Indiana State fell 26 points short of victory at Purdue on Friday night, but Boilermakers coach Barry Odom saw signs that the Sycamores could have a good season still ahead.
ISU lost 44-19 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette and got outgained in total yards by a margin of 523-284. Purdue also controlled the football for 37 minutes and 22 seconds, and yielded only 12 first downs to the Sycamores.
But, Indiana State (now 0-2 for the season) managed to score in three of four quarters and trailed just 16-6 at halftime, until Purdue scored 21 third-quarter points to secure the victory.
"I look at their team and I think they're going to win a lot of games," Odom said in Friday's postgame comments, via the Purdue website. "They're tough. Coach Mallory's a great coach. They've got a really good staff."
ISU's points came on two Sebastian Lopez field goals in the first and second quarters, and then second-half touchdowns on a 45-yard pass from reserve quarterback Brady Allen to Jayden Reed with 12 minutes, 44 seconds left to play, and a 1-yard run by Sycamore back Max McCool, set up by a 55-yard pass from Allen to Thomas Amankwaa.
Allen entered at quarterback for ISU through the fourth quarter, and threw an interception that Purdue's Don Saunders ran back for a 35-yard TD. But Allen also added the TD pass to Reed and finished with three completions in five passing attempts for 117 yards. Allen started his college career at Purdue in 2022 under former Boilermakers coach Jeff Brohm, and then spent two seasons at Louisville before tranferring to ISU after the 2025 season. Allen was the Indiana Mr. Football at Gibson Southern High School in 2021.
Friday's starting ISU starting quarterback, redshirt junior Elijah Owens, completed 9 of 17 passes for 101 yards and also rushed 11 times for 60 yards.
Odom complimented Owens' efforts.
"I thought he did a really nice job," the Purdue coach said. "And the things that quarterback was able to do — when he gets outside, he keeps his eyes down field and he's a savvy football player. There were some times we came off of man-to-man coverage and he found the open guy. And the scheme they had up front to get [Owens] in position to be on the perimeter, they did a nice job. I thought our guys adjusted, once they got into the game and ended up taking that away from them."
ISU now tries for its first victory of the season in a 7 p.m. Saturday duel with longtime border rival Eastern Illinois (1-1) at O'Brien Field in Charleston. EIU, an Ohio Valley Conference member, opened its season with a 28-14 victory over Murray State, but lost 59-7 at Big Ten foe Minnesota on Thursday.
Around the MVFC
• Uphill vs. FBS — Indiana State's loss at Purdue was one of four matchups by the FCS-level Missouri Valley Football Conference teams against FBS opponents last weekend.
Those contests also included South Dakota State (now 1-1) falling 34-18 at Northwestern on Saturday, Murray State (0-2) losing 38-14 at Middle Tennessee on Saturday, and Youngstown State (1-1) losing 45-13 on Saturday.
The Murray State-Middle Tennessee game was called off with 11 minutes and 1 second to play in the fourth quarter at 1 a.m., after a 2-hour, 40-minute rain stoppage.
Also in the Missouri Valley on Saturday, North Dakota (2-0) beat visiting St. Thomas 62-26, Northern Iowa (0-1) lost 34-24 at Eastern Washington, 2025 FCS runner-up Illinois State (2-0) won 41-10 at Western Illinois, and South Dakota (2-0) won 38-23 at Northern Colorado.
This week, Illinois State has the Valley's lone matchup vs. a FBS opponent, an intriguing clash at Northern Illinois. The Huskies are 0-1 after a 40-0 loss at Iowa on Saturday, and this one could present the MVFC's best chance at a "money game" upset.
Two Missouri Valley teams face smaller-division opponents this Saturday. Those include Northern Iowa playing host to nearby in-state rival Drake, a nonscholarship FCS program; and Murray State playing host to Valparaiso, like Drake, another nonscholarship FCS program from the Pioneer League. Drake-UNI could be a sleeper upset. Drake reached the FCS playoffs last season, losing 38-17 to South Dakota on Nov. 29, while the Panthers have just one win since Sept. 13, 2025.
Also this Saturday, SEMO (a 23-21 winner at Indiana State on Aug. 29) plays at Southern Illinois; Duquesne (a 34-0 loser at Air Force last week) plays at Youngstown State; Eastern Washington (1-1) plays at South Dakota; and New Haven (1-1) travels to South Dakota State.
Close to home
• Engineers, Pomeroys try to rebound — Rose-Hulman and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods faced rough season openers on Saturday.
The Engineers lost 31-23 at RHIT's Cook Stadium to visiting DePauw, the NCAA Division III's 13th-ranked team. Meanwhile, the Pomeroys played their first-ever National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics-level game at Lawrence Tech, and lost 38-28.
In both cases, the Vigo County-based teams flirted with victory. SMWC — playing full-weight football after four seasons sprint football with a roster of under-190-pounders — led 14-10, rallied to score two fourth-quarter touchdowns and racked up 337 total passing yards.
This Saturday, Coach Blaine Powell's Pomeroys play at ninth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan, which is 2-0 after wins of 38-31 over Dordt (Iowa) and 58-6 over St. Francis.
Like SMWC, Rose-Hulman strongly challenged DePauw and led 16-7 at halftime. But DePauw rattled off 21 third-quarter points and locked up its win.
This Saturday, the Engineers play at Kalamazoo (Mich.), which is 0-1 after a 40-10 loss to Kenyon last week. Rose-Hulman junior quarterback Brock Zanatell — who played the past two seasons at Colorado School of Mines — made his Engineers debut by amassing 259 passing yards for two touchdowns and rushing for 53 yards and one TD.
Rose coach Jeff Sokol is hopeful the DePauw game leads to improved outcomes, starting with Saturday's trip to Kalamazoo.
"Though we were disappointed not to win the game, we did gain confidence from playing well against a very good team," Sokol said Tuesday. "The team has worked hard to improve and is excited to compete this week against Kalamazoo."
