Purdue2-2 on the season under new coach Barry Odom, has already come a long way in showing signs of progress after a 1-11 2024 campaign.
This Saturday, however, Odom and the Boilermakers’ rebuild will face a tough task — and not just on the field. While Purdue’s opponent is strong — Illinois boasts a Top 25 ranking — it’ll also have to resist the wills of an unlikely curse.
The Boilermakers have never won a game occurring directly after Taylor Swift releases a studio album.
As explored on the college football podcast “The Solid Verbal” on Thursday, Purdue has played 10 games within seven days of Swift releasing or rereleasing an album. They have lost all 10.
In bad news for Boilermakers fans, Swift’s latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” was released at midnight Friday.
The pattern dates back to Oct. 24, 2006, when Swift’s self-titled debut album preceded Purdue’s 12-0 loss to the Penn State two days after its release. It continued for six consecutive albums: “Fearless” on Nov. 11, 2008 (22-17 loss at Iowa four days later), “Speak Now” on Oct. 25, 2010 (44-10 loss at Illinois five days later), “Red” on Oct. 22, 2012 (44-28 loss at Minnesota five days later), “1989” on Oct. 27, 2014 (35-14 loss at Nebraska five days later), “Reputation” on Nov. 10, 2017 (23-13 loss at Northwestern the next day), and “Lover” on Aug. 23, 2019 (loss at Nevada seven days later).
The trend paused in 2020 because Purdue’s next game fell outside the one-week window of Swift’s releases. When “folklore” dropped on July 24, 2020, Purdue didn’t play a football game until Oct. 24, 2020 — which was a 24-20 win over Iowa. Months after “evermore” and “Fearless” (Taylor’s Version) were released on Dec. 11, 2020, and April 9, 2021, respectively, Purdue beat Oregon State on Sept. 4, 2021.
The pattern picked back up with “Red” (Taylor’s Version) on Nov. 12, 2021 (59-31 loss at Ohio State the next day), “Midnights” on Oct. 21, 2022 (35-24 loss at Wisconsin the next day), and “1989” (Taylor’s Version) on Oct. 27, 2023 (31-13 loss at Nebraska the next day).
The Boilermakers finally snapped the losing skid in 2024 with a 49-0 rout of the Indiana State after “The Tortured Poets Department” was released on April 19, 2024 — though it still fits the overall pattern since that game fell outside the weeklong window.
Will Purdue be able to break its strange streak of defeats immediately following Swift album releases this Saturday?
Recent form says the rebuild is trending up. History — at least of the pop music variety — says Purdue still has a curse to break.
