Big Ten unveils new scheduling model, Purdue finds out 2024-25 opponents

As the Big Ten conference expands once again in 2024, we now know Purdue's conference opponents for the next two seasons, along with its protected annual rivals moving forward.

The conference will eliminate divisions following the 2023-24 season, per the Big Ten Network broadcast. The top two teams in the conference will meet in the Big Ten Championship Game, as opposed to years past.

The Boilermakers will have protected rivalry games against Illinois and Indiana each year, which is no surprise given the history of each series. Those games are part of the Big Ten's "Flex Protect" model.

Purdue's Big Ten home games in 2024 consist of Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, and USC. The Boilermakers will head on the road in matchups against Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, and Wisconsin next year.

The obvious headliner will be the matchup against conference newcomer USC in West Lafayette in 2024. The teams have not faced off since September 1998, and the Trojans hold a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series.

The Big Ten slate adds to the non-conference opponents the Boilermakers already have in place for 2024. Purdue will kick off the season on September 7th in Ross-Ade Stadium against Indiana State.

After playing for the Shillelagh Trophy for nearly 70 straight years, the Purdue-Notre Dame rivalry game came to a halt in 2014. The two teams resumed the rivalry in 2021, but will take another three-year gap until their next meeting in September 2024. Purdue will host the Fighting Irish in Ross-Ade Stadium on September 16th.

A trip to Oregon State will wrap up the non-conference schedule for Purdue in 2024. The two teams last met in 2021, when the Boilermakers defeated the Beavers 30-21 in the season-opener.

The following year looks quite similar for the Boilermakers, but they are adding a West Coast trip to their schedule.

The only teams Purdue will battle in the first two years of a new-look Big Ten are Northwestern, Indiana, and Illinois. Ryan Walters' group will play every other team in the conference over that span.

Purdue's home tilts in 2025 will come against Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio State. Michigan, Northwestern, Rutgers, and UCLA will travel to West Lafayette in two years.

After hosting USC in 2024, the Boilermakers will have a trip to Los Angeles to play the other Big Ten newcomer the following year. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1980. The Bruins hold a 3-0-2 record over Purdue all-time, with two ties coming in 1959 and 1960.

Purdue's non-conference slate is also set to be another challenging task in 2025. The season-opener will be in South Bend as Purdue travels to take on the Fighting Irish for the second consecutive season.

Following the in-state clash, North Carolina will come to West Lafayette in what will be the first-ever matchup between the Boilermakers and the Tar Heels on the gridiron. That matchup starts a home-and-home that includes a return trip to Chapel Hill in 2026.

Rounding out the 2025 non-conference for the Boilermakers is a home game against Miami (OH) on September 18th. Purdue holds a 9-3 record against the MAC school, with the last matchup being an overtime win for the Boilermakers in 2006.