Welcome to Boilermusings, your weekly recap for all of Purdue sports with some thoughts and commentary as well. As usual this time of year, we begin with football. There was always a real possibility Purdue would be 1-3 at this point in the season. In fact, the record is not a surprise. Much was made of the difficult schedule the Boilermakers faced. It is the way that Purdue has lost these last three games.

The Notre Dame loss was appalling. It looked like it would at least be competitive going into that game. Instead, we got the worst loss in program history. The Oregon State loss was frustrating. Yes, it was by 17 points, but Purdue gave up a defensive touchdown and had two first half trips to the red zone that ended in no points. Scores there completely change the game.

I would classify the loss to Nebraska as just disappointing. The Purdue defense played some inspired football in the first half. They gave up yards, but no points as they even blocked a pair of field goals. The offense even appeared to get on track with a nice drive for a field goal to start the second half. At that point the defense was rested, the offense was actually moving, and things looked pretty good.

What happened instead was more stagnant offense and the defense finally wore down. For the third straight week Purdue gave up a defensive score, and this one was a backbreaker. The scoreboard may read 28-10, but this is a game Purdue had every opportunity to win. Instead, a rash of penalties, ineffective offense, and a worn out defense turned a close game into another multi-score loss.

That slow start has now cost Graham Harrell his job. It is a bit of a stunning move in that it happened just four games into the season, but aside from the season opener against Indiana State the Purdue offense has been moribund. We’ll know more about Purdue’s new playcaller at today’s press conference, but wih his firing coach Walters has proven he is willing to at least try something new when the status quo is clearly not working.

It gets no easier going forward. Five of Purdue's remaining eight opponents are currently in the top 25, and three are in the top 10. Right now the Boilermakers are one of the worst types of football teams. They have a decent (at times) defense that would be enough if the offense was working as expected, but they aren’t making any game-changing plays either since Purdue has yet to force a turnover. The offense is just a complete mess where nothing is working. Does Harrell’s dismissal change that? We will see.

Purdue is staring at a very dismal final two months of the season without drastic improvement, and with a poor finish there will be a lot of pressure to perform in 2025 (where, at least on paper, the schedule is easier).

Volleyball Gets Split to Start Big Ten Play

Big Ten play started this week, and that means a very challenging slate lies ahead. Purdue started with a tough challenge Wednesday night against No. 4 Penn State, and the Nittany Lions were able to pull off the road sweep of #10 Purdue in convincing fashion. The Nittany Lions dominated set 1 25-14 and jumped out to an 18-9 lead in the second set before Purdue rallied to fall 25-21. The run continued in the third set as Penn State led throughout to clinch the match 25-20.

Purdue’s first road game of the season came at No. 16 Minnesota on Saturday and the Boilers responded with a five set win thanks to a fantastic effort by Raven Colvin. Colvin was all over the place with 19 kills, seven aces, and five blocks. She is currently leading the Big Ten in blocks and has become one of the nation’s premier defenders, but her offensive game was on point against the Golden Gophers.

The first two sets were tight as Purdue took set 1 26-24 before Minnesota took set 2 25-23. Purdue bounced back to win set three 25-20, but Minnesota stayed in the match with a 25-23 set four win. Julia Kane delivered a pair of service aces in the fifth set to put Purdue ahead 13-7 before Colvin sealed it with a kill.

Purdue now sits at 10-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, but all three losses have come against opponents currently in the top ten nationally. This week the Boilers travel to Northwestern on Friday before hosting Michigan State on Sunday.

Soccer Earns Pacific Northwest Split

After opening the Big Ten season with a win over Northwestern Purdue had a run of play against the new members of the Big Ten. The Boilers dropped home matches last week again USC and UCLA, but got back on track this weekend with a split in the Pacific Northwest against Washington and Oregon.

In Thursday’s match at Washington the Huskies got a goal in each half to earn a 2-0 win. They dominated possession and Emily Edwards had a great game with eight saves on 10 shots on goal. Purdue did manage three shots on goal, but couldn’t get one in the back of the net.

After being shutout in three straight matches Purdue finally got back on the scoreboard Sunday when Emilia Deppe scored in the 10th minute of the game. The defense held from there, allowing just three shots on goal that were all saved by Edwards.

Purdue is now 6-5-1 on the season, and 2-3 in Big Ten play. The six wins this season matches the total of wins Purdue got in the previous two seasons combined, and during those seasons the Boilers were held winless in conference play. Purdue has just one match next weekend on Sunday against Illinois at home.

Juana Larranaga Finishes as Runner-Up in Milwaukee Tennis Classic

The women's tennis team was in Wisconsin this weekend taking part in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic and Juana Larranaga made quite a run int he singles event. She defeated Tennessee's Saray Yli-Piipari 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 and Navy's Emily Tannenbaum 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Friday to reach the quarterfinals of the singles draw. On Saturday she defeated Tennessee's Maeve Thornton 7-6, 6-3 and Oakland's Anaelle Leclerq-Ficher 6-2, 6-2 to reach the championship on Sunday.

Larranaga's run ended in the final with a 2-6, 1-6 loss to Tennessee's Vanessa Suarez.

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