The Indiana Hoosiers football program have a strong chance to remain undefeated and head to the Big Ten Championship game. What's standing in their way? A rivalry game against the Big Ten's worst team in Purdue on the road, what could possibly go wrong on a Friday night in West Lafayette?
Both the Hoosiers and Boilermakers are coming off bye weeks but they are two programs headed in completely different directions.
Indiana isn't just winning games; it's blowing opponents out. Only two of its games this year have been won by one score (Iowa and Penn State).
Even if things get tight early on Indiana should be able to dominate in the trenches and through the run game. The only slight skill set advantage Purdue has is with Nitro Tuggle and Michael Jackson III at wide receiver but even then they IU secondary has taken care of biz all season only allowing 166.5 passing yards per game.
How to watch Indiana vs. Purdue
- Who: No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (11-0, 8-0) vs. Wisconsin Badgers (2-9, 0-8)
- What: Indiana's final regular season game for the Old Oaken Bucket Rivalry
- When: 7:30pm ET on Saturday, Nov. 28th
- Where: Ross-Ade Stadium (61, 441) in West Lafayette, Indiana
- TV: NBC and Peacock
- TV announcers: Paul Burmeister (play-by-play), Yogi Roth (color), and Zora Stephenson (reporter)
Betting odds:
Indiana is a 28.5-point favorite over Purdue, and the over/under is 54.5 points. Indiana is a -10000 favorite on the moneyline, while Wisconsin's moneyline odds are +2500, according to the Draft Kings Sportsbook on Thursday
Other notable news and notes:
- Weather: According to weather.com, it will be around 20 degrees and cloudy with a 2% chance of rain and southeast winds at 11 mph Saturday at 7:30pm ET in West Lafayette, Indiana.
- Recent results: Indiana is coming off a bye week, their last win was two weeks ago at home against Wisconsin 31-7 on senior day. Purdue is riding a 9 game losing streak after a 2-0 start in the Barry Odom era. Purdue's last loss came against Washington 49-13.
- Series history: Purdue leads the all-time series 77-43-6, while Indiana won the most recent matchup in November 2024 with a record-setting 66-0 victory, the largest margin in the rivalry's history.
Game Prediction:
Led by Heisman Trophy front runner Fernando Mendoza, Indiana leads the nation with 34 total passing touchdowns, the perfect recipe against the only Big Ten defense that’s given up more than 2,700 passing yards and 30 touchdowns this season through the air.
Indiana's defense also is damn near perfect with rankings of top-15 nationally in scoring defense (No. 2), total defense (No. 4), rushing defense (No. 4), passing defense (No. 13) and sacks (No. 10) — the only Power Four team to rank that high or better across all categories.
Barry Odom has Purdue looking better this season but the results are more of the same, a ton of losing. Last year they went 1-11 this year they will likely finish 2-10. The Boilermakers have covered against some good teams despite its struggles.
Purdue covered against ranked teams (No. 1 Ohio State and No. 15 Michigan) in two of their previous three games and quarterbacks Ryan Browne and Malachi Singleton can both make plays with their legs. What stands out to me is that Purdue holds no advantage anywhere in the game. Special Teams may be the closes gap position group wise but this game could get ugly fast if Purdue is not careful.
The final prediction is Indiana wins big once again and cover the very large 28.5-point spread, and retain the Old Oaken Bucket for the first time since 2016.
IU over Purdue, 49-13