Ryan Browne threw for 317 yards and three touchdowns as Purdue shook off a sluggish first half to beat Indiana State 44-19 in Friday’s opener. Next up: a can’t-miss visit from Wake Forest.
Purdue handled business in its 2026 season opener, beating Indiana State 44-19 on Friday night in Ross-Ade Stadium. The win snapped a 10-game losing streak, gave the Boilermakers their first Friday night victory since 2017, and marked the first time Purdue has topped 500 yards of offense (523) since an overtime thriller against Illinois in 2024.
The final score looks more comfortable than the night felt. Purdue led just 16-6 at the break, and much of the crowd of roughly 49,000 spent the first half scratching their heads. Then the Boilermakers came out of the locker room and scored on four straight possessions to bury the Sycamores.
A Tale of Two Halves in Ross-Ade
The first half was about missed opportunities. Purdue moved the ball almost at will, driving deep into Indiana State territory three separate times, once to the two-yard line and once to the five, only to stall on third down each time. A false start at the two on its third possession didn’t help. The Boilermakers’ first, third and fifth possessions ended with true freshman kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano drilling his first three career attempts, from 39, 25, and 23 yards. Barry Odom said afterward that the freshman “performed at what we recruited him here to go do.”
Sandwiched between those drives was the first touchdown connection of the year, a six-yard strike from Ryan Browne to Chauncey Magwood that capped a 12-play, 75-yard march to make it 10-3. Indiana State answered Purdue’s first two field-goal scoring drives with field goals of its own.
Odom said afterward that he didn’t have much to say at halftime because the leaders in the locker room did it for him. Kevin Kane’s defense forced three-and-outs on Indiana State’s first two second-half possessions, and the offense cashed in both times. Fame Ijeboi bulldozed in from the one-yard line out of the Wildcat package, Browne found redshirt sophomore Tra’Mar Harris for a seven-yard score, and following an Indiana State punt, hit Asaad Waseem with an 18-yard dart to make it 37-6 heading into the fourth. Don Saunders put the exclamation point on Purdue’s second-half eruption on the second snap of the fourth quarter, jumping a pass from Gibson Southern’s own Brady Allen and returning it 35 yards for Purdue’s first pick-six since Cory Trice against Indiana in 2022. Indiana State’s two late touchdowns, one coming courtesy of Allen, the former Purdue quarterback, only trimmed the final margin.
“Good teams find ways to self-correct,” Odom said. “I thought that was a good sign for this team at this point in the year to be able to do that, and then go out and execute the way we did in the third quarter.”
The takeaway matters more than the margin. Purdue intercepted just four passes last season, the fewest in the Big Ten, and Odom made a point of saying that once a defense starts creating turnovers, it tends to snowball. Purdue also finished the night without a giveaway of its own.
Ryan Browne and a Deeper Receiving Corps Deliver
Browne was as efficient as Purdue could have hoped, completing 23 of 29 passes for a career-high 317 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of work. Browne told his head coach the game “seemed slow to him,” which is exactly what you want to hear from a junior quarterback who spent all of fall camp taking command of the offense.
Just as encouraging was where the ball went. Eleven different Boilermakers caught a pass, backing up what the staff had been saying all August about a more complete receiver room. Waseem was the headliner, hauling in six of eight targets for 107 yards and a touchdown. Xavier Townsend added seven catches for 47 yards, George Burhenn turned two catches into 43 yards, including a 26-yard grab that set up Ijeboi’s touchdown, and Jaylan Hornsby got in on the action as well with two catches for 22 yards. Drops were a non-issue. Purdue finished with 11 plays of 15 yards or more, showing that the Boilermakers are capable of making explosive plays on offense this season.
Odom credited a lot of that growth to first-year receivers coach Bilal Marshall, the former Boilermaker wideout, saying his “leadership, his personality” has “been infectious from the day he stepped on campus.”
Fame Ijeboi Gives the Run Game a Spark
The Minnesota transfer Fame Ijeboi looked like a cut above from the opening drive, breaking tackles, sidestepping defenders and showing real speed on the edge. He finished with 87 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, plus 30 yards on two receptions, and a 60-plus-yard touchdown run that was wiped out by a holding penalty. Travis Terrell flashed his speed behind him, and Purdue ran for 177 yards as a team.
“He’s got really good vision. He’s got great balance, and then his strength, I thought it continued to show up as the game went on,” Odom said. “He’s proven in the Big Ten Conference that he can be a good player, and I think he’ll be that for us this year.”
What Needs Cleaning Up Before Wake Forest
Penalties. Purdue was flagged nine times for 85 yards, and they were costly ones: the hold that erased Ijeboi’s long touchdown, one false start inside the five, and a long kickoff return called back. Odom noted that Purdue had Big Ten officials at all three fall scrimmages and never came close to that many flags, and he was blunt about what it means going forward: “We’re not going to be good enough to overcome 85 yards of penalties.”
Add the first-half red zone stalls and Purdue let an overmatched FCS opponent hang around longer than it should have. Those mistakes against a Power Four defense won’t end in a 25-point win.
Looking Ahead: Wake Forest Visits Ross-Ade
A win in Week 1 was a must, but the real test arrives next Saturday at noon when Wake Forest comes to West Lafayette. A Week 2 must-win sounds hyperbolic until you remember Purdue hasn’t beaten a Power Four opponent since 2023. With a trip to UCLA and a visit from national title favorite Notre Dame to follow, this is the Boilermakers’ best early chance to flip the script.
The Demon Deacons went 9-4 in Jake Dickert’s first season and opened 2026 with a comfortable 38-16 win over Akron. But this is a very different Wake Forest offense. Four starting offensive linemen are gone, as are both of last year’s game-breakers, running back Demond Claiborne (now with the Minnesota Vikings) and receiver Chris Barnes (transferred to Oklahoma State). The season rides on quarterback Gio Lopez, who lost a year to injuries and turmoil at North Carolina and reunites with offensive Coordinator Rob Ezell, the man who oversaw his breakout at South Alabama. Lopez completed 21 of 32 passes for 350 yards and three touchdowns in the season opener, and his top target was wide receiver Carlos Hernandez, who hauled in five receptions for 165 yards and a score.
The defense is the strength. Nickelback Davaughn Patterson headlines a unit loaded with returning starters that could be among the ACC’s best. If Purdue’s red zone offense sputters the way it did in the first half on Friday, it won’t get bailed out with easy points.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the team that’s coming in,” Odom said. “They won nine games last year, and they won last night (Thursday). They’ve got a lot of playmakers that play really well, really good defense, and it’ll be a great game at 12 p.m. in Ross-Ade.”
The first box got checked. Now comes the one that matters.
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