Purdue Football Schedules Home-and-Home with Vanderbilt

It looks like last December's basketball game in Nashville will not be the only sports meeting with the respective black & gold members of the Big Ten and SEC. At tonight's Coaches Caravan at Victory Field in Indianapolis Morgan Burke had some exciting news concerning future football schedules:

Per AD Morgan Burke, #Purdue and Vanderbilt have a tentative agreement to play in football. 1st game in 2019

— mike carmin (@carminjc) May 14, 2015

This continues the process of beefing up the schedule since Notre Dame pushed us out. It gives the Boilers upcoming series with Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Nevada, and Wake Forest in the coming seasons as well as the neutral site game with Louisville. Here is the current 2019 schedule:

Aug. 31 - at Nevada
Sept. 28 - MINNESOTA
Oct. 5 - at Penn State
Oct. 12 - MARYLAND
Oct. 19 - at Iowa
Oct. 26 - ILLINOIS
Nov. 2 - NEBRASKA
Nov. 9 - at Northwestern
Nov. 23 - at Wisconsin
Nov. 30 - INDIANA

It seems likely that the game with Vanderbilt will be in West Lafayette to start in 2019, as the Boilers already have a non-conference road trip to Nevada. The 12^th and final game would likely be a MACrifice, as is tradition, and that would be a seventh home game with Vanderbilt as the sixth and five Big Ten home games.

As for when the Boilers would return to Nashville, that is trickier. In even numbered years Purdue likely wanted to stay at home for all non-conference games to insure seven home games. In those years the Boilers will have only four Big Ten home games and five away games. Any non-conference road game then makes it an even 6 and 6.

If Purdue is waiting for an odd numbered year the return to Nashville could be a long wait. Purdue already goes to Missouri in 2017 (in addition to the neutral site game against Louisville in Indianapolis), Nevada in 2019, Notre Dame in 2021, and Virginia Tech in 2023. The most likely candidate would be in 2025, as the 2027 non-conference road trip is already ear-marked as at Wake Forest.

Since Purdue seems to be collecting black and gold non-conference opponents in Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest can a home-and-home with Colorado or Central Florida be far behind?

For the curious, Purdue is 0-2 all-time against Vanderbilt. They lost 3-0 in West Lafayette in 1941 approximately 3 months before Pearl Harbor was bombed and lost 26-0 a year later in Nashville. Maybe this time we can actually score some points!

Here is Purdue all-time vs. the SEC:

Alabama - Never played

Arkansas - Never played

Auburn - Never played

Florida - Never played

Georgia - 0-2

Kentucky - 2-1 (no games since 1915)

LSU - Never played

Mississippi - 1-0

Mississippi State - Never played

Missouri - 6-2 (not a member of SEC then. Will play in 2017 and 2018)

South Carolina - Never played

Tennessee - 1-0

Texas A&M - 1-0 (not a member of SEC then)

Vanderbilt - 0-2