Indiana @ Purdue preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 24, 2018 ) Purdue 28, Indiana 21

Indiana has already clinched a bowl berth and Purdue is out of the postseason picture, but winning the annual rivalry game to end the season always holds a prominent position on each team's bucket list. The Hoosiers will be trying to end a two-game losing streak in the series when they travel to Purdue on Saturday.

Tom Allen has yet to beat the Boilermakers as Indiana's coach and told reporters the game is "personal" to him. Losing to Purdue the past two seasons has proved particularly painful for Indiana because those end-of-season failures kept the Hoosiers from being bowl eligible each year. Indiana also has a chance to finish the regular season with eight wins for the first time since 1993. Purdue, meanwhile, is closing out a disappointing season that has been derailed by injuries after going to a bowl game each of the past two years.

TV: Noon ET, ESPN2. LINE: Indiana -6.5

ABOUT INDIANA (7-4, 4-4 Big Ten): The Hoosiers have lost two straight games to top 15 opponents and don't want to end the season on a three-game skid after sitting at 7-2 three weeks ago and breaking into the Top 25. Quarterback Peyton Ramsey (70.9 percent completion rate, 1,890 yards, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions) was banged up in last week's 39-14 loss at home to No. 11 Michigan but will be "good to go" against Purdue, Allen said. Indiana leads the Big Ten in pass offense (306.1 yards per game) and has scored 30 or more points in eight of 11 games, but its defense has given up 73 points in the past two games and 366 passing yards by Michigan's Shea Patterson last week.

ABOUT PURDUE (4-7, 3-5): The injury-plagued Boilermakers had won two in a row before falling 45-24 last week at No. 14 Wisconsin. Third-string quarterback Aidan O'Connell, a walk-on, has connected on 65.2 percent of his passes for 693 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. Talented receiver David Bell is a favorite to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year award with 77 catches for 899 yards and six TDs, including 12 receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown at Wisconsin.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Indiana WR Whop Philyor (61 receptions, 863 yards, three touchdowns) will return Saturday after sitting out the loss to Michigan with a concussion suffered on a helmet-to-helmet hit a week earlier in the setback at No. 12 Penn State.

2. Indiana RB Stevie Scott III (845 rushing yards, 10 TDs) and OL Matthew Bedford suffered leg injuries last week and Allen was waiting until later in the week to determine whether they would be ready to play.

3. Purdue's Brycen Hopkins, a Mackey Award semifinalist, ranks second in FBS among tight ends with 53 receptions and third in receiving yards with 688.

PREDICTION: Indiana 38, Purdue 31