Washington snapped a three-game losing streak with a 38-26 win over Purdue in front of 50,941 fans on a rainy Friday night at Ross-Ade Stadium, ending the Boilermakers’ two-game Big Ten winning streak. Purdue (3-4, 2-2 Big Ten) came in favored against a Washington team (4-3, 1-3 Big Ten) starting backup quarterback Elijah Brown in place of an injured Demond Williams Jr. Brown threw three interceptions and still finished 21 of 27 for 302 yards and three touchdowns in his first start as a Husky.
Purdue’s five takeaways were its most in a game since 2015. Unfortunately for the Boilers, they weren’t enough.
“We just didn’t play complementary football,” said head coach Barry Odom after the game. “A lot of times, one side of the ball was playing well and the other wasn’t. Then it flipped, and we were playing better on one side but not the other.”
How Washington Pulled Away at Ross-Ade
It started the way Purdue wanted. Hudauri Hines, an Indianapolis native out of Franklin Central, intercepted Brown on the first play of the game, and Smiley Bradford picked him off again later in the opening quarter. Purdue got just three points out of it, settling for a 24-yard Jacobo Echeverria Lozano field goal after a false start on third-and-goal from the Washington 1-yard line.
But every other Washington possession in the first half resulted in points: touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. The Huskies had more than 300 yards by halftime. Purdue’s two touchdowns came from one big run and one lucky bounce. Antonio Harris, the junior from Chandler, Indiana and Castle High School, broke a 59-yard run, Purdue’s longest of the season, then finished the drive himself from a yard out to tie it 10-10. Later, a Dylan Drennan punt bounced off the foot of a Washington player, Don Saunders fell on it, and Ryan Browne hit Fame Ijeboi for a 10-yard passing touchdown on the next snap to tie it at 17.
The Huskies answered with a 91-yard drive, extended by a roughing-the-passer penalty on a third-and-goal from the Purdue 10. Brian Bonner scored from a yard out with 27 seconds left, and Washington led 24-17 at the half.
Purdue’s defense held in the third quarter, forcing a punt and getting a Jojo Hayden interception that set up Lozano’s 48-yard field goal, matching his career long, to make it 24-20. The fourth quarter got away from there. Brown found Dezmen Roebuck from four yards out for a 31-20 lead with 14:12 left. Purdue answered with a 75-yard drive capped by Browne’s eight-yard touchdown run, but the two-point pass to McCordsville native George Burhenn fell incomplete. Washington needed two plays and 48 seconds to respond, with Trey Cooley going 53 yards to make it 38-26.
Browne was intercepted on two of Purdue’s final three possessions. The other ended on downs after Dee Newsome recovered a Cooley fumble.
Five Takeaways, Only 13 points
Purdue’s five takeaways produced a turnover on downs, a field goal, a touchdown, another field goal and another turnover on downs. Four of those five drives started in Washington territory, including two in the red zone.
It was opposite of the formula that beat Illinois and Minnesota. A week after scoring 41 points and running for 305 yards against the Gophers, Purdue ran for 98 yards on 27 carries, and 59 of those came on Harris’ one run. Ijeboi, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after his 195-yard night against his former team, was held to 19 yards on 13 carries.
“He hasn’t been healthy for probably the last five weeks,” Odom said. “I think the consecutive days this week kind of took a toll on him. We’ve tried to rest him some. The bye week comes at a really good time for him.”
His touchdown catch made Ijeboi the first Boilermaker with 10 touchdowns through seven games since Kory Sheets in 2008.
The passing game wasn’t much better. Browne went 21 of 41 for 273 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions after throwing just one pick through Purdue’s first six games. He was also sacked three times. Asaad Waseem caught nine passes for 116 yards, his third 100-yard game, and Xavier Townsend added a 46-yard grab, but Purdue’s receivers had trouble getting open throughout most of the game.
A familiar face had a lot to do with it. Washington defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, Purdue’s head coach in 2023 and 2024, loaded the box, and his defense finished with eight tackles for loss and seven pass deflections in his return to West Lafayette.
Purdue’s Defense Gives Up the Big Plays Again
Outside of the takeaways, the night looked more like September’s losses to Wake Forest, UCLA, and Notre Dame than October’s wins over Illinois and Minnesota, where Purdue allowed 30 points combined.
Washington finished with 488 yards and 15 plays of 15 yards or more. A Huskies offense that entered the night last in Big Ten in rushing at 99.3 yards per game ran for 186, led by Cooley’s 113 yards on eight carries before he left with an injury.
Injuries certainly made things harder for the Boilermakers. Hines and linebacker Charles Correa both left the game hurt, and Washington went right after Purdue’s backup cornerbacks, a position where the Boilermakers are thin. Keyshawn Burgos’ third-quarter sack was Purdue’s only one of the night, and the Boilermakers have just eight sacks in seven games.
Hayden, the former Illinois linebacker, led Purdue with nine tackles and picked off a pass for the second straight week.
“Washington beat us,” Odom said. “They outcoached us, and they beat us.”
Where Purdue Stands Heading Into the Bye Week
Seven games into year two under Odom, Purdue is 3-4, already matching its win total from the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined. It opened with a 44-19 win over in-state FCS foe Indiana State, then lost three straight to three quality opponents: 38-36 in double overtime to Wake Forest (currently ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25), 52-38 at UCLA (currently ranked No. 9), and 49-10 at home to Notre Dame (currently ranked No. 4) in the Shillelagh Trophy game. October brought the turnaround, with a 24-17 win at Illinois that ended a 19-game Big Ten losing streak and a 41-13 rout of Minnesota.
Purdue needs three more wins to reach six and become bowl eligible for the first time since 2022. Here’s what’s left on the schedule:
- Saturday, Oct. 31: at Penn State (3-4, 0-4 Big Ten)
- Saturday, Nov. 7: vs. Maryland (2-5, 0-4) (Homecoming)
- Saturday, Nov. 14: at No. 15 Iowa (5-1, 2-1)
- Saturday, Nov. 21: vs. Wisconsin (4-2, 2-1)
- Saturday, Nov. 28: at No. 6 Indiana (6-1, 3-1) (Old Oaken Bucket)
The Halloween trip to Beaver Stadium and the Homecoming game against Maryland will go a long way toward deciding what November looks like. The season ends in Bloomington against defending national champion Indiana, which has won the last two Old Oaken Bucket games by a combined score of 122-3. Bowl eligibility is possible, but Purdue may need some Spoilermaker magic to get there.
First, Purdue has to get healthy.
“The challenge now is to use this bye week,” Odom said. “It’s important to get some guys healthy who got banged up tonight…Our goal is to be playing really meaningful games in November.”
Two weeks ago, Purdue ended one streak in Champaign. Now, it needs to start another one in Happy Valley.
