No. 4 Penn State travels to Purdue on Saturday afternoon as the Nittany Lions look to maintain momentum on their march to the 12-team College Football Playoff. This will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2022 and the second straight home game for a Boilermakers squad still seeking its first win over an FBS opponent this year.
Penn State has won each of its last 10 games against Purdue, riding a winning streak that stretches all the way back to 2004. The Nittany Lions hold a 16-3 record in the brief series dating back to 1951.
Penn State has been dominant, so long as its opponent isn’t Ohio State or Michigan. In the last three regular seasons, the Nittany Lions are 28-0 against teams without Buckeye stickers or a winged design on their helmets. That has coincided with a 28-game winning streak against unranked opponents, which is the fourth-longest active FBS win streak.
Penn State is 92-23 overall against non-Ohio State and Michigan teams under James Franklin with a plus-16.8 points per game differential.
All that being said, Purdue does have a reputation as a chaos agent. The Boilermakers have three wins against top-five opponents as an unranked team since 2018, the most by an FBS team in that span.
Penn State vs. Purdue: Need to know
Tyler Warren’s the ultimate weapon: Few players are blossoming in new Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s scheme like Tyler Warren. The star tight end, who was named to the 2024 CBS Sports Midseason All-America team, has emerged as one of the best multi-dimensional threats in college football. He lines up tight end; he splits out at wide receiver; he takes snaps as a wildcat quarterback; he’ll stand in the backfield as a fullback or pure running back. Suffice to say, Penn State moves him all over the place to keep defenses on their toes and utilize his unique skillset.
As evidence of that, Warren had eight catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns rushing in Penn State’s Week 11 win against Washington. He is the only FBS tight end with at least eight receptions and two touchdowns on the ground since 2000. Warren has 681 yards and four touchdowns through the air and three on the ground this year.
Purdue on the wrong track: As its 1-8 record might indicate, it’s been a rough year for Purdue. But a deeper dive into those numbers provides some context as to how bad things have gotten for the Boilermakers. They’ve lost eight straight games since winning their season opener against Indiana State, which is tied for the fifth-longest losing streak in program history and is the second-longest active losing streak in the nation behind Kent State at 18. All eight of Purdue’s losses have come against FBS teams. If it can’t pick up another win by the end of the season, Purdue would become the first Big Ten team to finish winless against the FBS since … 2013 Purdue. The Boilermakers have also been outscored by 28.3 points per game against FBS opponents — the worst by a Big Ten team since 1983 Minnesota.
Road warrior Penn State: Typically, home-field advantage favors, well, the home team. But Penn State has made a nice living on the road this year. The Nittany Lions are 3-0 as the away team for the first time since 2019, and they’re looking for their first 4-0 start outside of the friendly confines of Beaver Stadium since 2011. More on this in the “prediction” section, but Penn State is also a larger road favorite against Purdue than it has been in 30 years.
How to watch Penn State vs. Purdue live
Date: Saturday, Nov. 16 | Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Ross-Ade Stadium — West Lafayette, Indiana
TV: CBS | Live stream: CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free)
Streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime (Try It Free)
Penn State vs. Purdue prediction, picks
The line skews heavily towards Penn State, but the Nittany Lions should be able to pick their score against a hapless Purdue team. Especially since there’s no guarantee that the Boilermakers will actually be able to score Saturday. In its last two games against ranked conference opponents, Purdue has put a combined zero points on the board. Even if Purdue somehow can move the ball, smart money says that it can’t keep pace against a revitalized Penn State offense. Ryan Walters’ defense has allowed at least 35 points in four out of six Big Ten games this year. Either way you shake it, the Boilermakers are woefully overmatched. It should be a good day for the betting favorites. Pick: Penn State -28.5 (-108)
All odds via Caesars Sportsbook. Check out the latest Caesars promo code to get in the game.
SportsLine’s proven computer model is calling for six outright upsets in Week 12 of college football. Visit SportsLine now to see them all, plus get spread picks for every game from the model that simulates every matchup 10,000 times.
