We wouldn’t have known it at the time, but Michigan’s 35-7 victory over UNLV back in Sept. 2023 would have a connection to this week’s opponent — the Purdue Boilermakers.

Back in 2023, the Rebels came to Ann Arbor for the second game in the tenure of head coach Barry Odom. He would guide UNLV to a 9-5 record that year and a mark of 10-3 in 2024. This offseason, he was hired to rebuild a Purdue program that’s been probably the worst in the Big Ten over the last two years. Now, he gets to come back to a place that even in a loss helped kickstart a run of success for his previous school.

With one of the lesser-talented rosters in the conference and facing a team that’s won back-to-back games, Purdue (2-6 overall and winless in Big Ten play) should already have its hands full against Michigan. However, Odom knows the opponent is only half the battle. His previous experience in the Big House had him reminiscing about the raucous environment he’s about to lead his team into.

“They’re loud and they’re smart fans,” Odom told reporters on Monday when asked about the upcoming road trip to Ann Arbor.

This will be the fourth road game of the year for Purdue, and like many things this year, the Boilermakers’ previous trips haven’t exactly gone as planned. They played Minnesota close, losing 27-20, but also got shutout 19-0 against Northwestern. In a game that featured a lengthy weather delay, Purdue did score 30 points against a stout Notre Dame defense back in Week 4. The only problem was its defense gave up 56 points and 535 total yards.

This Saturday, the stakes get ratcheted up even more as a Michigan team trending in the right direction will host Purdue in a primetime matchup. When asked how his team can combat the environment, Odom said they need to do the best they can to take the crowd out of the game and only focus on the opponent.

“We gotta create our own energy,” Odom said. “We’ve gotta make sure that we’ve got elite focus in the snap count and all the different things to be able to execute the play calls. All the people in the stands, they’re not playing the game — don’t let them play the game.”

Michigan has won all four of its games in the Big House so far this year, and in pretty convincing fashion. Just two weeks ago, the Wolverines turned in their best all-around performance of the year at home against a tough Washington team. Furthermore, quarterback Bryce Underwood has played his best ball at Michigan Stadium, completing 69.4 percent of his passes at home as opposed to 50.6 percent on the road.

Underwood will represent one of the better quarterbacks the Boilermakers have played this year, alongside guys like USC’s Jayden Maiava and Notre Dame’s C.J. Carr. Odom’s squad will have to make sure they’re fully focussed on the task of defending Underwood rather than the 110,000 fans in the stands.