The board has nothing posted yet, which is fine, because the football gives you plenty. Purdue's loss to Washington was a strange one. The Boilermakers forced 5 turnovers, their most in a game since 2015, and still lost by 12. Washington piled up 488 yards and 15 plays of 15 yards or more, so Purdue's defense won the turnover battle and got beaten everywhere else.
Penn State's slide has been a slow bleed, not a collapse. The Nittany Lions crushed Buffalo 55-13, then lost to Wisconsin by 4 at home, to USC by 8 at home, and to Michigan by 3 on the road. The 34-13 loss at Northwestern is the only one that got away from them. The common thread is scoring. They've put up 20, 13, 23 and 18 during the skid, and the Michigan game needed 15 points in the 4th quarter just to make it close. An offense that can't string drives together against a defense that lives on turnovers is how a home favorite ends up sweating in the 4th quarter.
Purdue has already shown more range than Penn State. The Boilermakers are 2-2 in conference play, with a road win at Illinois and a 41-13 rout of Minnesota, and they also gave up 52 to UCLA and 49 to Notre Dame. They're dangerous when the defense is creating chaos and they get run off the field when it isn't. Penn State needs a clean game from Becht at home. Purdue needs the 5-takeaway version of its defense without giving up the explosive plays that came with it last time.