Last year's Old Oaken Bucket ended in a 56-3 blowout and a Big Ten title game berth for Indiana. This year's rivalry renewal in Bloomington has a similar shape to it, just with new names in the huddle.
Bush’s Picks
PURIU
PURIU
OverUnder
Best BetIndiana
Indiana walks in as the far more proven program, with a coach who hasn't lost this rivalry and a roster still stocked with high-end transfer talent even after major departures. Purdue is a rebuild project that hasn't won a Big Ten game in over a calendar year at this point. Until Odom's roster overhaul shows up in results against real competition, backing the Hoosiers here is the straightforward read.
Purdue
+Doubled win total in Odom's first season
+Overhauled offensive line, backfield via portal
+Odom expressing confidence in program direction
−Went 0-9 in Big Ten play in 2025
−Lost last meeting 56-3 in this rivalry
−Projected around 3-9 nationally for 2026
Indiana
+Cignetti undefeated vs Purdue since arriving
+Landed proven grad transfer QB Josh Hoover
+Among preseason national title contenders again
−Losing Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza to NFL
−Also lost key transfer stars Fisher, Sarratt, Ponds
−Unproven new starter carries real risk
Indiana enters the 2026 season breaking in a new starting quarterback after Fernando Mendoza's Heisman-caliber run pushed him to the NFL. TCU grad transfer Josh Hoover, who threw for nearly 4,000 yards in his final season with the Horned Frogs, steps into the job, and Curt Cignetti has yet to lose to Purdue since taking over in Bloomington. That track record is the backbone of everything Indiana is trying to build toward again in 2026.
Purdue's rebuild under Barry Odom is still very much under construction. The Boilermakers went 2-10 and didn't win a single Big Ten game in 2025, and Odom responded this offseason by bringing in 53 newcomers, including 32 transfer portal additions aimed squarely at fixing the offensive line and run game. Former South Carolina blockers Jatavius Shivers and Boaz Stanley, plus transfer backs Fame Ijeboi and Jerrick Gibson, are the pieces Odom hopes turn a lost season into something resembling progress.
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The gap between these two programs right now is about as wide as it gets in a rivalry game. Indiana is being talked about as a preseason national championship contender with a win total near the top of the sport, while national projections have Purdue finishing around 3-9. That disparity is exactly why last year's Bucket game turned into a laugher in West Lafayette, and it's the backdrop for whatever storyline develops between now and this rematch.
Purdue Boilermakers
Nov 20?vs Wisconsin—
Nov 13?@ Iowa—
Nov 6?vs Maryland—
Oct 30?@ Penn State—
Oct 16?vs Washington—
Oct 9?vs Minnesota—
Oct 2?@ Illinois—
Sep 25?vs Notre Dame—
Sep 19?@ UCLA—
Sep 12?vs Wake Forest—
Sep 4?vs Indiana State—
Indiana Hoosiers
Nov 20?@ Washington—
Nov 13?vs USC—
Oct 30?vs Minnesota—
Oct 16?vs Ohio State—
Oct 9?@ Nebraska—
Oct 3?@ Rutgers—
Sep 25?vs Northwestern—
Sep 19?vs Western Kentucky—
Sep 12?vs Howard—
Sep 5?vs North Texas—
Recent form.
Indiana's own questions aren't nothing, though. Cignetti has to replace not just Mendoza but a wave of the James Madison transfers who became the identity of that historic 12-0 run — Aiden Fisher, Elijah Sarratt and D'Angelo Ponds are all gone. The Hoosiers are betting that Cignetti's eye for portal talent, which has been the best in the sport the last two cycles, holds up again with everyone else circling for a piece of what he's built.
Purdue Boilermakers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Indiana Hoosiers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
For Purdue, the Bucket game has doubled as a measuring stick for how far Odom's roster overhaul has actually come. A one-score push, let alone a win, would be treated as validation for the rebuild after back-to-back blowout losses in this series. For Indiana, it's about proving last season wasn't a one-year lightning strike before this rivalry date on Friday, November 27 closes out the regular season.
