Why Purdue football may change future schedules with Power 4 opponents

WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue football’s recent nonconference schedule made a return to winning seasons even more difficult.

The ACC and SEC both instituted schedule models which required members to play at least one power conference game per season. The Big Ten has no such requirement. Yet the Boilermakers scheduled two such non-conference games for each of the next three seasons.

That may soon change. Athletic director Mike Bobinski said Friday the 2026 schedule – which includes both Wake Forest and Notre Dame – remains set. However, Purdue is exploring alterations to future schedules to avoid doubling up on power conference opponents.

Purdue is scheduled to play at Wake Forest in 2028 while also playing Notre Dame. Bobinski also said Purdue and North Carolina may move their series – home in 2027, away in 2031 – further into the future. Notre Dame and Miami (Ohio) — an annual bowl team out of the MAC — are also on the 2027 schedule.

“I think that North Carolina series is going to get pushed way back into the (2030s),” Bobinski said Friday. “Even that (2027) game is going to move. There are some of those things happening right now.”

Bobinski said Purdue is close to replacing that 2027 North Carolina game with a non-power conference opponent.

Teams typically cannot unilaterally pull out of contracted games without paying a financial penalty. Wake Forest paid $750,000 buyouts to cancel a 2025 game at Wake Forest and a 2027 game at East Carolina.

Both North Carolina and Wake Forest are Atlantic Coast Conference programs. That league begins transitioning to a nine-game schedule this fall, with members also required to play one power conference opponent.

Wake Forest is one of 12 ACC teams which will play nine conference games this season. North Carolina is among the five who will play eight, since it already has two power conference opponents scheduled. Both programs will play nine ACC games in most years, except when it’s their turn to play eight due to the odd number of teams in the league.

The Demon Deacons are scheduled to play Elon, UConn and East Carolina in addition to Purdue in 2028, per fbsschedules.com.

“We talked to Wake Forest at some length in the fall about next year’s game, and we both agreed we were going to stick with it for ‘26,” Bobinski said. “Down the line, it could be adjusted, there’s no question about that.”

The Big Ten has played nine conference games for years, and the addition of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA only added more quality football programs to the mix. Purdue has played 11 power conference opponents in six of seven seasons from 2017-24. (Only conference games were played in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Purdue’s current Notre Dame scheduling agreement runs through 2028. It has single power conference opponents scheduled for 2029 (Vanderbilt), 2030 (TCU), 2031 (North Carolina) and 2033-34 (Mississippi).

By contrast, the only power conference opponent on IU’s future schedules is a home-and-home with Notre Dame in 2030-31. That 2023 visit to South Bend is the Hoosiers’ next scheduled non-conference road game. Indiana canceled a scheduled series with Virginia of the ACC last summer.

Purdue coach Barry Odom said soon after he felt it was important to give fans attractive non-conference home games in addition to the Big Ten’s nine-game schedule.

«I could take the approach of one of the other schools in the state, cancel games and do some of those things, but the schedule is what it is,» Odom said in an interview on 107.5 FM.

Odom also said last July conversations were underway as to what Purdue’s schedule should look like going forward. Bobinski’s comments suggest more clarity could come soon.