Purdue Has No Business Talking This Much Trash About Indiana

Drew Thirion|published: Thu 6th August, 22:30 2026

Sep 18, 2021; South Bend, Indiana, USA; A Purdue Boilermakers helmet sits ready on the bench in the third quarter against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

When you think of Purdue University, you probably think of the basketball team. Zach Edey, Glenn Robinson, Carsen Edwards, and Braden Smith are names synonymous with Purdue, but they all have something in common. None of these players have ever been a national champion.

While the Boilermaker basketball team hasn’t won a championship, they still have regularly had teams talented enough to win it all in March. Their football team… they haven’t finished a season with double-digit wins since 1979. This is a team that had NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, and even he couldn’t get them to 10 wins.

Purdue can be a lot of things, but nobody is going there because of their championship pedigree. However, since Curt Cignetti arrived in Bloomington, Indiana, every dormant football program across the country saw themselves in Indiana. They thought, if Indiana could win a national championship, then why can’t we?

Purdue’s new athletic director must’ve had similar feelings as he made some very bold claims in his introductory press conference.

You can hate Cignetti and Indiana as much as you want, but you will never take away the fact that they are champions. Not only were they champions, but in the first two seasons of the Cignetti era, they soundly defeated Purdue, 122-3, in aggregate.

I don’t want my AD to be afraid of other teams in my conference, but I also don’t want him to talk up a game my football team can't back up. Also, it’s not like there’s this new influx of talent in West Lafayette that will quickly turn things around. Indiana had more wins last season than Purdue has had since the start of 2022.

Then, when you pair poor talent on the field with the nation’s 60th-ranked recruiting class, things will once again be very ugly for the Boilermakers.

Worst of all, Cignetti isn’t known for letting up on the gas when his team is in control. He has throttled the bottom half of the Big 10 during his first two seasons, and I’m guessing 2026 will be no different. Coach Cignetti is not a guy I need to give extra bulletin board material to, especially when you're his biggest rival. On the other hand, Purdue might be so far behind Indiana that they aren’t even wasting any energy getting annoyed by such ridiculous statements.