Northwestern vs. Purdue Preview: Three things to know about the Boilermakers

1. Purdue is much, much better than last year.

With the hiring of Jeff Brohm, formerly of Western Kentucky, Purdue looks like it has made the hire it needed after the Darrell Hazell era. Brohm has already two Big Ten wins and a comfortable road win at Missouri. Purdue also played Wisconsin close and probably should’ve beaten both Nebraska and Rutgers. They have some steps to take toward becoming a great team, but things are looking up.

Purdue is no longer the doormat of the Big Ten statistically and is actually ahead of Northwestern in S&P+ (Bill Connelly’s rating system on SB Nation, which is still not mathematically impressed by winning three straight overtime games). They don’t excel much…