Our eclectic look at the numbers surrounding Purdue this week.

Charlie Jones' massive start to the season continued with a 188-yard game on Saturday. He sits atop all players in the FBS with 32 receptions and is second in the country in yards with 474, behind only Rashee Rice of SMU with 491. He is one of only two Big Ten players this century with more than 470 receiving yards in his first three games of a season - Lee Evans of Wisconsin had 485 through three games in 2001.

Only once since 2000 has a quarterback thrown for more passes against a Syracuse defense than Aidan O'Connell did on Saturday: Louisville's Brian Brohm, younger brother of current Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm, tossed 65 passes in a 38-35 loss to the Orange in 2007.

Purdue's 138 penalty yards were the most for the Boilers since at least 2000, and is tied for the 11th-most penalty yards of any Big Ten team in a game this century. It's also the second-most penalty yards in a game for any team in any conference this year.

The last time the Boilers reached a bowl game after a 1-2 start was 1980, when they followed up their 1-2 start with a 6-game winning streak en route to a 9-3 season. Since then, Purdue has had 13 starts with a 1-2 mark and went on to finish those seasons 39-108-1, or a winning percentage of 26.7%. Of course, Purdue started 0-3 in 2018 and made a bowl, so there’s that.

Aidan O'Connell racked up over 400 passing yards for the fifth time in his career last week. He's the first Purdue QB since Drew Brees to throw for over 400 yards five or more times. Purdue is now 3-2 in games where O'Connell notches 400 passing yards.

Purdue does not often play teams from Florida. Its last matchup against a Sunshine State team was in 1999 when it blew out then-Independent UCF 47-13 in Orlando. The Boilers are 3-5 overall against Florida teams: 1-5 against Miami and 2-0 against UCF. Purdue is also 0-3 in bowl games played in Florida, most recently a 24-7 loss to Maryland in the 2006 Champs Sports Bowl.

Homecoming has not been particularly kind to the Boilers of late. They're 4-7 since 2010 on Homecoming, with many of the losses being blowouts - the average margin of defeat has been 20.2 points. Only twice in that time frame has Homecoming not been against a Big Ten opponent - in 2018, Purdue beat Boston College 30-13, and in 2013 it was spanked by Northern Illinois 55-24. The Boilermakers are looking for their first Homecoming win since 2019 when they crushed Maryland.

Under Jeff Brohm, in games where Purdue has at any point held a one-score lead in the fourth quarter, the Boilers are 14-7. Last year, however, Purdue 5-0 in games where they held one-score leads.

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