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Game 5 Prep: Purdue Heads to Illinois with Cannon Trophy on the LineGame 5 Prep: Purdue Heads to Illinois with Cannon Trophy on the Line

Game 5 Prep: Purdue Heads to Illinois with Cannon Trophy on the Line

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With the non-conference slate in the books, Purdue Football hits the road to return to Big Ten play. The Boilermakers renew their rivalry with Illinois as the Cannon Trophy is up for grabs. Kickoff from Gies Memorial Stadium is set for 4:15 p.m. ET on BTN.

QUICK HITS

  • Purdue leads the Cannon Trophy series 40-32-2, including seven wins in the last 10 matchups.
  • The last time the Boilermakers made the trip to Illinois, Ryan Browne made his first career start. The Purdue quarterback totaled 415 yards of total offense (297 passing yards, 118 rushing yards), sparking a comeback from a 24-point deficit and forcing overtime. 
  • The Boilermakers are playing their second road Big Ten game before playing their first home conference contest of the season for the first time since 2016. 
  • The Purdue offense averages 319.5 passing yards per game, which ranks 11th in the country. Completing 72.2 percent of passes, the Boilermakers rank second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally.
  • Browne is the third Purdue quarterback since 1995 to throw for 1,100 yards or more and one or fewer interceptions through the team’s first four games, joining Kyle Orton in 2004 and Curtis Painter in 2007.
  • For the first time since 2004, the Boilermakers have thrown just one interception through the first four games of a season.
  • Linebacker Charles Correa ranks fifth nationally in passes defended (6). While Correa has five pass breakups, no other linebacker in the country has more than three. Correa picked off Notre Dame’s CJ Carr for his first career interception, ending Carr’s streak of passes without an INT at 133. 
  • Purdue is the only team in the Big Ten to have two players ranked in the conference’s Top 10 in receptions. Asaad Waseem and Xavier Townsend are tied for seventh with 24 receptions apiece. The duo has combined for 638 receiving yards this season (Waseem - 355, Townsend - 283).
  • Jacobo Echeverria Lozano leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth in the country with 2.0 made field goals per game. The freshman kicker is 8-for-9 on the year, which included a career-long 47-yard field goal last week versus No. 3 Notre Dame.
  • The Boilermakers rank eighth nationally in net punting (45.4), in large part to Dylan Drennan averaging 49.1 yards per punt. Drennan’s 52.2 punting average against the Fighting Irish was the second-best single-game punting average in program history.  

CANNON TROPHY HISTORY

  • The Cannon was conceived by Purdue students 121 years ago but was first presented as a trophy by an Illinois alumnus 83 years ago.
  • It all started in 1905 when a group of Purdue students took the weapon to Champaign in anticipation of firing it to celebrate a victory. Although Purdue did win the game 29-0, Illinois supporters, including Quincy A. Hall, had discovered the Cannon in its hiding place - in a culvert near the old Illinois field - and confiscated it before the Purdue students could start their "booming" celebration.
  • Later, Hall moved the Cannon to his farmhouse near Milford, Illinois, where it survived a fire and gathered dust until Hall suggested it be used as a trophy between the two schools when the rivalry was resumed in 1943 after a 12-year lapse.
  • The Tomahawk Service and Leadership Honorary at Purdue and Illini Pride now share the maintenance duty. Purdue leads the Cannon series 40-32-2, including seven wins in the last 10 matchups.

BIG TIME PASSER

  • Ryan Browne has been one of the best quarterbacks in college football, ranking in the Top 20 in passing yards (17th-1,135), completions (16th-23.0 per game) and completion percentage (18th-71.3%). He cracks the Top 3 in the Big Ten in all three categories.
  • He is the third Purdue quarterback since 1995 to throw for 1,100 yards or more and one or fewer interceptions through the team’s first four games, joining Kyle Orton in 2004 and Curtis Painter in 2007.
  • Through the first three games of the season, Browne was the only B1G quarterback to average more than 300 yards per game. 
  • Surpassing 300 passing yards in each of the first three games, Browne joined Jim Everett (1985, twice), Drew Brees (1998, 1999), Kyle Orton (2004), Curtis Painter (2007), David Blough (2018) and Aidan O'Connell (2021, 2022) as the only Purdue quarterbacks to throw for 300 yards in three straight games.
  • Browne now has six 300-yard passing games for his career, tied with Scott Campbell (1980-83) for eighth on the all-time charts.

COMMON CANNON CONNECTION

  • A trio of Boilermakers are now on the other side of the Cannon Trophy rivalry, returning to their old home stadium this weekend.
  • Defensive end Trey Smith is in his third season at Purdue, but spent his first season (2023) at Illinois. 
  • This offseason, linebacker Jojo Hayden and defensive lineman Curt Neal made the move east to West Lafayette, joining the Boilermakers from the Illini. Hayden was at Illinois for three years (2023-25), which included playing in 21 games over the past two seasons. Neal, selected by his peers as one of Purdue’s team captains in his first season as a Boilermaker, started eight games for Illinois last year. 

ELECTRIC WIDEOUTS

  • Transfers Xavier Townsend and Asaad Waseem lead the way with 24 receptions apiece, ranking seventh as the only pair of teammates to crack the Big Ten’s Top 10. Waseem paces the team with 355 yards, while Townsend is right behind his teammate with 283 yards. 
  • In the Big Ten opener at UCLA, Waseem and Townsend both had big nights. Townsend caught six passes for a career-high 162 yards and two scores. Waseem hauled in eight passes for a career-best 149 yards on the night. It marked the first time since Purdue played Northwestern at Wrigley Field in 2021 that the Boilermakers had two players with 100 yards receiving.
  • Townsend became the first Boilermaker with multiple receiving scores since Deion Burks in 2023 against Fresno State. His 162 yards receiving were the most by a Boilermaker since Charlie Jones posted the same tally against Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten Championship Game.

HE'S YA BOY, IJEBOI

  • Fame Ijeboi made an immediate impact for Purdue, becoming one of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball.
  • With 289 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the year, he ranks second in the Big Ten and ranks fifth nationally. 
  • Ijeboi joined Kory Sheets (8 in 2006, 6 in 2008) as the only Boilermakers with six or more rushing scores through three games since 1995. 
  • Against Wake Forest, Ijeboi finished with 114 rushing yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns, all career highs. Ijeboi also added six receptions for 42 yards. Finding the end zone three times, he became the first Boilermaker with three rushing touchdowns in a game since D.J. Knox helped Purdue knock off No. 2 Ohio State in the famous Tyler Trent Game (Oct. 20, 2018).
  • In his first game as a Boilermaker, Ijeboi racked up 87 yards and a touchdown while averaging a staggering 7.9 yards per carry to help Purdue roll past Indiana State.

    DON'S ISLAND
  • Don Saunders was a bright spot for the Purdue defense against No. 3 Notre Dame when he was targeted just one time, on the first drive, in 19 coverage snaps and broke up the pass. 
  • The performance against the Irish graded Saunders at 81.4 coverage and 80.5 defensively overall by PFF. 
  • His coverage grade is the best against Notre Dame this season, 5.5 higher than Michigan State’s Jordan Hall.
  • Saunders was the sixth-highest graded Big Ten player in a highly competitive week. 
  • He has twice graded higher than 80.0 overall and in pass coverage through his first four games as a Boilermaker.

DYLAN'S DYNAMITE LEG

  • After punting just five times through the first three games of the year, punter Dylan Drennan dropped one of the best punting performances in program history vs. Notre Dame. 
  • The sophomore booted six punts for a 52.2-yard average for the second-longest mark in school history, behind All-American Cody Webster's 56-yard clip in the 2010 Old Oaken Bucket Game (6-336).
  • Drennan was named to the Ray Guy Award Ray's 8 for Week 4.
  • Early in the fourth quarter, the righty launched a 78-yard punt, with 60 yards through the air, that rolled into the end zone. It was the fifth-longest punt by a Boilermaker in school history and just the third of 78 yards or more over the last 50 years at Purdue.
  • It marked Drennan's second career 70-yard boot after a 76-yarder against Eastern Michigan last season when he played at Buffalo. 
  • Thanks to Drennan's leg and solid coverage, the Boilermakers rank second in the Big Ten and eighth nationally in net punt at 45.36 yards. 
  • Drennan also serves as the holder for the field goal unit that is 8-of-9 on the year on field goals and 14-of-14 on PATs.