After one week of college football, Purdue sits at 1-0 following a victory over FCS rival, Indiana State. The Boilermakers took down the Sycamores 44-19 while using a strong 21-0 3rd quarter to put the game away before ISU scored 13 garbage-time points. Purdue’s Week 2 opponent, Wake Forest, also comes into the week 1-0 after defeating Akron 38-16 at home Saturday. The game also feature the opponent scoring 13 points in garbage time to tighten the score and cover the spread. So now we will see two
Power Four opponents face off in Ross Ade Stadium. Purdue is looking to escape the shadow of years past and Wake Forest provides a good litmus test for the Boilermakers. Wake Forest is trying to reach the next level under year 2 coach Jake Dickert. Purdue is an opponent that Wake Forest want to expect to beat to show they are taking the next step forward. We have a spread on this game to see where these teams stand at the moment. Let’s take a look:
According to our friends over at FanDuel, Purdue will go into Week 2 as a 4.5 point underdog to Wake Forest. As of Sunday evening, the Demon Deacons sit at -194 to win outright and -106 to cover the 4.5 point spread. Conversely, Purdue sits at +160 to win outright and -114 to cover the spread. The over / under for the game is currently 49.5 points.
As a quick comparison of the two schools, each used a statistically strong performance from their quarterback to guide them to victory in Week 1. For Purdue, Ryan Browne finished with 23 completed passes. 317 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. For Wake Forest, junior QB Gio Lopez had 21 completed passes. 350 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. It should also be noted that both Ryan Browne and Gio Lopez transferred to North Carolina at some point last season. Ryan Browne transferred to UNC in December of 2024 before reentering the transfer portal on April 16, 2025. This was one day prior to Lopez announcing his commitment to UNC from South Alabama. Lopez went on to be the staring QB for UNC in a rough season for the Tarheels.
Purdue’s leading rusher was Fame Ijeboi who had 11 carries, 87 rushing yards, 1 rushing touchdown as well as 2 receptions for 30 yards. Wake Forest’s top rusher was junior RB Ty Clark III who finished with 7 carries and 105 rushing yards. And for receiving, Purdue’s Asaad Waseem had 8 targets, 6 catches, 107 receiving yards, and 1 receiving touchdown while WF’s senior receiver, Carlos Hernandez, had 9 targets, 5 catches, 165 receiving yards, and 1 receiving touchdown. Defensively, Purdue recorded 3 sacks while Wake Forest recorded 2. Each team forced 1 takeaway while have 0 giveaways. Purdue’s takeaway was an interception returned for a touchdown while Wake Forest had a forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Obviously, Wake Forest is favored in this game, but considering the past 3 seasons of Purdue football, the Boilermakers have a reasonable shot at taking this non-conference game in front of their home crowd.
