Big Ten Media Days is just a few weeks away, and then fall camp will begin. Michigan football isn’t too far out, and it’s time to start analyzing the Wolverines’ schedule for this fall.
In our series breaking down Michigan’s schedule, we are going to rank the Wolverines’ opponents from least difficult to most (12-1). Coming in at No. 10 will be Michigan’s ninth opponent it faces on November 1: Purdue Boilermakers
2024 record: 1-11
Conference: Big Ten (18th-place finish in ’24)
Overall Returning Production: 108th (42%)
Offensive returning production: 113th (39%)
Defensive returning production: 93rd (46%)
SPI Rankings: 101st (-10.0)
FPI Rankings: 92nd (-6.9)
It’s safe to say Purdue will look drastically different when it takes the field this fall. After a terrible experiment with Ryan Walters as the head coach, the Boilermakers have moved on from the former defensive coordinator, and hired UNLV head coach Barry Odom. The Running Rebels had an electric offense under Odom, and that’s what he hopes to bring to Purdue — but it will take time.
The Boilermakers lost a whopping 56 players to the transfer portal with the coaching change, and 54 players are coming into Purdue for the 2025 season. The Boilermakers retained arguably their biggest playmaker on offense, RB Devin Mockobee. The soon-to-be-senior burst onto the scene in his freshman year by rushing for almost 1,000 yards. But with Purdue’s lack of offense, his numbers have dwindled. QB Ryan Browne is back, after seeing some time last year under Hudson Card, and Mockobee hopes he can take some of the pressure off of him.
Michigan doesn’t get Purdue until toward the end of the season, so the Wolverines will know much more about what an Odom-led Purdue team looks like. The game is sandwiched in between Michigan State and Northwestern, so there shouldn’t be any looking ahead for the Wolverines here. Fans hope by game nine, Bryce Underwood is locked in as the starting QB, and if he’s playing quality football, it should be a dominating performance by the Wolverines.
In case you missed it:
No. 12: New Mexico
No. 11: Central Michigan
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