ESPN's Football Power Index Predicts Purdue Football 2021 Game Outcomes
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue football opens fall camp on Aug. 6, and with it comes the countdown toward a full slate of games during the 2021 season.
The Boilermakers haven't posted a winning record since 2017 when the program went 7-6 in coach Jeff Brohm's first season leading the team. However, Purdue looks to return to winning form in what is expected to be a competitive Big Ten East division this upcoming season.
As of now, the cards are stacked against the Boilermakers. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Purdue is expected to win between five and six of its games with just a 0.5% chance of winning the conference.
The team will have its easiest matchups in the first two weeks of the season when it faces off against Oregon State and UConn. Those games set up Purdue with a contest against Notre Dame in Week 3, one of its most difficult opponents of the year.
However, no opponent will serve as a tougher challenge to Brohm and his team than the reigning Big Ten Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Nov. 13.
Below are the game-by-game projections of Purdue football's 2021 schedule:
- Sept. 4 vs. Oregon State: 80.3% chance of winning
- Sept. 11 at UConn: 94.5% chance of winning
- Sept. 18 at Notre Dame: 14.1% chance of winning
- Sept. 25 vs. Illinois: 77.9% chance of winning
- Oct. 2 vs. Minnesota: 60.5% chance of winning
- Oct. 16 at Iowa: 30.5% chance of winning
- Oct. 23 vs. Wisconsin: 36.4% chance of winning
- Oct. 30 at Nebraska: 37.5% chance of winning
- Nov. 6 vs. Michigan State: 55.8% chance of winning
- Nov. 13 at Ohio State: 6.9% chance of winning
- Nov. 20 vs. Northwestern*: 39.6% chance of winning
- Nov. 27 vs. Indiana: 44.6% chance of winning
* - Neutral site game
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.