincidentally, that was Danny Hope’s head coaching debut at Purdue.

0

The Boilers’ 31-0 win against Ball State was Purdue’s first shutout against an FBS opponent since 2021, when they blanked UConn 49-0 in Week 2. (Purdue did shut out FCS opponent Indiana State 49-0 last year). It’s also the first time they’ve won their FBS opener since 2021 (Oregon State) and only the second time since 2012.

203

Ball State only managed a meager 87 yards of passing (and 203 total) against the Purdue defense on Saturday. While the Boilermakers held Indiana State to only 67 offensive yards total last year, the last time Purdue allowed so few yards against an FBS opponent was in Week 3 of 2017, when Missouri, coached by Barry Odom, also notched 203 yards in a 35-3 defeat on a steamy day in Columbia (Jeff Brohm’s first road win)

100+

Branch notched 101 yards in the same game he caught his first career pass. The last Purdue player to record 100+ yards in the same game that they recorded their first pass was Rondale Moore, who did so in Game 1 of 2018, a 31-27 loss to Northwestern, notching 109 yards on 11 receptions. 

12.0 for 15

Ryan Browne had a strong performance in Week 1, completing 18 of 26 passes for 311 yards and 2 TDs. Most impressively, he notched 12.0 passing yards per attempt, good enough to place him second in the country in that metric, only behind Jayden Maiava of USC, who managed a whopping 16.4 yards per attempt. Browne was the only Big Ten quarterback to pass for over 300 yards in the first week of the season

50+

Punter Jack McCallister delivered a strong performance. His three punts averaged 50.3 yards, only the sixth time since 2000 that a Purdue player punted three times averaging more than 50 yards per punt. The last time this occurred was 2022 against FAU when Jack Ansell fired off three punts for 166 yards (average 55.3).

1916

Barry Odom is only the third Purdue coach since the 80s to win his season opener. The only others with that achievement are Danny Hope and Jim Colletto. With a win this weekend, he could become the first Boilermaker coach since WWI (1916, Cleo O’Donnelll) to start his Boilermaker coaching tenure 2-0.

15th

Purdue has a good shot of going 2-0 to start the season with FCS foe Southern Illinois on the calendar next weekend. That would be Purdue’s first 2-0 start since 2021 and would be a good start to a brutal schedule that now features seven opponents either ranked or receiving votes in the latest AP Poll, and is ranked as the 15th hardest remaining schedule by ESPN’s FPI.

0

Bob Griese was the quarterback the last time Purdue posted consecutive opening day shutouts as it has done in 2024 and 2025. In Griese’s sophomore year (and debut), he scored all of the Boilermakers’ points (a field goal, both touchdowns and two extra points) in a 17-0 win over Ohio. The following year, Purdue boat raced Miami ()hio) and legendary coach Bo Schembechler in a 38-0 win.

68

The game temperature at kickoff. It was the coolest season-opening temperature since Purdue and Vanderbilt squared off in 2019 (69 degrees) and by the coolest for an August start since it was just 62 degrees on Aug. 31, 1985, when Purdue lost a 31-30 heartbreaker at Pittsburgh. That game, however, was at night in the Steel City.

Stat of the Year, Part 2, from West Lafayette:

• Purdue first-quarter points last week vs. Ball State: 14
• Purdue first-quarter points in all of 2024: 13

— Tom Dienhart (@TomDienhart1) September 2, 2025