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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-05-15 20:05:21+00:00.
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.
At #100, Purdue (high = 68, low = 120) comes in as the first P4 team on the countdown (and the one with the highest variance in preseason projections, though it’s not as much of a runaway as you’d think!). Let’s face it, the Boilermakers were not good last year, going 1-11 and being held to 10 points or less 7 times (including 3 shutouts). Things were sufficiently bleak that they cut their losses with Ryan Walters after only 2 years in the post Brohm era (which wasn’t exactly the halcyon days of Purdue, since they were only 36-35 from 2017-2022), but it should be pointed out that the team occasionally fought for Walters, taking #23 Illinois to OT on the road, losing to Northwestern in OT and coming back to make it a 7 point game in East Lansing. Still, it was hard to see light at the end of the tunnel, so the train needed a new conductor, which is why they went out and got Barry Odom after the excellent job he did at UNLV. He’s going to have his work cut out for him this year, since Purdue ranks in the bottom 10 in returning production nationally (which might not necessarily be a bad thing). He hit the portal pretty hard, bringing in 54(!!) new players for the 46th ranked portal class, which is still 14th in the B1G. Coupled with a meager recruiting class (dead last in conference and 90th nationally), that equates to the 64th best incoming class in the country, and the 17th best class in the B1G (take that, Northwestern!). The projected two deep suggests they’re all going to need name tags in the locker room, with 33 transfer players (including 17 starters), meaning Purdue really is a question mark and that high variance is warranted. The schedule sets up with two should be wins before the B1G (plus a trip to South Bend) allows reality to slap them in the face. It’s really hard to see a path to bowl eligibility in 2025, but 3 or 4 wins could lay the foundation for respectability in future seasons.