College Football: 5 Surprise teams that could contend for a New Year’s Six Bowl

3. Purdue Boilermakers

After a combined record of 9-39 from 2013-2016, the Purdue Boilermakers have a pulse and are ready to play some football. In his first year as head coach, Jeff Brohm led the Boilermakers to their first winning season and bowl win since 2011.

Purdue’s 2017 season started off just the way it ended: promising. A 35-28 loss to ranked Louisville in which they led early in the fourth quarter, showed a glimpse of what the future could hold for this football program. And although they finished a game under .500 in conference play, three of their losses were by a combined total of 11 points.

The key to their success in 2017: defense. Also in his first year, defensive coordinator Nick Holt completely renovated the Boilermaker defense by making them one of the top 25 teams in scoring defense.

Purdue looks to continue their improvement on defense alongside their now experienced offense led by quarterback Elijah Sindelar. Coming off an ACL injury, Sindelar finished the 2017 campaign strong throwing for over 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns in their final four games of the season.

The Big Ten West is always competitive and as usual the team to beat is Wisconsin whom the Boillermakers have the pleasure of playing at home this season. With their first four games at home, including Boston College and Missouri, the Boilermaker’s have a good chance to build steam heading into the heart of their schedule.

Purdue has a resume to build and their schedule gives them everything they need to steal the Big Ten West and to throw their name in the hat for an at-large bid for a spot the New Year’s Six Bowls.