All roads are pointing to The Game for the Michigan Wolverines after clobbering the Michigan State Spartans last weekend. The next roadblock is the Purdue Boilermakers, potentially the worst team in the Big
Ten. They won their first two games of the year against Southern Illinois and Ball State and haven’t won since.
It could be quite easy for this team to look over a Purdue squad that has kept a couple games close because of the offense. That’s what will need to happen for the Boilermakers to have a shot at upsetting Michigan. These three guys must play a prominent role for that to happen.
QB Ryan Browne
It’s a homecoming game for redshirt sophomore quarterback Ryan Browne. His hometown is Clarkston, Michigan and his father, Jim, was a fullback for the Detroit Lions in 1985 and the AFL’s Detroit Drive in 1988.
Ryan graduated from Milford Academy in New York, but was never recruited by Michigan. Instead, Purdue and Toledo wound up being his best offers. He picked Purdue and started two games in 2024. Oddly, Browne spent the spring with the North Carolina Tar Heels and new head coach Bill Belichick, but opted to transfer back to Purdue before the start of the season.
The decision proved prudent, as he was named the starter and has seen a ton of usage. In eight games, Browne has thrown for more than 300 yards and 35 attempts three times. He has thrown the ball 242 times, the third-most in the conference, and that’s with him missing the majority of the Northwestern game due to injury.
The problem is Browne has been far from efficient with those opportunities because most of them come in desperation when behind. He has seven interceptions and has completed only 59.5 percent of his passes. On top of that, he is constantly under pressure and has been sacked 11 times.
The Wolverines are one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers, and if they put Purdue in a spot they have been in many times this season, they should have the chance to to bury Browne and the Boilermakers quickly.
RB Devin Mockobee
In what feels like a parallel universe for Purdue at this point, Devin Mockobee put up decent numbers — more than 100 total yards and a touchdown — against the Wolverines in the Big Ten Championship in 2022. That’s when he was a redshirt freshman.
Now in the final year of eligibility, he is running the rock for the Boilermakers with his third coach in five years. With a negative game script and a poor offensive line, Mockobee isn’t having the season his potential had previously showed, as he has 521 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.
Where he is still making plays is in the receiving game. Mockobee has 18 catches for 215 yards, good for 11.9 per catch. He’s just one reception behind having the second-most on the team and is fourth in receiving yards.
He’s capable of making the big plays like this one if he finds the right hole, and he’s done it throughout his entire career. Purdue has a chance of keeping this game close if it can find a way to build on the run game and use Mockobee effectively.
Edge CJ Nunnally IV
Head coach Barry Odom came into a really tough situation at Purdue, but he found a diamond in the rough with CJ Nunnally IV. The Akron transfer had 13 career sacks in two years with the Zips. Now, he’s keeping the ball rolling in his first Power 4 season and is on pace for a career high, as he already has five sacks and a forced fumble. When Purdue had a two-possession lead before eventually losing to Rutgers last week, Nunnally had this strip sack of Athan Kaliakmanis.
Michigan has a young offensive line, with three starters that are redshirt freshmen. Tack on a true freshman quarterback who hasn’t shown consistency under pressure, and Nunnally could find his way into the backfield to put the offense under some heat.
Likely, the Wolverines will use the ground game as a counter to his pass rush and to control the clock, similar to the way they won last week at Michigan State. But if they find themselves in a position where they need to throw the football, expect Nunnally to get some pressure on Bryce Underwood.
