By winning last week 31-0 over Ball State in its season opener, Purdue notched its first win over an FBS opponent since 2023.

If the Boilermakers can stop FCS foe Southern Illinois on Saturday night in West Lafayette, Ind., they’ll surpass last year’s win total of one.

First-year coach Barry Odom says there’s one characteristic his team has to possess to defy predictions of a last-place finish in the Big 10 Conference.

“We need to be a really, really smart football team,” he said after the win over Ball State. “Overall, our team played fairly smart. We did not turn the ball over, which is huge. I thought our quarterbacks made smart decisions. So, the smart side … we’re getting there.”

Purdue not only avoided turnovers, it also committed only three penalties. Meanwhile, quarterback Ryan Browne threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns, averaging more than 17 yards per completion. His first pass of the year was a 49-yard pass-and-run score to Arhmad Branch, helping him become the first Boilermaker wide receiver in two years to enjoy a 100-yard game.

Purdue will be a solid favorite for this game but recent history indicates it can’t take the Salukis for granted. They opened last week with a 49-3 rout of Division II Thomas More (Ky.) and rose to 15th in this week’s FCS coaches rankings.

Southern Illinois has three wins over FBS opponents since 2019 — Massachusetts, Northwestern and Northern Illinois — as well as close losses to Kansas State in 2021 and Arkansas State in 2019. Only last year, when they were routed 41-13 in the season opener at BYU, were the Salukis outclassed in their recent FBS matchups.

Tenth-year coach Nick Hill said he doesn’t do anything special for games against FBS teams.

“We prepare the same way for every game,” he said. “We go in there with the belief that we’re going to win the game.”

Quarterback DJ Williams was 17 of 24 last week for 227 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, three in the air.

Purdue won the teams’ only meeting in 2014 by a 35-13 score.

–Field Level Media