2024 College Football Season: Purdue Boilermakers Preview and Odds
Boilermakers Looking To Bounce Back After Rough Year
Ryan Walters’ first year at the helm of the Purdue Boilermakers football program went about as you’d expect for a first-time head coach taking over a team that was left high and dry by its previous coach, Jeff Brohm.
The 2024 Purdue Boilermakers stats will have to be a lot better for Purdue to improve on a 2023 campaign in which the Boilermakers went 4-8. Now, they’ll try to compete in a much-improved Big Ten as Walters tries to turn this program around.
Purdue Boilermakers At A Glance
| Odds to Win | Opening Odds | Current Odds |
| Conference | +10000 | +20000 |
| Regular Season Win Total | 4.5 (o+142, u-178) | 4.5 (o+130, u-160) |
Purdue Looks To Get Back On Track
The college football scores last season were very ugly for the Boilermakers who, to their credit, played a pretty tough non-conference schedule before going 3-6 in Big Ten play.
They were 87th in FBS in scoring (23.9 points per game) and 105th in scoring defense (30.4 points allowed per game).
Purdue is returning starter quarterback Hudson Card and leading rusher Devin Mockobee but second-leading rusher Tyrone Tracy Jr. is now in the NFL and their top-four pass-catchers from a year ago have since transferred.
Purdue failed to reach its 5-win total from 2023 and the projected win total is similar for 2024. The Boilermakers will desperately need to find some play-makers to help out Card and Mockobee.
Walters brought in a ton of transfers at wide receiver and running back, namely Georgia transfer wideouts De’Nylon Morrissette and CJ Smith, to try and fill some of the absences left by players who are no longer with the program.
On the bright side, Walters is now better able to mold his NCAAF team into his vision, which is always the case of a new coach’s second season. It’s not like the players who were there in 2023 were exactly lighting things up.
So, in that way, there is reason for optimism with Purdue especially because of the talent Walters has been able to add through the portal. However, the growing pains will likely continue with so many new faces.
Title Not In the Card(s) Yet For Purdue
There’s almost no way the 2024 Purdue Boilermakers stats could result in a national championship, the first official title in program history.
Even if you wanted to take Purdue to pull off one of the most shocking turnarounds in college football history, those college football odds are, at the most optimistic, +100000.
Purdue Likely Won’t Win Big Ten Soon
- Now, while Purdue winning the Big Ten feels like as much of a pipe dream, there is at least a shot for Purdue to do so at +20000.
Those odds are much lower than they were a year ago (+10000) but that probably has more to do with the sudden infusion of talent into the Big Ten with USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon than it has to do with Purdue. It’s not easy to come out of that 18-team conference as the champion, particularly with a second-year head coach.
Boilermakers Can Win Five Games
The 2024 college football playoff odds are expecting more of the same this season from Purdue with a nearly identical 4.5-win total to last year’s 5-win total. But, at -160 to the under, Vegas doesn’t think they’ll be able to reach the five-win mark so, if you’re optimistic in Purdue, you can get really good value on the over.
That’s not the worst idea in the world because their schedule isn’t particularly difficult (all things considered).
Purdue’s non-conference slate includes Indiana State and Oregon State — both winnable games — as well as Notre Dame, which looks like a likely loss.
In the Big Ten, the only top teams the Boilermakers have scheduled are Penn State, Ohio State and Oregon. They certainly can compete in NCAA football games against Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern, Penn State, Michigan State and Indiana.
The 2024 Purdue Boilermakers stats could fatten up against the softer parts of that schedule but, then again, when you’re coming off a 4-8 season, there really aren’t any “soft” parts of the schedule. If Purdue is going to bounce back, though, they’ll have to take advantage of those kinds of games.
Playoff Is A Pipe Dream
The preseason vibe surrounding Purdue is similar to that of last college football season in that the Boilermakers aren’t even on the board as a potential playoff team.
There is just too much competition in the Big Ten and Purdue has too many roster holes for that to be a legitimate possibility right now. Their college football stats have a long way to go to get back toward relevance on a national scale.
For NCAAF betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
