Hare's team finished second place in the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association to Butler, who beat all three of their in-state foes and was awarded the state championship.

During the 1894 season, Balliet's Purdue squad defeated Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago Maroons and outscored opponents by a collective score of 177–42.

[20] He led the 1901 Purdue team to a 4–4–1 record but finished the season with consecutive losses to Notre Dame, Illinois, and Northwestern.

The 1943 squad was the only undefeated team playing a full schedule in major college football, but finished third in the country per the AP Poll.

Holcomb's Purdue teams are, perhaps, best remembered for ending Notre Dame's 39-game unbeaten streak when his Boilermakers defeated the Irish, 28–14, in the second game of the 1950 season.

On January 2, 1967, Jack Mollenkopf coached the school's first appearance in the Rose Bowl, leading Purdue to a 14–13 victory over USC.

[39] After a disappointing 1981 season, Young resigned from his position as head coach at Purdue, citing his desire to concentrate on athletic administration.

[48] Jim Colletto was named Purdue's head coach in December 1990, accepting the position while he was serving the offensive coordinator for Ohio State.

[49] During his introduction press conference, he stated that at practice field, he planned to install a small cemetery in which he would place a tombstone for every school Purdue upset or beat on the road.

The team would end up going to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, where they defeated Western Michigan 37–32 to achieve Hope's first winning season at Purdue.

Although the Boilers would eventually win their final three games, including victories over archrivals IU and Illinois, and become bowl-eligible for the second straight year, athletic director Morgan Burke announced on November 25, 2012, that Hope would be fired.

[68] On December 5, 2012, it was announced that Darrell Hazell would leave the Kent State Golden Flashes to become the head coach of the Boilermakers.

[76] He was replaced on an interim basis by wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Gerad Parker, who went 0–6 to end the season 3–9.

Earning a berth back to the Music City Bowl, the Boilermakers beat Tennessee in overtime, 48–45, and ended the year with a 9–4 record.

Following the Big Ten Championship Game, Brohm would leave Purdue to become the head coach at his alma mater, Louisville.

After a 66–0 blowout loss to arch rival Indiana on November 30, Walters was fired the next day, December 1, ending a disastrous 1–11 (0–9 Big Ten) season.

[90] As members of the Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Big Ten, the Boilermakers have amassed a record of 154–64–3 (.703 winning percentage) in conference play.

However, after the expansion of the Big Ten to 12 schools, Purdue and Northwestern were placed into separate conference divisions and no longer played each other on an annual basis.

The respective SB Nation blogs of Hammer & Rails and Black Heart Gold Pants celebrated this rivalry between the two schools with the tongue-in-cheek reference to each other as "Our Most Hated Rivals" or simple "OMHR" Purdue leads the series 48–46–6 through the 2024 season.

The two most distinctive features of the AAMB are the World's Largest Drum and solo baton twirler the Purdue Golden Girl.

This choice allowed the mascot to build on Purdue's engineering and railroading heritage, as well as represent the school's nickname "Boilermakers" in a meaningful way.

There had been rumors the university enrolled burly boilermakers from the Monon Railroad shops in Lafayette, Indiana as students/football players to help beef up the scrawny football team.

Both home and away jerseys sport the Purdue train logo in the center front of the collar, surrounded by a patch of black fabric.

When Purdue updated its uniforms during Danny Hope's coaching time, they added white pants with a black stripe on each side and a train logo as well.

Purdue also wore this helmet as an away uniform with the default white jersey and black pants during the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game at Indiana.

Later in the season when they played Wisconsin at home, the Boilermakers used a matte black helmet with 3 stripes down the middle that were red, white, and blue in order with slanted "P" logos on the side that were filled with a waving American flag.

[citation needed] Before Tiller, the team wore uniforms that sported the school's name across the front of the jersey, and the old gold color was more pronounced, with almost a copper hue.

In the 2006 game against the Indiana State Sycamores, Purdue wore a throwback uniform from 1966, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the school's first Rose Bowl team.

After losing their opening game at home to Bowling Green, Tiller and the team decided to dump the gold jerseys and go back to the black uniforms.

Four Boilermakers, Bob Griese, Leroy Keyes, Mark Herrmann and Drew Brees have each been finalist for the award in two separate seasons.