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Purdue football is the Titanic

Mark Milton

All-American
Sep 18, 2001
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34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
 
Watching what they are going through gives me even greater appreciation for Dolson and Whitten for having the foresight to go hard after the investments into IU Football. Getting CCC last year when the schedule played to our favor was gigantic. The way everything played out for IU couldn't have been better. Also to be able to make the CFP in the first 12 team playoff was big. Yes the game wasn't as good as we would like but when HS recruits look, they will only see the results and scores. They will see a 2 loss team who losses were potentially to the two team playing for the National Championship.

Cig had it right when he said in reviewing the IU job that with the schedule and the investment, there is no reason why IU couldn't be relevant. We can already see the benefits of his first year and another solid year in 2025 can really get the ball rolling for years to come.

Purdue set themselves back considerably last year. They way underperformed expectations and while we've seen that you can turn around a team in 1 year with NIL and the right coach, the extra that we had was the favorable schedule.
 
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Watching what they are going through gives me even greater appreciation for Dolson and Whitten for having the foresight to go hard after the investments into IU Football. Getting CCC last year when the schedule played to our favor was gigantic. The way everything played out for IU couldn't have been better. Also to be able to make the CFP in the first 12 team playoff was big. Yes the game wasn't as good as we would like but when HS recruits look, they will only see the results and scores. They will see a 2 loss team who looses were potentially to the two team playing for the National Championship.

Cig had it right when he said in reviewing the IU job that with the schedule and the investment, there is no reason why IU couldn't be relevant. We can already see the benefits of his first year and another solid year in 2025 can really get the ball rolling for years to come.

Purdue set themselves back considerably last year. They way underperformed expectations and while we've seen that you can turn around a team in 1 year with NIL and the right coach, the extra that we had was the favorable schedule.
When Brohmbardi went back to Louisville, they seemed to go into shock, even though his leaving was fait accompli at some point.
 
Cigs first year saw 39 outgoing transfers and 31 incoming transfers for reference. So Purdue is actually having less turnover than we had with our coaching change.

Too early to judge how well their reload is going other than it doesn't look as good as ours did based with past production. Wonder if they are still trying to get things done without a bunch of NIL. could explain the level of recruits they are getting to choose from.

If they are going after strictly running QBs, could they be looking at a triple option/flexbone offense? Running QB, decent RB and sucks everywhere else....makes you wonder.
 
34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Pretty sure they have kept 8 from their portal class, not 4.

Odd you would say they only kept Ball at OL. Was thinking they kept most of their second string. They have lost a lot of really good players though.

I have no idea how you can make a prediction right now without seeing the team and what it looks like on the field. One thing that makes me feel better is that even though they are bringing in young guys with minimal experience, they are all guys that have connections to the coaching staff, so they should know the player very well. I like the QB from Arkansas coming in.
 
Cigs first year saw 39 outgoing transfers and 31 incoming transfers for reference. So Purdue is actually having less turnover than we had with our coaching change.

Too early to judge how well their reload is going other than it doesn't look as good as ours did based with past production. Wonder if they are still trying to get things done without a bunch of NIL. could explain the level of recruits they are getting to choose from.

If they are going after strictly running QBs, could they be looking at a triple option/flexbone offense? Running QB, decent RB and sucks everywhere else....makes you wonder.
They want to run the football to setup the pass. A running QB certainly helps run the ball more effectively as there is another man to account for. Not sure what you mean by strictly running QB’s though.

I think that is the way to sustained success in college football. You have to be able to run the ball. Brohm lost a ton of games at Purdue because he couldn’t run the ball. So I don’t hate the idea, but can Odom get it done at Purdue.

Odom churned his roster both years at UNLV, so this isn’t new to him and he has a connection to almost every player he’s brought in. We shall see what it looks like. Hard to say right now.
 
Cigs first year saw 39 outgoing transfers and 31 incoming transfers for reference. So Purdue is actually having less turnover than we had with our coaching change.

Too early to judge how well their reload is going other than it doesn't look as good as ours did based with past production. Wonder if they are still trying to get things done without a bunch of NIL. could explain the level of recruits they are getting to choose from.

If they are going after strictly running QBs, could they be looking at a triple option/flexbone offense? Running QB, decent RB and sucks everywhere else....makes you wonder.

Well I think the issue is that Purdue has lost every one of their good players for one. Second, they are losing scholarship athletes. In our total, we had 6 walk ons enter the portal that were counted. Of the ones that did transfer, Minor, Howland, Blidi (after getting more NIL from IU), Lucas, Camper, Benson, Moore, Dunham, Bedford, Sorsby, Carpenter were the ones that played meaningful minutes. Some who left were cancers. The others were terrible recruiting mistakes. Cig said "we got back most of the guys we wanted from the portal. Blidi, Howland and Minor were spring transfers (and so were a couple of others).

The Georgia WR that Purdue was so pleased about getting simply didn't get on the field, and they are all back in the portal, and they likely won't be on any Power 4 roster.

I assume Purdue is going to use the QB a ton in the running game. Josh Henson is the OC and came from USC. Not sure who was calling the plays there---probably a combo of him and Riley. He was the OC at Missouri, but they were awful save for tow years -2013 and 2014. Those were the Maty Mauk years.

We shall see. I think Purdue sucks.
 
Pretty sure they have kept 8 from their portal class, not 4.

Odd you would say they only kept Ball at OL. Was thinking they kept most of their second string. They have lost a lot of really good players though.

I have no idea how you can make a prediction right now without seeing the team and what it looks like on the field. One thing that makes me feel better is that even though they are bringing in young guys with minimal experience, they are all guys that have connections to the coaching staff, so they should know the player very well. I like the QB from Arkansas coming in.
I believe I referred to the starters. And they lost everyone but Ball.

I don't think it is very difficult putt to make to say that your team currently resides on the island of misfit toys. It is okay--we have been there. But, nobody gets better by bringing in guys who haven't played in 2-3 years (or played meaningful snaps), and saying "he's from Georgia, you know he's good". Every one of those Georgia recruits was a disaster. Trust me, we added some guys from power 5 schools under Allen that were woeful. Cignetti had it right--playing time matters. If you ain't playing, you ain't getting better.

On the positive side, you did add some quality from UNLV--a few of those guys are pretty good and could have played a lot of places. I have watched them for two years (I liked Marion's go-go offense and always thought he was a rising star). Those UNLV guys are better than anyone else you guys got in the portal.
 
Just looked at their schedule and 3-9 or 4-8 is a strong possibility. If they win 5 games, I'd be surprised with that schedule.
 
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I believe I referred to the starters. And they lost everyone but Ball.

I don't think it is very difficult putt to make to say that your team currently resides on the island of misfit toys. It is okay--we have been there. But, nobody gets better by bringing in guys who haven't played in 2-3 years (or played meaningful snaps), and saying "he's from Georgia, you know he's good". Every one of those Georgia recruits was a disaster. Trust me, we added some guys from power 5 schools under Allen that were woeful. Cignetti had it right--playing time matters. If you ain't playing, you ain't getting better.

On the positive side, you did add some quality from UNLV--a few of those guys are pretty good and could have played a lot of places. I have watched them for two years (I liked Marion's go-go offense and always thought he was a rising star). Those UNLV guys are better than anyone else you guys got in the portal.
I don’t think Jaden Ball started last year? Madden and Morisette weren’t disasters? Madden looked decent before he got hurt and Morisette wasn’t terrible compared to the offense. But again, most of the guys who haven’t played a ton were also being coached by a coach on the Purdue staff, so they know what they are getting from guys that weren’t getting big minutes and freshman and redshirt freshman. We will see who’s the best. It’s not like they are just picking up random players from random big school. The coaches know the players inside and out.
 
They want to run the football to setup the pass. A running QB certainly helps run the ball more effectively as there is another man to account for. Not sure what you mean by strictly running QB’s though.

I think that is the way to sustained success in college football. You have to be able to run the ball. Brohm lost a ton of games at Purdue because he couldn’t run the ball. So I don’t hate the idea, but can Odom get it done at Purdue.

Odom churned his roster both years at UNLV, so this isn’t new to him and he has a connection to almost every player he’s brought in. We shall see what it looks like. Hard to say right now.
Odom is a decent coach. He was a GREAT defensive coordinator. @welshman# gushed over him many years ago and his 3-4 defense. As I said, the UNLV guys he brought in have a few good players--but he didn't grab all of the players from that squad, and their best players went to Missouri, Utah and Rutgers. Surprised Odom didn't bring in Sluka (sarcasm of course)
 
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I don’t think Jaden Ball started last year? Madden and Morisette weren’t disasters? Madden looked decent before he got hurt and Morisette wasn’t terrible compared to the offense. But again, most of the guys who haven’t played a ton were also being coached by a coach on the Purdue staff, so they know what they are getting from guys that weren’t getting big minutes and freshman and redshirt freshman. We will see who’s the best. It’s not like they are just picking up random players from random big school. The coaches know the players inside and out.
I thought he started a couple of games. He's a good recruit.

But your comment is telling "It’s not like they are just picking up random players from random big school. The coaches know the players inside and out". Of course they do. And they know them inside and out in High School and recruits still fail. Picking dudes that haven't really played much in 2-3 years is recipe for disaster. See Indiana's recruiting of Jared Casey.....
 
2023 Indiana >>>> 2024 Purdue

That's the obvious starting point for discussing the two programs. Tom Allen actually had Indiana competitive down the stretch and should've won 6 or 7 games.

The 2024 Purdue outfit was a catastrophe. Their mountain is steep and tall!! They don't have the NIL war chest either, or at least I'm not aware of.....
 
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I thought he started a couple of games. He's a good recruit.

But your comment is telling "It’s not like they are just picking up random players from random big school. The coaches know the players inside and out". Of course they do. And they know them inside and out in High School and recruits still fail. Picking dudes that haven't really played much in 2-3 years is recipe for disaster. See Indiana's recruiting of Jared Casey.....
They knew them as college players as well. Coached them as redshirts and as freshman. So they know them as college players.
 
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2023 Indiana >>>> 2024 Purdue

That's the obvious starting point for discussing the two programs. Tom Allen actually had Indiana competitive down the stretch and should've won 6 or 7 games.

The 2024 Purdue outfit was a catastrophe. Their mountain is steep and tall!! They don't have the NIL war chest either, or at least I'm not aware of.....
That’s what was so wild to me was Walter’s had 2023 Purdue competitive down the stretch. Rumored to have had 5ish mil for 2024 and returned a ton and it just tanked. Quite confusing. I personally think Odom is going for a 2 year rebuild looking at some of the guys he is bringing in.
 
A discussion about Purdue football on this board is like pointing and laughing at the mentally and physically challenged poor kid throwing a huge tantrum at the mall with his mom and 10 siblings with all the people walking by attempting to steer clear.
 
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They want to run the football to setup the pass. A running QB certainly helps run the ball more effectively as there is another man to account for. Not sure what you mean by strictly running QB’s though.

I think that is the way to sustained success in college football. You have to be able to run the ball. Brohm lost a ton of games at Purdue because he couldn’t run the ball. So I don’t hate the idea, but can Odom get it done at Purdue.

Odom churned his roster both years at UNLV, so this isn’t new to him and he has a connection to almost every player he’s brought in. We shall see what it looks like. Hard to say right now.
Actually if you are playing to succeed at a high level you need to be able to throw the ball. Explosive plays. Ewers, Howard, and Aller. Leonard in the only runner and a better than average passer. McCarthy and Penix last year. If you are looking to go 6-6, you need a good runner and a below average passer.
 
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That’s what was so wild to me was Walter’s had 2023 Purdue competitive down the stretch. Rumored to have had 5ish mil for 2024 and returned a ton and it just tanked. Quite confusing. I personally think Odom is going for a 2 year rebuild looking at some of the guys he is bringing in.
He chose two dudes from Georgia who never got on the field over production. Terrible eye for talent from his entire staff on portal guys.
 
Actually if you are playing to succeed at a high level you need to be able to throw the ball. Explosive plays. Ewers, Howard, and Aller. Leonard in the only runner and a better than average passer. McCarthy and Penix last year. If you are looking to go 6-6, you need a good runner and a below average passer.
As a QB yes, but you have to be able to run the ball. I wasn’t meaning QB run, just be able to run the ball.
 
They had a chance at Jason Candle and I don't think they even looked his way. Dave Odom would not have been in my top 10 options. I will never understand the logic but to each their own.
Mizzou wouldn't take Odom back after canning him, and the coaches before and after him there have done way better. I would have taken UNLV's OC before Odom.
 
Mizzou wouldn't take Odom back after canning him, and the coaches before and after him there have done way better. I would have taken UNLV's OC before Odom.
Most schools don’t take back coaches they fired. Odom followed their best coach in history and Drinkowitz was doing worse than Odom until NIL became a thing. Coincidence? Doubt it
 
PU losing most of their starters probably isn't a bad thing. As bad as IU has been over the years, it's hard to remember them being as uncompetitive as PU was this year. Maybe the early Wilson years when he cleaned house and started over but that was before NIL and free agency. With NIL and free agency it takes effort to build a team that bad.
 
Most schools don’t take back coaches they fired. Odom followed their best coach in history and Drinkowitz was doing worse than Odom until NIL became a thing. Coincidence? Doubt it
Your defense could also be an indicator for the state of the program Odom had left behind. He finally got his guys in the program and he started winning. Coincidence? Doubt it.
 
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Your defense could also be an indicator for the state of the program Odom had left behind. He finally got his guys in the program and he started winning. Coincidence? Doubt it.
But the issue is, he didn’t get worse. And he didn’t out recruit Odom. NIL and transfer portal is the logical explanation from going 5-7, to 6-6, to 6-6, to 10-2. There is only one way to infuse talent that quickly. Without NIL, it’s likely Drink is fired for being worse than Odom, who proceeded to win 19 games in two years at a school that hadn’t seen a coach go .500 since the 80’s and .300 since 2004.
 
34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Many had similar predictions for us in August of 2024.
Does anyone portal stats? What is an average number of portal players joining new teams? How many were starters at their previous school? How many were from smaller school?
 
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But the issue is, he didn’t get worse. And he didn’t out recruit Odom. NIL and transfer portal is the logical explanation from going 5-7, to 6-6, to 6-6, to 10-2. There is only one way to infuse talent that quickly. Without NIL, it’s likely Drink is fired for being worse than Odom, who proceeded to win 19 games in two years at a school that hadn’t seen a coach go .500 since the 80’s and .300 since 2004.
Actually that leap isn’t that unheard of at all. Lots of teams with young talent are middle of the road a couple of years before breaking through once they become upper classmen. To your statement about being worse than Odom. He took over a well oiled machine and spiraled into mediocrity? Odom only won when NIL became a thing. See how that works both ways? Reality is that I don’t think Odom is as awful a hire as the logic you are using to prop him up.
 
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34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Lost everybody on a team we beat 66 to 0, their fans probavly
34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Wouldn't put much stock in 34 transfers, we beat that group 66 to 0, better for us if they stayed lol
 
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34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Lost everybody on a team we beat 66 to 0, their fans probavly
34 outgoing transfers, 4 withdrew from the portal, 30 confirmed outgoing. They lost literally every one of their quality players in the portal.

19 incoming so far, which ranks in the top 5 just in terms of volume, and consisting of guys who are okay in a few instances, to just a collection of guys to fill a roster. Transfer class ranks 13th in the big 10, and only because of the sheer number of transfers. It is the lowest ranked class in the Big 10 by player rating, and on of the lowest ranked classes in college football (again by player rating), only higher ranked than Western Michigan, San Diego State, North Texas, UMASS, Kennesaw State, Toledo, Ball State and a few others.

Odom has brought in 3 QBs in one portal class!! Unheard of, and none of them have played more than a smidgen of minutes. And they are all the same guy--run first QBs.....

The 2025 high school class consists of 10 signed players, and 247 does not identify any of those players as coming in for spring.

On offense, they lose their entire OL except for Jaden Ball, two tight ends, quarterback, their entire WR group but do get back Mockobee.

On defense they have lost literally everyone.

Odom is a good coach, but he ain't that good. I don't see how they win more than 2 games (Ball State and Southern Illinois).
Wouldn't put much stock in 34 transfers, we beat that group 66 to 0, better for us if they stayed lol
 
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I predict they'll double their 2024 win total... (to 2) and their supporters will excitedly wax eloquently about their having held us under 70 up at their place after we put another I on the chain this November...

Aside from that last point I'm not interested in discussing anything involving that school up north named after some crazy, pathetic, weird, old guy even the toilet makers themselves actually didn't like at the time but were willing to take his cash anyway...
 
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