Wake Forest at Purdue
Fan take
Wake Forest fans
How they got here
Last three games · 2025 season
Wake Forest · 9-4
Picked #90 in the preseason · now #76 — better than expected.
2-1 in its last three, capped by a 14-point win over Mississippi State as a 3-point underdog.
W 43–29 @ Mississippi State #106 of 668
won by 14 as a 3-point underdog
L 32–49 @ Duke #64 of 668
lost by 17 as a 2.5-point underdog
W 52–14 vs Delaware #166 of 668
won by 38 as a 17.5-point favorite
W 28–12 vs North Carolina #136 of 668
won by 16 as a 3.5-point favorite
W 16–9 @ VirginiaTop 25 #49 of 668
won by 7 as a 7.5-point underdog
L 7–42 @ Florida StateTop 25 #47 of 668
lost by 35 as a 13-point underdog
W 13–12 vs SMUTop 25 #19 of 668
won by 1 as a 5.5-point underdog
W 39–14 @ Oregon State #130 of 668
won by 25 as a 1.5-point favorite
W 30–23 @ Virginia Tech #68 of 668
won by 7 as a 4.5-point underdog
L 29–30 vs Georgia TechTop 25 #47 of 668
lost by 1 as a 11.5-point underdog
L 24–34 vs NC State #29 of 668
lost by 10 as a 7-point underdog
W 42–10 vs Western Carolina #189 of 668
won by 32 as a 17.5-point favorite
W 10–9 vs Kennesaw State #151 of 668
won by 1 as a 18.5-point favorite
Last three games · 2025 season
Purdue · 2-10
Picked #120 in the preseason · now #131 — worse than expected.
Three straight losses, each by 20 or more.
L 3–56 vs IndianaTop 25 #5 of 668
lost by 53 as a 28.5-point underdog
L 13–49 @ WashingtonTop 25 #24 of 668
lost by 36 as a 15.5-point underdog
L 10–34 vs Ohio StateTop 25 #1 of 668
lost by 24 as a 29-point underdog
L 16–21 @ MichiganTop 25 #19 of 668
lost by 5 as a 21-point underdog
L 24–27 vs Rutgers #81 of 668
lost by 3 as a 2.5-point favorite
L 0–19 @ Northwestern #50 of 668
lost by 19 as a 3.5-point underdog
L 20–27 @ Minnesota #57 of 668
lost by 7 as a 7.5-point underdog
L 27–43 vs IllinoisTop 25 #47 of 668
lost by 16 as a 7-point underdog
L 30–56 @ Notre DameTop 25 #3 of 668
lost by 26 as a 24.5-point underdog
L 17–33 vs USCTop 25 #31 of 668
lost by 16 as a 20.5-point underdog
W 34–17 vs Southern Illinois #207 of 668
won by 17 as a 22.5-point favorite
W 31–0 vs Ball State #241 of 668
won by 31 as a 16.5-point favorite
What’s at stake
Wake Forest
- Wake Forest sits at 1% to make the CFP field — 1% with a win here, 0% with a loss.
- Jake Dickert is ahead of Dave Clawson’s year-2 pace (2-0 vs. 1-1) — a win tonight widens the gap, a loss narrows it.
Purdue
- Purdue hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2022.
The series
Purdue leads the series 4-2
6 meetings since 1968 · Wake Forest won the last meeting
- 2026Wake Forest 38–36
- 2003Purdue 16–10
- 2002Wake Forest 24–21
- 1978Purdue 14–7
- 1977Purdue 26–17
Best players
Wake Forest
- Carlos Hernandez (WR) · 253 receiving yards
- Vincent Firenze (LB) · 20 tackles
- Braylon Johnson (DB) · 16 tackles
Purdue
- Ryan Browne (QB) · 646 passing yards — Heisman odds: 106th (+35000)
- Asaad Waseem (WR) · 172 receiving yards
- Jojo Hayden (LB) · 14 tackles
The line, and the room
Purdue fans are feeling better about their season (76th percentile) than Wake Forest fans are (35th) — even with Wake Forest favored here.
Home +2.5 · O/U 51.5
Conditions
81°F · 2 mph wind · Cloudy
Purdue is worth +1.7 points (±4.4) more at home than on the road since 2018 — bottom third of FBS, 13th percentile.
38% at home, 33% on the road against FBS opponents (18–30 home, 13–26 away).
Our model gives every stadium the same flat 2.3-point home edge (why); the books use about 3. Against the closing line this stadium reads -0.0 at home vs. away over 74 games — inside the ±7.6 noise, so the flat number is the honest one here.
The visitors travel about 468 miles to get here.
Wake Forest 38 – Purdue 36
Called it — picked Wake Forest to win.
Recent games
Purdue
- Wk 1Wvs Indiana State44-19
Wake Forest
- Wk 1Wvs Akron38-16
Trajectory
Wake Forest beat Purdue 38-36 — exactly what the pregame pick had.