The Good, the Bad and the Ugly After Purdue Football's First 3 Games
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The first three games of Purdue's 2026 season have been a roller coaster. The Boilermakers have experienced the highs of an explosive and efficient offense, as well as the lows of a struggling and undisciplined defense.
The result is a 1-2 record through the first three weeks of the season, though the Boilermakers could have — maybe should have — pulled out wins against Wake Forest and UCLA. Now, Barry Odom's team faces one of the toughest tests of the year, hosting Notre Dame on Saturday.
Before Purdue's second quarter of the season kicks off, let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly after three weeks.
Good: Ryan Browne's improvement
Browne has taken massive strides forward since the end of last season. He currently ranks second nationally in passing yards per game, averaging 341.3 yards per contest. He's also the only Big Ten quarterback to eclipse 300 yards in each of the first three games.
More impressively, though, has been Browne's consistency and decision-making. He's only thrown one interception, a late-game pick against UCLA in the fourth quarter. The second-year starter has accounted for seven touchdown passes and has a 73.3% completion rate.
Good: Special teams
Purdue's special teams units have been particularly good to start the year. The Boilermakers have been able to rely on the accurate foot of Jacobo Echeverria Lozano when they can't reach the end zone. The true freshman is perfect on PATs and has knocked through 7-of-8 field goal attempts thus far.
Punter Dylan Drennan has also been solid for the Boilermakers, averaging 45.4 yards on five punts this season. He also came up with a huge fourth-down conversion on a fake punt against UCLA in Week 3.
The one knock against special teams has been penalties on returns. If the Boilers can clean those up, they'll be even better.
Bad: Inconsistent pass rush
At times, Purdue has shown the ability to get pressure on the quarterback. It happened somewhat frequently in the second game against Wake Forest. The Boilers were also able to get some hits on UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava throughout last weekend's game in Pasadena.
The problem, though, is Purdue hasn't been able to do that with any consistency. Jeremy Lewis, Breeon Ishmail and Trey Smith have probably done the best job to this point, but it has to be a threat for all four quarters. Plus, they have to be able to contain quarterbacks better, as each of the first three opponents were able to scramble and pick up big yardage in key situations.
Bad: Penalties
It feels like there have been a few critical penalties in each of Purdue's first three games that have led to stalling drives. Odom has said it multiple times, the margin for error is slim to none in West Lafayette. The Boilermakers can't afford to have those costly penalties.
The Boilermakers are averaging 7.7 penalties per game for 60 yards per contest. That ranks 13th in the Big Ten. Purdue needs to be more disciplined in all three phases of the game.
Good: Wide receivers
A big reason why Browne has improved so much from last season is because of the influx of talent at wide receiver. The Boilermakers finally have reliable targets in the passing attack, which always makes life easier for the quarterback.
Chauncey Magwood, Xavier Townsend and Asaad Waseem have been the most reliable receivers thus far. Waseem leads the team with 321 yards, Townsend has 267 and Magwood sits at 110 yards. But other guys have also made some big-time catches early this season.
Drops haven't been an issue and wide receivers are able to turn short passes into big gaines. It has allowed for a more explosive Purdue offense.
Ugly: Third-down defense
There's no other way to put this, Purdue's third-down defense has been abysmal. The Boilermakers are allowing opponents to convert third down 54.05% of the time, which ranks last among Power Four teams and 135th nationally. For those who don't know, there are 138 teams playing at the FBS level.
Purdue's third-down defense was particularly egregious against UCLA, with the Bruins converting 11-of-14 on Saturday night. Even worse? UCLA faced 3rd-and-7 or longer on seven of those conversions.
Kevin Kane must figure out ways for Purdue's defense to get off the field on third down, and quickly.
Ugly: Stopping the run
Purdue's defense did a good job containing Indiana State in Week 1, although quarterback Elijah Owens piled up 60 yards on the ground on that Friday night. Since then, though, the Boilers haven't been able to slow down the run.
Wake Forest rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns in Week 2. UCLA piled up 369 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday. The three quarterbacks Purdue has faced — Owens (Indiana State), Gio Lopez (Wake Forest) and Iamaleava (UCLA) — have all rushed for at least 55 yards against the Boilers.
Bad: Run blocking
Running back Fame Ijeboi has looked really good through the first three weeks, although he was bottled up a bit by UCLA. He provides Purdue a great punch out of the backfield. But he could use a little more help from the guys in the trenches.
Many times, Ijeboi has been able to use his speed, power and elusiveness to cover up the mistakes up front. He ripped off a number of big runs and shed several tacklers in the Week 2 game against Wake Forest. In a long season, though, he's going to run out of steam.
Can Purdue's blocking improve over the next nine games to provide a little more help for Ijeboi and other running backs?
Ugly: Explosive plays allowed
This was a major issue for Purdue last season and it hasn't been cleaned up through the first three games. The Boilermakers have already allowed 48 plays of 10 yards or more, the most of any team in the Big Ten. That number also ranks 125th nationally.
Purdue is also just one of two Power Four teams that has surrendered six plays of 40 yards or more. The other is Florida State.
Preventing teams from hitting on explosive plays was supposed to be a top priority during the offseason. The results simply aren't there right now.
Ugly: Lack of takeaways
You've probably noticed a trend that the "ugly" things are all on the defensive side. We'll end on this note, because it was another focus during the offseason. Kane talked about wanting to be more aggressive defensively and emphasize takeaways.
Through three games, Purdue has one. It was a pick-six by Don Slaughter in the season opener against Indiana State. The Boilermakers are just one of 10 teams in college football that have forced 1 turnover or less through the first three games.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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