Since Pat Fitzgerald was hired in 2006, Northwestern is 8-4 against Purdue, including winning six of the last seven. That is Northwestern's best 12-game stretch against Purdue in the history of the matchup. In the 12 games between Northwestern and Purdue prior to Fitzgerald, Purdue was 7-5, with all seven of those wins coming in a winning streak from 1997 to 2003. Purdue is 51-33-1 overall against Northwestern.

Purdue racked up 481 total offensive yards in the loss to Ohio State on Saturday. Since 2000, Purdue has lost 17 games while putting up 480 or more yards in a game. Most of those games were fairly close. In fact, this weekend's 28-point loss while putting up 481 yards is the second-most lopsided Purdue loss while putting up that yardage since 2000. The only game that was worse was a home date against Northern Illinois in 2013, when Purdue put up 524 yards, held NIU to 402, and still lost by 31 points (55-24).

In Purdue's three matchups against top-6 teams this year, Aidan O'Connell is averaging 393 passing yards and has thrown eight touchdowns with no interceptions. In his other three starts on the year, he is averaging 268 passing yards per game with four touchdowns and four interceptions. Only 13 times since 2000 has a Purdue QB thrown for 375 yards in a game with no picks--Aidan O'Connell has done so three times this year, and all against top-6 opponents.

Purdue's 4.8 yards per rush against Ohio State were Purdue's best rushing performance on a per-play basis this year, and the 13th-highest in Brohm's tenure. The last time Purdue ran for 4.8 yards per carry or more was in 2020 against Rutgers, when it managed 5.3 yards per rush. The last time the Boilermakers did so against a ranked foe was earlier that year, when they averaged 5.0 yards per rush in a 31-34 loss to No. 21 Minnesota.

Jersey numbers of the Purdue QBs that have thrown for four TDs with no picks and have lost the game. Saturday was only the third time since at least 2000 that it has happened for Purdue. The other two were in 2013, when Danny Etling (No. 5) notched 485 passing yards but the Boilers still suffered a 20-point loss to Indiana, and in 2018, when David Blough (11) tossed for 386 yards but lost in double overtime to Wisconsin at home.

Aidan O'Connell is currently sitting at 5th in the nation in completion percentage on the year, and first in the Big Ten by a fairly wide margin. His 72.4% ranks behind only Will Rogers (Mississippi State), Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma), Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina), and Brock Purdy (73.4%). The next-best QB in the Big Ten is Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa, with 69.3%.

C.J. Stroud's quarterback performance against Purdue was perhaps the most dominant of the century. He's the only QB to throw 35+ passes with an 80%+ completion percentage and 350+ yards with 5+ touchdowns against Purdue since at least 2000. The stats he recorded this weekend have only been matched 12 times since 2000, the last time being in 2014 when Brandon Doughty of Western Kentucky (then coached by Jeff Brohm) put on an absolute show against Bowling Green.

Purdue opened as a 12-point road favorite against Northwestern in Wrigley Field this weekend. They were a 35-point road favorite against UConn earlier this year, but before that you'd have to go all the way back to 2007 when a 3-0 Purdue squad was a 14-point road favorite against then-1-2 Minnesota. Purdue has only been 12+-point road favorites nine times since 1995, and it is 9-0 in those games. Twice it has occurred against Northwestern: in 2002, Purdue was favored by 14 and won by 29; in 1998, Purdue was favored by 15 and won by 35.

Purdue's record when playing in venues inhabited by a Major League Baseball team at the time the game was played. That includes baseball venues in Atlanta (Fulton County Stadium), Baltimore (Municipal Stadium), Boston (Fenway Park) Cleveland (Municipal Stadium), Houston (Astrodome), Los Angeles (Coliseum) and New York (Polo Grounds, Yankee Stadium).

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.