Opening Odds: Purdue (1-2) vs. #3 Notre Dame (3-0)
· Yahoo Sports
A 1-2 start is likely the worst case scenario for a Purdue Boilermaker program looking to shift the perception of what their football program looks like. Following a breakdown in the late stages and overtime to Wake Forest, Purdue followed that up with arguably one of the worst performances on defense in the program’s history. That doesn’t bode well for confidence ahead of a matchup with undefeated Notre Dame looming large.
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Purdue will enter the game as 27.5 point underdogs, according to FanDuel, to a Notre Dame program who beat them in their previous matchup 66-7 in what would be Ryan Walters’ final season. That was one of the most embarrassing losses that Purdue fans had to suffer through in supporting what has become the butt end of many jokes around the college football landscape.
The defense is, in fact, so bad right now that Notre Dame scoring 70+ points has odds of +2700. That is largely due to the performance Purdue had in giving up 52 points to UCLA. In that game, the Bruins racked up 645 total yards (second most given up in program history) with 369 of those coming on the ground. In fact, UCLA had 21 plays that covered 14+ yards overall through the entire game.
The odds that most Purdue fans would like to see is the likelihood that Defensive Coordinator Kevin Kane will be employed on Sunday morning. The second installment of Kane as DC at Purdue has not gone well and that was the expectation amongst most of a fanbase that remembers him being in charge of the defense under Ryan Walters which, surprisingly, didn’t struggle as poorly as this unit currently is. In the first two games against FBS opponents, Purdue is giving up 45 points per game while surrendering 207 yards per game on the ground (125th ranked in the country).
This game will serve as another barometer for how far down the rung Purdue truly is at this point in year 2 of Barry Odom’s tenure. A recent report suggested that Purdue is the lowest NIL program in the B1G and the results likely suggest that to be true. I’m not sure anyone truly realized how poorly your program must be viewed to be placed as a 27.5 point underdog as a major FBS conference team versus any other FBS major conference team plus Notre Dame.
Again, I like to be the optimistic type but the massive improvement Purdue has shown offensively will be all for naught with the defense likely to surrender 50+ again this week. That’s the most likely scenario and the best result is getting everyone through this week healthy when more winnable games are on the horizon.
Purdue: 17
Notre Dame: 52
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