Recent History Bodes Well for Purdue Football in First Road Matchup of the Season
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue football will be on the road Saturday for a Week 3 matchup against Syracuse, the first game away from Ross-Ade Stadium of the 2022 season.
The meeting between the two teams is expected to be closely contested, but recent history under coach Jeff Brohm favors the Boilermakers after kicking off the season with a pair of home games.
Before Brohm took the helm in West Lafayette for the 2017 season, Purdue football lost eight of its previous nine road openers. Entering this year, the team boasts a 4-1 record in their first road games away from home in each season.
Brohm is the only coach in program history to win four of his first five opening road contests.
Purdue Football Road Openers (2017-2021)
Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
Sept. 11, 2021 | UConn | 49-0 (W) |
Oct. 31, 2020 | Illinois | 31-24 (W) |
Aug. 30, 2019 | Nevada | 34-31 (L) |
Sept. 29, 2018 | Nebraska | 42-28 (W) |
Sept. 16, 2017 | Missouri | 35-3 (W) |
Purdue has taken down Missouri, Nebraska, Illinois and UConn on the road over the last five seasons. The team's only loss in a road opener under Brohm came in 2019 against Nevada to open the season.
The Boilermakers led the game 24-7 at halftime, but the Wolf Pack mustered 24 second-half points to win the game. Nevada claimed a victory 34-31 victory as five turnovers proved to be too much for Purdue.
Before welcoming the Boilermakers this upcoming Saturday, the Orange won their first two games of the season in dominant fashion. They put a total of 79 points on the board through two weeks while holding Louisville and UConn to a combined 21 points.
Purdue has prepared this week anticipating a roaring crowd inside the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday. The team practiced on the Mollenkopf Athletic Center indoor field. The matchup presents a litmus test for this year's squad to overcome a hostile environment.
"It's always a concern when you have a new team, especially when you're going into someplace new that you really haven't been to," Brohm said. "Especially when you're going into a place where the team is 2-0 and they're feeling very confident.
"They're playing at a really high level, they're executing and they're doing all the things that I'm sure they planned to do through two games."
The game is scheduled to kick off at noon ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Purdue looks to take down Syracuse for its second straight nonconference victory this season. The team returns to Ross-Ade Stadium for a matchup with Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Sept. 24.
"We're going to have to find a way to beat them, they're not going to beat themselves," Brohm said. "We're going to have to play well, we're going to have to be into it, locked in, and understand that through the 60 minutes, there's gonna be some momentum shifts."
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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.