Hammer and Rails
Purdue's Okayest Blog
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The Good and the Bad From Purdue Football’s Victory over Illinois
A miracle has happened. Purdue football played a complete four quarters and walked away with a victory. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t a sure thing until late in the fourth quarter but Purdue did it. Things looked great going into the fourth quarter after Purdue stopped the Illini on a 4th down to take […]
Purdue Football Takes Down Illinois: Purdue 24 Illinois 17
The Purdue Canon returns home! The Purdue Boilermakers were able to defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini 24-17 in a game that ended the nation’s longest losing streak against power conference teams. It also ended a more than two year B1G losing streak, the last victory coming against the Indiana Hoosiers in 2023. Early in the […]
How to Watch Purdue (1-3, 0-1) vs. Illinois (2-2, 0-1) & Fan Discussion
Purdue football takes on Illinois in Champaign in just about an hour. Purdue has had more luck against Illinois compared to other teams in the Big Ten. Granted, that’s not saying a lot but it’s true. Purdue’s offense will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting in this one if they expect to […]
Hammer and Rails Readers Reacts Results: How Many Wins Remain for Purdue Football?
The 2026 Purdue football season has been tough. The team sits at 1-3 on the season with a double overtime loss to Wake Forest that ended on that brutal 4th and 15. Purdue was absolutely dominated by Notre Dame last week and morale amongst the fanbase is low with apathy sneaking up to take its […]
Purdue Football (1-3) vs. Illinois (2-2): Staff Predictions
We are just over 24 hours away from what some, not me, but some, might call a winnable game againt Illinois on the road. Let’s get into the staff predictions. Ledman (4-0): This is going to be a battle of two of the worst defenses in the conference. Both of the pass defenses are abysmal. […]
Week 5 Big Ten Preview
This is one of the more interesting weeks on the Big Ten schedule because many of the big name programs in the league face tricky road games. Penn State is at Northwestern, who is fresh off of putting a scare into defending champ Indiana and they would love to open their new home right. Michigan […]
Purdue Football: Illinois Preview – Can Purdue Find a Way to Run Inside?
Illinois fired its defense coordinator after the Ohio State game. Say what you will about Kevin Kane, but he usually gets more than 9 players on the field, and you can’t say the same for former Illinois defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck (ducks’ flying tomato). Illinois still hasn’t announced Hauck’s replacement. I’m guessing we won’t know […]
Enzo Shahrvin eligibility no longer a waiting game
We’re excited to continue to partner with SpaceVault for all your local storage needs in Lafayette, Indiana. SpaceVault Self-Storage is more than just a spot to store your extra stuff. We’re a local partner here to make things easier for everyone in Lafayette—residents, students, and businesses alike. SpaceVault started in Lafayette with a pretty simple idea: […]
Boiler Alert! Predicting Purdue at Illinois
Purdue football just isn’t really a ton of fun to talk about right now. So, instead of talking about it to open the show we talk about Zach Edey being cleared to return to the NBA and also the upcoming men’s basketball Big Ten media days. Basically, we decided to eat dessert first. Then, we […]
Staff Roundtable: Let’s Find Some Positives in Purdue Football
It’s been a tough season for Purdue football and we are only a third of the way through. It remains to be seen if this team is going to win another game. We are stuck at 1 and it’s 1 win against an FCS team. Surely, we can find something positive to talk about right? […]
Purdue Football: Depth Chart Review – Notre Dame – Defense
The same thing that plagued the offense plagued the defense. Notre Dame invests substantial sums of money to be good on the offensive and defensive lines, and that’s where this game was won. This goes against the rest of the Hammer and Rails staff (and patrons), but I don’t put much blame on Kane here. […]
Purdue Football Depth Chart Review: Notre Dame – Offense
I’m not sure I need to say much about this performance, or rather, I’m not sure there is much to say that doesn’t boil down to Notre Dame having significantly better talent across the board. Still, the difference between an estimated 40-million-dollar roster and a 20-million-dollar roster is most noticeable on the offensive and defensive […]
2026 Purdue Football Game 5: Purdue (1-3, 0-1) vs. Illinois (2-2, 0-1)
This is a game that Purdue could win…right? Illinois just fired their defensive coordinator because the defense was bad. Must be nice. But clearly Illinois isn’t meeting the expectations that the staff and the fans had for them coming into the season. So, maybe Purdue has a shot? The Purdue offense has talent that can […]
Hammer and Readers Rails Reacts Survey: Will Purdue Football Win Another Game?
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Purdue fans and fans across the country. I really hate having to ask this question. I do. I want to be able to go to Purdue football games and enjoy the game and […]
Boiler Alert: 33 Minutes Ranting About Purdue Football
Purdue football is not in a good place. You know this. I know this. Anyone who is even a casual fan of the sport knows this. So, what is the athletic department doing? What has the athletic department done? What should the athletic department do? Ryan and I get into all of that in this […]
This Whistlestop Tour: Week 4 of Big Ten Football
Is there hope for Purdue going forward? The Boilers are now through four of the six promised games in the renewed Notre Dame series and so far it has performed significantly better in South Bend than in West Lafayette. That’s sad, really. Danny Hope and Darrell Hazell all fared better against the Irish than the […]
Purdue: 10 Notre Dame 49 | Quick Wrap & Quick Thoughts: Kevin Kane Was A Bad Hire. Now It Is Time For Barry Odom To Admit It Was
Quick Wrap This was the most likely of outcomes given what has transpired through the first three weeks of the season. Notre Dame is the much more talented team and it is painfully obvious they are a better coached team from top to bottom. The Boilers had flashed an improved offense through the first several […]
How to Watch Purdue (1-2) vs. #3 Notre Dame (3-0) & Fan Discussion
Purdue and Notre Dame. An old rivalry rekindled today as the Fighting Irish look to keep rolling following a 3-0 start to the season while Purdue is trying to find something, anything, to hang their hat on after a 1-2 start to the 2026 season. It’s not the start Purdue’s fans were hoping for but […]
Hammer and Rails Reader React Results: Gimme Fuel Gimme Fire (Kane) Gimme That Which I Desire!
The results of this week’s survey are not going to suprise anyone. They are not groundbreaking. However, the lopsided nature of the results should be an eye opener to anyone and everyone in the Purdue athletics department and those specifically in the football office. I’m not gonna belabor the point but I’ll just add…yikes. Let […]
Purdue Football (1-2) vs. #3 Notre Dame (3-0): Staff Predictions
Well folks, this is the biggest game for Purdue football so far this season. Really seems like we’ve been saying that every week now. But really, it’s been true. It continues to be true this week as well. One day more until Purdue faces Notre Dame. Let’s see what the staff thinks shall we? Ledman […]
Purdue basketball: Pressing player questions (Bigs edition)
We’re excited to continue to partner with SpaceVault for all your local storage needs in Lafayette, Indiana. SpaceVault Self-Storage is more than just a spot to store your extra stuff. We’re a local partner here to make things easier for everyone in Lafayette—residents, students, and businesses alike. SpaceVault started in Lafayette with a pretty simple idea: […]
Week 4 Big Ten Preview
My apologies for not getting the preview up last week. My Friday was blown apart because my dad ended up in the emergency room late Thursday night before he was transported to Indy for emergency surgery to remove a huge blood clot on his lungs that was stressing his heart. Dad came through incredibly well […]
Know Your Enemy: Notre Dame Fighting Irish
With the game against the Fighting Irish fast approaching Patrick Sullivan from One Foot Down stopped by to answer my questions, some serious and some not so serious, about Saturday’s game. Enjoy! Given the recent emergence of IU as a football power, have you noticed a drop in ND football fans as those fans chase […]
Boiler Alert! Predicting Purdue Football vs. Notre Dame
With Ryan out on sick leave, due to a lost voice, I step up and carry this entire episode on my back. Don’t worry, I can ramble with the best of them. It will be a shorter episode though as when you’re just one guy there’s only so much I can say. However, I want […]
Staff Roundtable: How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Purdue Defense?
Things aren’t looking great for the Purdue defense. Kevin Kane is drawing ire just about every day on every corner of the Purdue internet. Yes, there’s a Purdue internet. So I asked the staff if Kane was the problem or if the players are the issue. Here are their responses. Ledman: I really just think […]
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