Ryan Browne threw for a career-high 378 yards, but Purdue’s defense surrendered 645 yards in a 52-38 loss on Saturday night at UCLA. Now, the reeling Boilermakers (1-2) host No. 3 Notre Dame (3-0) with the Shillelagh Trophy on the line.
Purdue’s offense put up one of their best performances in recent years with 38 points and 488 yards at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night, but the Boilermakers still lost by two touchdowns. That’s where this defense is right now.
The Boilermakers fell 52-38 at UCLA in a game that featured 1,133 combined yards of offense and the most combined points in a Big Ten game involving Purdue since the thrilling 50-49 overtime loss to Illinois in 2024. The defeat drops Purdue to 1-2, extends the program’s Big Ten losing streak to 19 games, and sets up a daunting week, as national champion-contender No. 3 Notre Dame visits Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday.
Ryan Browne’s Career Night Goes to Waste
If there's a reason for optimism, it’s Purdue’s passing game. Ryan Browne hit 19 of 30 passes for 378 yards and three touchdowns, resetting his career high in passing yards for the third straight week. Through three games, he’s completing 73% of his passes and averaging 341 yards per game with seven touchdowns against one interception, a pick in the fourth quarter with the game already slipping away.
“Ryan did a great job delivering the ball,” head coach Barry Odom said. “It was good to see, but we can’t just go outscore people. It’s not going to work.”
Xavier Townsend and Asaad Waseem have separated themselves as the top targets in the receiving room. Townsend had a career night with six catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard catch-and-run on Purdue’s first offensive play, the program’s longest passing play since 2023. Waseem added eight grabs for 149 yards, and George Burhenn hauled in a 30-yard score to give the Boilermakers their first and only lead of the game two minutes into the third quarter. It was his first touchdown since the 2023 Old Oaken Bucket game.
The ground game was another story. With Fame Ijeboi banged up after a limited week of practice, Purdue managed just 63 rushing yards on 28 carries. Ijeboi still scored twice but finished with a season-low 47 yards.
Turnovers and a Trampled Run Defense
Purdue hadn’t turned the ball over all season. Saturday, it happened three times, with two of them directly resulting in UCLA touchdowns.
UCLA linebacker Sammy Omosigho punched the ball out of Travis Terrell’s hands on Purdue’s second carry of the game, then did the same to Waseem in the third quarter, moments after Burhenn’s touchdown had given Purdue a 28-24 lead. The Bruins cashed in both fumbles, turning a four-point Purdue lead into a 38-28 deficit in less than five minutes.
Even without the giveaways, UCLA’s ground game was unstoppable. The Bruins rushed for 369 yards and four touchdowns, led by Wayne Knight’s 177 yards and two scores, his NCAA-leading eighth rushing touchdown of the season. Anthony Woods and Jaivian Thomas added touchdown runs of their own, and quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who entered the night without a passing touchdown this season, threw for 276 yards and three scores.
“Very disappointed in our run defense,” Odom said. “No way in the world you can give up what we did and play like we did and have a chance to win when you combine that with minus-three turnovers on the other side.”
The lone special teams highlight came when punter Dylan Drennan hit Antonio Harris on a fake punt for 47 yards, setting up a Jacobo Echeverria Lozano field goal.
Kevin Kane’s Defense Searching for Answers
The defensive numbers through three games are hard to look at. Purdue ranks last in the Big Ten in total defense (446.7 yards per game), scoring defense (36.3 points per game) and rush defense (207.0 yards per game), and all three marks sit 125th or worse nationally. Pro Football Focus charged the Boilermakers with 18 missed tackles against UCLA alone.
Defensive coordinator Kevin Kane knows the criticism is coming and isn’t running from it.
“I got thick skin, so I’m not too concerned about what’s being said about me,” Kane said. “And sure, it sucks, but guess what? We got to play better. I understand it, and so we will.”
Kane pointed to fundamentals, particularly tackling, as a focus of this week’s practices. “Tuesday will be a fun Tuesday for us this week, because we have to get to the ball and we got to tackle people,” he said. “Eyes up, staying on our feet, not lunging at people, and trust me, it’s getting addressed, and it’ll get corrected.”
Odom, for his part, shot down any talk of changing who calls the defense and insisted the talent is there. “That’s my frustration, we do,” he said when asked if the issue was talent or scheme. “We’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to get them in a position to play free, play fast, and play confident.”
Up Next: No. 3 Notre Dame and the Shillelagh Trophy
The schedule offers no mercy. Notre Dame visits Ross-Ade Stadium at 2 p.m. EDT Saturday on Peacock, with the Shillelagh Trophy on the line for the third straight year. The Fighting Irish opened as a 27.5-point favorite.
Notre Dame has won 10 straight in the series and leads it 61-26-2 all time. Head coach Marcus Freeman is 2-0 against Purdue, including a 66-7 rout in Ross-Ade two years ago. That Irish roster has turned over, but this year’s offense is averaging 40 points and more than 400 yards per game behind quarterback C.J. Carr, a legitimate Heisman candidate.
“I think the quarterback is playing at a very high level,” Kane said. “He’s confident in the system. You can tell they’re giving him freedom to make checks, change the plays. He understands where to go with the ball.”
Odom was just as blunt about the group up front. “I think what makes them go is how well their offensive line plays,” he said. “I don’t see a lot of weaknesses in what they do.”
Purdue’s trophy case is currently empty, with active losing streaks against Notre Dame, Indiana, and Illinois. Reclaiming the Shillelagh this weekend would likely take the title for the biggest upset of the college football season. More realistically, Saturday is about whether a defense that just got run over for 369 yards can show it’s capable of slowing anyone down, because Browne and the passing game have proven they’ll keep Purdue in games. The defense keeps taking them out of them.
