Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 64. Purdue
CHOO CHOO
The Spoilermakers. They’ve earned that name: Purdue has 9 wins against AP Top 2 teams when unranked, while no other school has more than 4. There isn’t much scarier than a night game in West Lafayette, with Purdue Pete staring at you with those…cold, dead eyes. Purdue comes in as the 11th ranked Big Ten team on this list above Northwestern, Rutgers, and Indiana, and has actually had a few solid years recently under Jeff Brohm.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
| 18 | Purdue | 1998 | 21.292 | 9-4 |
| 22 | Purdue | 2021 | 19.241 | 9-4 |
| 18 | Purdue | 1997 | 18.418 | 9-3 |
| 19 | Purdue | 2000 | 17.103 | 8-4 |
| 26 | Purdue | 2003 | 16.636 | 9-4 |
| 24 | Purdue | 2004 | 10.611 | 7-5 |
| 28 | Purdue | 1999 | 8.776 | 7-5 |
| 43 | Purdue | 2017 | 3.675 | 7-6 |
| 46 | Purdue | 1984 | 2.275 | 7-5 |
| 46 | Purdue | 2007 | 2.179 | 8-5 |
| 44 | Purdue | 2002 | 1.805 | 7-6 |
| 48 | Purdue | 2022 | 1.14 | 8-6 |
| 54 | Purdue | 2018 | -2.216 | 6-7 |
| 55 | Purdue | 1995 | -6.431 | 4-6-1 |
| 59 | Purdue | 2006 | -7.32 | 8-6 |
| 56 | Purdue | 1994 | -8.823 | 4-5-2 |
| 66 | Purdue | 2011 | -9.148 | 7-6 |
| 63 | Purdue | 2001 | -9.49 | 6-6 |
| 48 | Purdue | 1985 | -9.739 | 5-6 |
| 64 | Purdue | 2005 | -10.878 | 5-6 |
| 67 | Purdue | 2009 | -10.99 | 5-7 |
| 76 | Purdue | 2020 | -11.74 | 2-4 |
| 78 | Purdue | 2008 | -19.341 | 4-8 |
| 66 | Purdue | 1991 | -19.58 | 4-7 |
| 79 | Purdue | 2012 | -19.847 | 6-7 |
| 78 | Purdue | 1992 | -21.017 | 4-7 |
| 73 | Purdue | 1987 | -22.568 | 3-7-1 |
| 91 | Purdue | 2019 | -23.295 | 4-8 |
| 76 | Purdue | 1983 | -24.42 | 3-7-1 |
| 85 | Purdue | 2010 | -26.278 | 4-8 |
| 80 | Purdue | 1996 | -26.419 | 3-8 |
| 82 | Purdue | 1988 | -29.55 | 4-7 |
| 79 | Purdue | 1989 | -29.69 | 3-8 |
| 84 | Purdue | 1986 | -32.66 | 3-8 |
| 102 | Purdue | 2014 | -33.746 | 3-9 |
| 113 | Purdue | 2016 | -40.196 | 3-9 |
| 98 | Purdue | 1993 | -41.73 | 1-10 |
| 94 | Purdue | 1990 | -43.086 | 2-9 |
| 110 | Purdue | 2015 | -43.549 | 2-10 |
| 113 | Purdue | 2013 | -56.734 | 1-11 |
+------+--------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 14627 (64th)204-264-5 record
1 conference title
7-10 bowl record
6 consensus All-Americans
87 NFL players drafted
For a team with such a bad record, Purdue has a VERY rich history. Known as the “Cradle of Quarterbacks”, Purdue’s produced NFL Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Bob Griese, and Drew Brees, along with Gary Danielson, Jim Everett, Kyle Orton, and Curtis Painter. Consensus All-Americans we won’t talk about below are DB Rod Woodson (1986), P Travis Dorsch (2001) who also won the Ray Guy, WR Taylor Stubblefield (2004) who had 16 TD, DE Ryan Kerrigan (2010) who had 12.5 sacks and 13.5 TFL, and WR Rondale Moore (2018) who basically did everything between catching the ball, running the ball, returning kicks, and returning punts. Top NFL players from the past 4 decades are Brees, DB Rod Woodson, OT Matt Light, QB Jeff George, C Nick Hardwick, DE Ryan Kerrigan, FB Mike Alstott, and DE George Karlaftis.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 2013 (1-11 overall, 0-8 Big Ten)
The Darrell Hazell era kicked off with a bang, with Purdue going winless in conference play. This truly was a masterclass. Their only win was 20-14 over Indiana State, with one of their two TDs coming on a kick return. The season opener was a 7-42 loss to Cincinnati, despite 3 Cincinnati turnovers. There was a 3-game streak in the middle of the season with results of 7-44 to Nebraska, 0-14 to Michigan State, and 0-56 to Ohio State (combined 7-114). Despite averaging just 13.0 PPG, Purdue somehow scored a season high in a 36-56 loss to rival Indiana, with Purdue and future LSU QB Danny Etling throwing for 485 yards and 4 TD. I almost forgot to mention a 24-55 loss to Northern Illinois with 5 turnovers. It took about 2 years too long to fire Hazell.
5. 2003 (9-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten)
This team was SSSSSSTACKED for no reason. 9 players were drafted after the season in the 2004 NFL Draft including Pro Bowlers C Nick Hardwick and DE Shaun Phillips. Another 8 players were drafted over the next 3 drafts including QB Kyle Orton and S Bernard Pollard. The results on the field were hit or miss, with a season opening loss to Bowling Green followed up by a win over #20 Wake Forest. A 6 game win streak after the Bowling Green loss included Wake, a 59-7 beating of Arizona, 23-10 second half shutout win over Notre Dame, and a close 26-23 win over #14 Wisconsin at Camp Randall. Purdue continued to trade blows with the Big Ten’s finest, losing to #13 Michigan then subsequently beating #10 Iowa just two weeks later. #11 8-2 Purdue was set to play #4 9-1 Ohio State in front of 105,000 fans on ESPN College GameDay for the chance at a Big Ten title, but the Boilermakers came up short, 13-16 in OT. The loss bothered Joe Tiller, who was stunned in his postgame presser. What had been a marathon regular season for Purdue ended by beating rival Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket, and again they played in a wild 27-34 OT loss to Georgia in the Capital One Bowl. Purdue finished #18 with a 3-3 record against AP Top 20 teams, just a wild schedule. S Stuart Schweigert was an All-American with 4 INTs, and finished 5th in Big Ten career interceptions.
4. 2000 (8-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten)
This is probably the season everybody expected to be #1. If this was a list of the top 5 most fun Purdue seasons it would be. It looked like a typical year for Purdue. Despite a preseason #15 ranking, a 3-2 start would’ve normally let doubt creep in, but not for this team. The Spoilermakers responded with a game winning FG to go up 32-31 on #6 Michigan with just 4 seconds left. With a 41-28 road win over #17 Northwestern, the Big Ten title hunt was back on the menu. #17 Purdue nearly avoided upset against a Wisconsin team that would go on to win the rest of their games, winning 20-14 in OT to improve to 6-2. That set up the big game against Ohio State. Down 24-27 to the #12 Buckeyes with just 2 minutes remaining, Brees bombed a 64 yard TD pass to walk on WR Seth Morales for the game winning score, and the monkey was finally off Purdue’s back. They nearly screwed up their title hopes with a random loss to 4-5 Michigan State, but with a blowout win over Indiana in the final game, they smelled roses, winning their first Big Ten title since 1967. Brees, a Heisman finalist, did all he could against #4 Washington in the Rose Bowl, falling 24-34.
Brees became the career Big Ten passing leader, throwing for 3668 yards 26 TD 12 INT while being an underrated runner with 521 yards and 5 TD. He was an All-American, finished 3rd in Heisman voting, was the Big Ten Offensive POTY, and won the Maxwell Award. OT Matt Light was also an All-American and would go on to make 3 Pro Bowls and win 3 Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. TE Tim Stratton, Brees’ safety blanket, won the John Mackey Award with 58 catches for 602 yards and 2 TD. Stuart Schweigert, just a freshman at the time, intercepted 5 passes, winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
3. 1997 (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten)
When Joe Tiller took over in 1997, Purdue hadn’t seen a winning season in 13 years. Tiller brought his “basketball on grass” offense from Wyoming to West Lafayette, and there were many doubters, especially after an initial 22-36 loss to Toledo. Purdue players were confident though, and rebounded to beat #15 Notre Dame. Later during Homecoming vs #24 Wisconsin, Purdue showed the Notre Dame win wasn’t a fluke, beating the Badgers 45-20 and improving to 5-1. With no Michigan and Ohio State on the schedule, there was a decent shot at a title. Murmurs got louder after a 48-3 beating of Illinois. Most of the cinderella hopes came to an end with a loss to #16 Iowa and going down 10-21 to Michigan State with 2 minutes left. But suddenly, a blocked kick TD, recovered onside kick, and game winning drive later, Purdue had emerged victorious 22-21 in a stunner. It barely mattered that they lost the next week to Penn State, blowing out rival Indiana 56-7 in Bloomington. Passed up for both the Citrus and Outback Bowls, Purdue made the most of the Alamo Bowl, beating Oklahoma State to finish 9-3 and #15. QB Billy Dicken was 1st Team All-Big Ten with 3000+ yards and 27 total TD. WR Brian Alford was an All-American, catching 63 passes for 1228 yards and 10 TD on 19.5 YPR.
2. 2021 (9-4 overall, 6-3 Big Ten)
Maybe the greatest Spoilermaker team of them all? Purdue was a solid 9-4, sure, tied for their most wins in a season since 1979. But I don’t think anyone saw wins over the #2 and #3 teams in the country coming. After innocuously trading wins and losses to start the year 3-2, Purdue would pull off the unthinkable with a 24-7 win over #2 Iowa. The game wasn’t even as close as the score suggested—Iowa was outgained by nearly 200 yards and had 4 INTs from QB Spencer Petras. Purdue WR David Bell had the game of his life, catching 11 passes for 240 yards and a TD. But after yet another loss, falling to 4-3, Purdue went quietly into the night. NOT SO FAST! It was #3 Michigan State’s turn. The Spartans found themselves in a trap game after beating #6 Michigan, and Purdue had a two possession lead pretty much the entire game. David Bell had the game of his life part two, with 11 catches for 217 yards and 1 TD. Purdue beat Northwestern, ripped the Old Oaken Bucket out of Indiana’s hands, and survived Tennessee in a 48-45 OT Music City Bowl thriller to finish 9-4. In the most unsurprising decision of 2021, David Bell was voted a consensus All-American with 1286 receiving yards, 457 of them coming against top 3 teams. QB Aidan O’Connell had a great year himself, throwing for nearly 4000 yards with 28 TD 11 INT, earning 2nd Team All-Big Ten. DE George Karlaftis was 1st Team as well and a 1st round NFL Draft pick, ranking 1st on the team in total TFL, 1st in fumble recoveries, 1st in forced fumbles, 1st in defensive TDs, and 3rd in PBU.
1. 1998 (9-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten)
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Purdue’s season started with highs and lows—a 3-4 start wasn’t great, but who did they play? A 17-27 loss to Carson Palmer-led USC, who had Hue Jackson as their offensive coordinator. Not bad. A 35-7 win over eventual 9-2 UCF and future NFL star Daunte Culpepper. Pretty good. A 1 point loss to Notre Dame and close finishes with #10 Wisconsin and #12 Penn State? Ah, what can you do. Purdue saved their best for last, going 5-0 in remaining Big Ten games with an average score of 42-15. Last on the hit list was #4 Kansas State in a very random Alamo Bowl—Purdue wasn’t even ranked! They showed they belonged though, with the two teams trading leads until a Drew Brees TD pass with 30 seconds left to win 37-34. Purdue finished the year #24, tied for their most wins since 1979, and finished 4th in the Big Ten. Brees won the Big Ten Offensive POTY, throwing for ~4000 yards and 39 TD, top 5 in the nation in both.
5th Quarter
Purdue fans, my algorithm ranks these seasons by resume. Do you feel that the top 5 is accurate for your BEST teams though? How would Drew Brees do in college football today? Is Purdue’s rank in this list accurate? What’s your favorite Purdue game/play/player? Is a night game at Purdue truly the scariest game out there, or is it overrated? How would you rank the following Purdue QBs in college: Drew Brees, Kyle Orton, Curtis Painter, David Blough, Aidan O’Connell?
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