FRIDAY NIGHT MATCH-UP: WASHINGTON AT PURDUE GAME NOTES
PURDUE GAME NOTES:
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With back-to-back Big Ten wins, Purdue Football looks to keep the train rolling as it welcomes Washington to Ross-Ade Stadium for a Friday night matchup. The primetime kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on FOX. w
QUICK HITS
The Boilermakers are playing their fifth home game through the first seven games of the season, including the second Friday night contest.
Markus Bailey (2015-19), a four-year starting linebacker who went on to play five seasons in the NFL, will serve as Purdue’s honorary captain for Friday’s game.
Purdue is 3-0 this season when allowing less than 20 points. The Boilermakers limited Illinois to 17 points, while keeping Minnesota to 13 points to secure back-to-back victories.
The Boilermakers’ 28-point win over Minnesota was their largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game since beating Indiana 44-7 in the 2021 Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
Purdue’s three losses have been to opponents with a combined record of 16-1 and all ranked in the Top 25 (No. 2 Notre Dame: 6-0, No. 12 UCLA: 5-0, No. 21 Wake Forest: 5-1).
Fame Ijeboi leads the Purdue rushing attack, ranking second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally with nine rushing touchdowns. In the win over Minnesota, he became the fifth rusher in the country to produce a game of at least 195 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. His 195 rushing yards were the most by a Boilermaker since 2017 and the 15th most all-time.
The Boilermakers are outscoring opponents 47-27 in the third quarter this season.
While Purdue ranks fourth in the Big Ten and 19th nationally in passing offense, the Boilermakers racked up 305 rushing yards in the win over Minnesota. It was their highest output on the ground since rushing for 353 yards against Minnesota in 2023.
Jacobo Echeverria Lozano leads the Big Ten and ranks second in the country with 13 made field goals, the second most by a freshman kicker in program history. He is 13-for-14 on the year with a long of 48 yards.
HONORARY CAPTAIN
Markus Bailey (2015-19), a four-year starting linebacker for the Boilermakers before spending five seasons in the NFL, will serve as Purdue’s honorary captain for Friday night’s matchup.
Bailey recorded 327 tackles throughout his Purdue career, ranking 14th in program history. His 229 solo tackles rank 11th all-time.
He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft, spending four seasons with the team and helping them reach Super Bowl LVI.
Bailey played for the Arizona Cardinals during the 2024 campaign, his final season in the NFL.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
In 139 seasons of Purdue Football, the Boilermakers have played on Fridays 17 times throughout history, recording a 6-10-1 record. Ten of those games have been night games and only five have been in Ross-Ade Stadium.
Purdue kicked off this season with a Friday night victory over Indiana State, 44-19. The on-field temperature reached 93 degrees, with a real feel of 103, the hottest recorded night game at Ross-Ade Stadium this century.
The 2026 campaign marks the second time in the past three years that the Boilermakers have played two Friday games in a season.
BACK-2-BACK B1G WINS
Purdue improved to 2-1 in Big Ten play with back-to-back victories over Illinois (24-17) and Minnesota (41-13), thanks to strong play on both sides of the ball.
Averaging more than 400 yards of total offense, the Boilermakers proved they can win with both the passing game and the ground game. Ryan Browne’s arm led the way in Purdue’s win at Illinois, while the Boilermakers racked up 305 rushing yards in the victory over Minnesota.
Defensively, Purdue limited the B1G foes to 15 points per game. Both quarterbacks were held to less than 250 passing yards, completing only 57 percent of their throws. The run defense surrendered just 147 yards.
Purdue ran for 305 rushing yards compared to Minnesota’s 27. The 278-yard margin is the largest by Purdue since 2014 at Illinois. It is also the third-largest margin between two power conference schools this year.
A DOMINANT VICTORY
Purdue dominated all three phases of the game in the 41-13 win over Minnesota, the Boilermakers’ largest margin of victory since beating Indiana 44-7 for the Old Oaken Bucket in 2021.
The Purdue defense limited the Golden Gophers to only 27 rushing yards, the fewest rushing yards allowed by the Boilermakers in a Big Ten game since 2004 (18 – Penn State).
Minnesota converted just 10 first downs in the game, the fewest allowed by a Purdue defense since 2017 against Rutgers. The Gophers did not convert a single rushing first down, the first time a Purdue defense has accomplished this since at least 1995. It was just the fourth time since 1995 that a Big Ten team held another Big Ten team to 10 or fewer first down conversions with 0 rushing first down conversions.
Offensively, the Boilermakers ran for 305 yards for their highest rushing output since recording 353 rushing yards in the 2023 victory over Minnesota. On the second drive of the game, Purdue put together a season-long 98-yard scoring drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock; it was the team’s second scoring drive of at least 95 yards this season (95 at UCLA).
For special teams, Jacobo Echeverria Lozano was perfect, connecting on field goals from 45 yards and 28 yards while making all five PATs. The kickoff coverage unit forced Minnesota to start drives on the nine and 14-yard lines off of kickoffs in the first half, and in the fourth quarter, the Boilermakers forced a muffed punt.
JOJO’S MOJO
In his first season as a Boilermaker, junior linebacker Jojo Hayden has become one of the leaders of the defense.
He paces Purdue in tackles (40) and has been the team’s leading tackler in the last two games, both Boilermaker victories.
Against Minnesota, Hayden tallied a team-high seven tackles and also hauled in his first career interception.
Hayden’s 91.2 run defense grade ranked seventh in the FBS and his 85.1 defensive grade was 21st overall in the FBS in Week 6, both career highs.
THE FAME GAME
Going up against his former team, Fame Ijeboi produced the best game of his career and delivered a historical performance.
The sophomore running back had career highs in carries (31), rushing yards (195) and rushing touchdowns (3), racking up the most rushing yards by a Boilermaker since Markell Jones in 2017 (217 vs. Indiana) and the 15th-most all-time.
According to PFF, he forced 18 missed tackles, the most missed tackles forced in a game since Ashton Jeanty (Boise State) versus San Diego State in 2024 and the most in a Big Ten game since Blake Corum (Michigan) had 24 versus Michigan State in 2022.
Ijeboi became just the fourth Boilermaker since 1995 to record at least 195 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a game, the first since Montrell Lowe in 2000 (208 rushing yards, 4 TDs vs. Indiana).
EASLEY’S MONEY IN PASS PRO
After not starting the first two weeks of the season, Marques Easley took over in game three against UCLA and has produced one of the best pass blocking campaigns nationally this season.
Easley’s 87.3 pass blocking grade ranks sixth by a Power Four offensive lineman (minimum 100 pass blocking snaps) since he took over as Purdue’s starting left guard in Week 3, according to PFF.
In 154 pass blocking snaps this season, he owns a 99.5 percent pass blocking efficiency that ranks tied for 16th by a Power Four offensive lineman and seventh by a Power Four guard (minimum 150 pass blocking snaps).
Expanding to the entire FBS, Easley’s efficiency ranks 28th among offensive lineman and 12th among guards.
• He has allowed just one quarterback pressure and one hurry.
HE’S YA BOY, IJEBOI
Fame Ijeboi has made an immediate impact for Purdue after transferring from Minnesota, becoming one of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball.
With 549 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the year, he ranks second in the Big Ten and ranks fifth nationally in rushing touchdowns.
He is one rushing TD away from becoming the 22nd Boilermaker to record double-digit rushing touchdowns in a season. He has a pair of three-touchdown games this season, the first Boilermaker to accomplish the feat since Kory Sheets in 2008.
Ijeboi had the best game of his career against his former team, running for 195 yards and three scores to lead Purdue to a 28-point win over Minnesota. It was the 15th-best rushing game in terms of yardage in program history as well as the most by a Boilermaker since 2017. He became the second Boilermaker this century to total at least 195 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in a single game.
Against Wake Forest, Ijeboi finished with 114 rushing yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns. Ijeboi also added six receptions for 42 yards. Finding the end zone three times, he became the first Boilermaker with three rushing touchdowns in a game since D.J. Knox helped Purdue knock off No. 2 Ohio State in the famous Tyler Trent Game (Oct. 20, 2018).
In his first game as a Boilermaker, Ijeboi racked up 87 yards and a touchdown while averaging a staggering 7.9 yards per carry to help Purdue roll past Indiana State.
O-LINE PROTECTING QB1
The offensive line, which changed configurations after week two and again after week four, has found a new groove over the past two weeks.
Purdue’s pass blocking has not allowed a sack in back-to-back games for the first time since playing Minnesota (Nov. 20) and Rutgers (Nov. 28) in 2020.
According to PFF, Marques Easley and Micah Banuelos tied for the team lead with an 85.3 pass blocking grade against Minnesota.
Banuelos has now topped 85.0 in pass blocking in three of the last four games, while Easley has topped 80.0 in three of the last four.
• Nuku Mafi added an 81.3 in pass protection for his highest grade as a Boilermaker and the second-highest of his career.
B1G TIME PASSER
Ryan Browne has been one of the best quarterbacks in college football, ranking in the Top 20 in passing yards (14th-1,549), completions (25th-20.7 per game) and completion percentage (24th-68.9%).
He is just one of two quarterbacks in the nation (Lincoln Kienholz – Louisville) with at least 1,500 yards passing, a completion percentage over 68 percent and one or fewer interceptions this season.
Throwing only one interception on the year, Browne is the only Purdue starting quarterback since at least 1970 to toss just one or fewer interceptions through the first six games of a season.
Surpassing 300 passing yards in each of the first three contests, Browne joined Jim Everett (1985, twice), Drew Brees (1998, 1999), Kyle Orton (2004), Curtis Painter (2007), David Blough (2018) and Aidan O’Connell (2021, 2022) as the only Purdue quarterbacks to throw for 300 yards in three straight games.
Browne has six 300-yard passing games for his career, tied with Scott Campbell (1980-83) for eighth on the all-time charts.
COMPLETE GAME NOTES: https://storage.googleapis.com/purduesports-com-prod/2026/10/12/bLgKZnr0ufIFPXLRntn3XcCkTSYidF8sv4vLlD9f.pdf
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WASHINGTON GAME NOTES:
THE GAME: In a season that has already seen the Washington football team play host to Minnesota for the first time in 50 years, to Iowa for the first time in 63 years, and in one that will see Penn State make its first visit to Seattle in 105 years, the Huskies (3-3 overall, 0-3 Big Ten) will make their first trip to Purdue (3-3, 2-1) in 36 seasons this Friday. The game will be the UW’s second straight Friday contest. It kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT in West Lafayette, Ind., and will air on FOX television. Last season, the Huskies and Boilermakers squared off as Big Ten foes for the first time, a 49-13 UW win at Husky Stadium, having last played in the 2002 Sun Bowl. Following this week’s Purdue trip, the Huskies will have a week off before returning to the road to face Nebraska on Halloween. UW’s next home game is vs. Penn State, for Homecoming, on Saturday, Nov. 7.
QUICK HITTERS: After playing four home games over the course of 21 days (Sept. 6-26) to begin the season, UW will now play just one home game (last Friday vs. Iowa) over a span of 41 days (Sept. 27-Nov. 6) … following the Iowa game, UW will go 28 days before playing host to Penn State for Homecoming on Nov. 7 … Husky punter Hunter Green is No. 6 in the FBS and No. 1 in the Big Ten in punting average (47.6 yard per punt, on pace for No. 2 in UW history) … Green’s career average of 45.9 (on 229 career punts) ranks No. 2 among active NCAA Division I (FBS and FCS) punters … in the 2026 opener, UW held Washington State to no successful third-down conversion attempts, in 11 tries … the last time a Husky opponent failed to convert a single third-down conversion in a game was in the Huskies’ memorable, 16-13 win over USC in 2009 … UW started four first-year players in the WSU game, three on defense (edge Ramzak Fruean, defensive tackle Derek Colman-Brusa and nickelback Jeron Jones) and one on offense (left tackle Kodi Greene) … another, RB Brian Bonner Jr., started vs. Utah State … last season, first-year players (i.e., true freshmen) made 44 starts for the Huskies, who are on pace to break that record once more in 2026 … UW QB Demond Williams Jr. surpassed 1,000 career rushing yards in the Utah State game, and now has 1,076 … he’s the third UW QB to rush for 1,000 career yards, joining Jake Locker (1,939) and Marques Tuiasosopo (1,495).
TELEVISION: The UW-Purdue game will air on FOX television, with Dan Hellie and Robert Smith on the call. For more info, go to: www.foxsports.com/live.
RADIO: All Washington football games will air on the Washington Sports Network from Learfield, with Elise Woodward (play by play), former Husky tight end Cameron Cleeland (analyst), and Dave Mahler (sidelines) on the call. Radio coverage begins four hours before kickoff on the network’s flagship station – Seattle’s SportsRadio KJR 93.3 FM – with “Husky Gameday” live from The Zone for Husky home games. Statewide coverage on the 17-station Washington Sports Network begins two hours before kickoff. The entire broadcast is available worldwide on the Go Huskies mobile app and the Varsity app. The UW broadcast of this game will also air on Sirius/XM channel 257.
ACADEMIC SUCCESS: Washington’s football players have continued to perform at the highest academic levels, as the program continues to post impressive cumulative team GPAs. Last school year (2024-25), the UW football team achieved a team grade-point average of 3.31 in both the fall and winter quarters, and then wrapped up the year with a 3.27 in the spring quarter. In the spring quarter, a whopping 31 members of the UW roster earned a place on the Dean’s List, and 49 of the players on the 2026 roster were on the Dean’s List at least once in 2025-26 (most of them multiple times): Deji Ajose, Xe’ree Alexander, Buddah Al-Uqdah, Aiden Anderson, Dash Beierly, Elijah Brown, Jace Burton, Quaid Carr, D’Aryhian Clemons, Derek Colman-Brusa, Lowen Colman-Brusa, Charlie Crowell, Parker Cross, Decker DeGraaf, Kolt Dieterich, Luke Dunne, Kade Eldridge, Soane Faasolo, Jake Flores, Hunter Green, Kayden Greene, Kodi Greene, Landen Hatchett, Devin Hyde, Justin Hylkema, Ksani Jiles, Jacob Lane, Jayden Limar, Jacob Manu, Kai McClendon, Hunter McKee, Julian McMahan, Bodpegn Miller, John Mills, Ryken Moon, Hayden Moore, Baron Naone, Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, Donovan Robinson, Dylan Robinson, Tyler Robles, Victor Sanchez Hernandez, Champ Taulealea, Sam Vyhlidal, Beck Walker, C.J. Wallace, Isaiah Ward, Jordan Washington, and DeSean Watts.
IN THE CFP ERA: The era of the four-team College Football Playoff is gone, but that 10-season stretch (2014-2023) is instructive in terms of illustrating the teams that operated at the top level of the sport during that timespan, and Washington is one of those teams. Over that 10-year stretch, only 15 different programs earned a berth in the CFP semifinals, and only eight reached the tournament more than once. With two CPF berths in the four-team era (2016 and 2023), Washington is one of those eight, and one of just two programs to reach the four-team CFP under two different head coaches (Oklahoma was the other). Only six teams made more than two appearances: Alabama (8), Clemson (6), Ohio State (5), Oklahoma (4), Georgia (3) and Michigan (3). For what it’s worth, six more teams made their CFP debut in the 12-team bracket in 2024, and another five were first-time selections in 2025, but UW still remains one of just 11 teams to have appeared in the CFP more than once, when counting the latest data.
B1G TIME: As has been well documented over the last couple of years, Washington officially joined the Big Ten Conference ahead of the 2024-25 school year, effective on Aug. 2, 2024. The Huskies were joined be fellow former Pac-12 programs Oregon, UCLA and USC in making the move to the B1G, which now includes 18 schools. Washington was one of four founding members of the Pacific Coast Conference (along with Cal, Oregon and Oregon State), and, along with Cal, was one of just two teams that were a part of that league (which changed names to the AAWU, Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12) for the entirety of its full-fledged existence from 1915 through 2026.
CAPTAINS: The following players have been named captains for the 2026 season: Drew Azzopardi, Elinneus Davis, Landen Hatchett, Jacob Manu, Alex McLaughlin, John Mills and Demond Williams Jr. Hatchett and Williams were also captains in 2025. Mills in believed to be the first second-year/sophomore captain in program history.
FUTURE SCHEDULES: In October, 2023, the Big Ten revealed 18 football teams’ home and away, conference opponents for the next for the following five seasons (2024-28). Here are the UW’s home and road, Big Ten games, for the coming two years:
2027: home – Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, USC
road – Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers
2028: home – Michigan, Northwestern, UCLA, Wisconsin
road – Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon
HUSKIES vs. BOILERMAKERS HISTORY: Washington and Purdue have faced one another a total of 11 times, with UW holding an 8-2-1 record vs. the Boilermakers. UW lost the first meeting, in 1961, and tied the next the following season, before winning seven in a row, a stretch that ran through the 2001 Rose Bowl game. Purdue beat the Huskies at the 2002 Sun Bowl, but Washington won the most recent game, last season in Seattle.
The Huskies, fresh from a national championship year in 1960, opened the ’61 season at home vs. Purdue, with the visitors winning, 13-6. The Boilers got two Skip Ohl field goals and a 30-yard touchdown run from Dave Miller to take a 13-0 lead, and then held off UW, which managed only a 15-yard TD pass from Bill Siler to Jim Stiger early in the fourth. The following year, also in Seattle in season opener, the game finished in a 7-7 tie. UW’s Bob Monroe scored on a two-yard run in the first, and Purdue’s Tom Yakubowski scored from two yards out in the second to account for the final score. UW missed two late field-goal attempts that could have broken the tie.
A decade later, UW and Purdue once again met, in 1971 and 1972. In ’71, Washington fought to claim a 38-35 victory in a thriller that pitted starting QBs Sonny Sixkiller and Gary Danielson against one another. Sixkiller went 24-for-48 for 387 yards (breaking his own school record for passing yards), with two TDs and three interceptions. Danielson went 11-for-23 for 183 yards, with one score and two picks, but Sixkiller’s 33-yard toss to Tom Scott with 2:29 left in the game proved the winner. The following year in West Lafayette, the two quarterbacks squared off once again, and UW won, 22-21, on a field goal with 2:04 to play. Down 21-7, the Huskies scored 15 in the final quarter. Danielson rushed for 213 yards in the loss.
The series was renewed over four consecutive seasons, 1987-1990, with the Huskies winning all four. In 1987, Husky quarterback Chris Chandler passed for 200 yards and three touchdowns in a 21-10 Husky win in Seattle. The following year at Ross-Ade Stadium, Washington out-slugged the Boilermakers in a 20-6 win, despite just 294 yards of total offense.
In 1989, the 15th-ranked Dawgs rolled to a 38-9 win in Seattle, with Cary Conklin passing for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Greg Lewis rushed for 165 yards in the win. The following year back in Indiana, Washington pulled out a 20-14 win, thanks to a fourth-quarter, 35-yard TD pass from Mark Brunell to Orlando McKay, overcoming that had once been a 14-7 Purdue edge. Lewis rushed for 101 yards while Brunell passed for 150 and ran for 76.
It wasn’t until the end of the 2000 season when the Huskies and Boilermakers once again squared off on the gridiron, this time in the 2001 Rose Bowl game, which feature another matchup of high-profile QBs: Washington’s Marques Tuiasosopo and Purdue’s Drew Brees, the MVPs of the Pac-10 and Big Ten Conferences. With injured teammate Curtis Williams watching from the press box less than three months removed from the devasting injury that would eventually take his life, the Huskies took a 14-0 lead on runs from Braxton Cleman and Tuiasosopo, but Purdue cut the lead to 14-10 by half. In the third quarter, the Boilers tied the score at 17-17, but a John Anderson field goal and touchdowns from Willie Hurst and Todd Elstrom gave the Huskies a 34-17 lead. A late Purdue score narrowed the gap. Tuiasosopo was the game’s MVP, and the Huskies finished the season 11-1 and No. 3 in the final AP poll.
Two seasons later, the teams once again met in a bowl, this time at the 2002 Sun Bowl in El Paso. Washington took a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, but Purdue stormed back, trailing 17-14 at half. The Boilermakers then outscored the Huskies, 17-0, in the third period and coasted to a 34-24 win, reversing the Rose Bowl score from two years earlier. Kyle Orton passed for 283 yards for Purdue, while Cody Pickett notched 272 for UW.
The series was renewed last season on Nov. 15, 2025, when Washington earned a 49-13 victory in Husky Stadium. UW quarterback Demond Williams Jr. had a very efficient game, completing 16-of-19 for 257 yards and two touchdowns and Jordan Washington rushed for 108 yards on just five carries for the Dawgs.
COMPLETE GAME NOTES: https://gohuskies.com/documents/2026/10/12/FBRel_2026_7_PURDUE.pdf
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