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Yesterday, an Auburn blog had a post about the 42 schools the Tigers have never faced, and the 10 teams they would like to play against (whether in a bowl game or during the non-conference slate). I first thought 42 was a lot of teams, but it got me thinking and wondering who Purdue never faced.
After doing some quick research, I discovered that Purdue has yet to play against 61 of the 129 FBS members (as of July 2017). That’s nearly half of all current FBS members! I complied a list of these teams that Purdue has yet to face (Bold = Teams currently scheduled, Italics = Teams leaving FBS):
FBS Teams Purdue Has Never Faced
| Teams | Teams |
|---|---|
| Teams | Teams |
| Air Force | LSU |
| Alabama | Massachusetts |
| Appalachian State | Memphis |
| Arkansas | Mississippi State |
| Arkansas State | New Mexico |
| Army West Point | New Mexico State |
| Auburn | North Carolina |
| Boise State | North Texas |
| Boston College | Oklahoma |
| Buffalo | Old Dominion |
| BYU | Rutgers |
| Charlotte | San Diego State |
| Clemson | San Jose State |
| Colorado | South Alabama |
| Colorado State | South Carolina |
| Connecticut | South Florida |
| East Carolina | Southern Miss |
| FIU | Temple |
| Florida | Texas State |
| Florida Atlantic | Texas Tech |
| Florida State | Troy |
| Fresno State | Tulane |
| Georgia Southern | Tulsa |
| Georgia State | UNLV |
| Houston | Utah |
| Idaho | Utah State |
| Kansas | UTEP |
| Liberty | UTSA |
| Louisiana Tech | Western Kentucky |
| Louisiana-Lafayette | Wyoming |
| Louisiana-Monroe |
As you can see, Purdue is already scheduled to face new Big Ten member, Rutgers, in 2017, and Boston College in 2018/2020. In addition, the Idaho Vandals are dropping down to FCS at the end of the 2017 season, and given that Big Ten teams can no longer schedule FCS teams, it’s highly unlikely that Purdue will ever face off against the Vandals.
After the 2018 season (and barring any bowl games against new FBS teams), there will be 58 FBS teams that Purdue has never faced, around 45% of all 128 FBS teams. For some context, if Purdue were to schedule those 58 teams as part of their 3 non-games every season, it would take over 19 seasons to play every team at least once (assuming no more teams enter/leave the FBS). If you assume Purdue goes to a bowl game every season and plays a new team, that would reduce it just over 14 seasons.
Obviously, we’ll probably never see Purdue play every FBS team in our lifetime. Given that, here are the teams I want to see Purdue play against during the regular season (this list is very biased):
- Alabama: As mentioned in a previous post, Nick Saban is scared of Purdue. (*But PAWWWWWL, how can you justify keeping Saban as a coach if he can’t even beat a chicken company?!*) Of course, since Purdue is neither a G5 school or FCS, Alabama will think that they’re too good to visit Ross-Ade, so we would have to play them in Jerry World or the Superdome. If it’s the latter, perhaps Purdue’s newest quarterback, Brew Drees, can lead the Boilers to victory.
- Auburn: Similar to Purdue, Auburn has a good history in space with some of its alums becoming astronauts (though much lower than Purdue). I’m sure we could partner with the Tigers and NASA to play this game on the moon.
- BYU and/or Liberty: With the new alcohol sales at Ross-Ade, we won’t have to worry about these visiting fans taking up the beer line.
- Clemson: As our resident Clemson fan has mentioned, a decade or so ago, Purdue and Clemson were similar, but have gone in two completely different directions. While Clemson would kill us in a home-and-home series, I’m sure I could put up with it just to see Clemson’s unique stadium entrance.
- Colorado and/or Colorado State: Boulder and Fort Collins are beautiful places to visit, and CSU is opening a new stadium, so I would love to see Purdue play within Colorado’s Front Range. Also, CU enters the field with a frickin’ buffalo. If you don’t like that, then you hate America.
- Florida: This could be an exciting match-up if Brohm has a winning squad at Purdue. Plus, if the trip to Gainesville is later on in the season, it could be a pleasant trip and a break from the late Indiana fall weather.
- LSU: This would be a more exciting pick if Les Miles was still their head coach. I’m sure he would approve to Ross-Ade’s delicious Bermuda Grass field. Plus, if it could happen this year, I’m sure it wouldn’t be awkward at all to have Danny Etling face off against his old team.
- Oklahoma: Purdue and OU were the two places I applied to for undergrad and got into both, so I am a little biased. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see the Boilermaker Special and Sooner Schooner do some drag racing?
- Wyoming: It would be a great game to honor Joe Tiller, who coached both schools.
Agree or disagree with my list? Which teams would you like to see Purdue play against?
Update: The Big Ten recently announced that B1G schools can now schedule FCS teams during the years where they have four conference home games and five on the road. Looks like Purdue can play the Idaho Vandals after all.