Following victories against Ball State and FCS Southern Illinois where Purdue was never really pushed to the brink on either side of the ball, the schedule takes a sudden and dramatic shift with the Trojans of USC visiting West Lafayette for a 3:30pm kickoff. That’s a big deal as USC has historically not played well when traveling out to the eastern time zone and struggled to an 0-5 in those games in 2024. Will that cause this season’s USC team to struggle? Time will tell and this is going to be
the game that likely tells the story more than any others for Purdue.
Purdue currently leads the nation as one of the least penalized teams in the country and has shown an immense amount of growth in every aspect of the program. That is part of the formula Purdue needs to continue developing if they want to give themselves chances to win some of these bigger games on the schedule. That is what USC will bring with them along with Lincoln Riley’s typically high flying offense.
The odds makers at Draft Kings have drawn up a lot of different intriguing bets for this game. The Boilers are currently at -20.5 after initially opening at -23.5 and the O/U 59.5. Bettors are also getting + money for anytime touchdowns from Arhmad Branch, Michael Jackson III, and George Burhenn. Those are three receivers who are likely to see their fair share of targets this week who have shown an ability to get into the endzone already in their careers. Draft Kings also have a Purdue first drive result where every options is + money outside of a punt.
