Washington faces Purdue on Friday 10/16/26 at 8pm ET. Purdue has settled in as a 3.5-point favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the total set at 51.5. Here’s my prediction and best bet for the matchup.
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| Spread | Purdue -3.5 |
| Moneyline | Purdue -170/Washington +142 |
| Total | 51.5 |
| Prediction | Washington 23 – Purdue 34 |
| Best Bet | Purdue -3.5 |
Washington vs. Purdue prediction
Washington’s season is starting to slip away. While the Huskies started 3-0, they were ugly wins over far inferior competition at home, going 0-3 ATS in those matchups. Since then, Washington is winless against Power 4 schools — a four-point road loss at USC was its only cover, and it lost the other two games as a home favorite to Minnesota and Iowa.
The Huskies sit 1-5 ATS, failing to cover by 13 points per game. Things got worse last Friday night hosting Iowa. The Hawkeyes beat them down from start to finish, and starting quarterback Demond Williams Jr. left with a rib injury and did not return. He’s one of several Huskies listed as questionable for Friday night at Purdue, but the expectation is that he will not play. If ruled out, Williams joins a lengthy list of Husky skill position players already ruled out, on top of the many that are questionable.
Stanford transfer Elijah Brown replaced Williams at QB against Iowa and put up good numbers — completing over 70% of his passes for 251 yards and three touchdowns. However, the game script forced Washington to go pass heavy and Iowa was already running away with the game. Purdue now has tape on Brown, who only made four starts during his career at Stanford.
Meanwhile, is Purdue actually pretty good? It predictably crushed Indiana State in the opener, and then lost three in a row. But the losses have aged pretty well. The Boilermakers go beatdown by Notre Dame, but there’s no shame in that. They were well out of their weight class against the now No. 2 team in the country.
Purdue’s other two losses came in a dramatic fashion. One in a double-OT game against Wake Forest, and another after putting up 38 points on the road at UCLA. Well, both of those teams rank in the top-25, with UCLA undefeated and Wake’s only loss coming to Miami.
Since taking those losses, the Boilermakers have stacked consecutive wins as the underdog over Illinois and Minnesota — the same Minnesota team that went on the road to Washington and won as a double digit underdog. Purdue won that game at home last week in dominant fashion by a final score of 41-13.
Washington’s offense has left a lot to be desired, while Purdue has given up a total of 30 points over its last two Big Ten games. Meanwhile, Ryan Browne is playing solid and mistake free football for the Boilermakers. The ground game is also coming together for Purdue, with RB Fame Ijeboi ripping off a 31-195-3 rushing line against a physical Minnesota defense. The Huskies are fresh off allowing Iowa RB Kamari Moulton to go off for 26-208-2 last Friday.
Give me Purdue to continue rolling at home in what should be a great Friday night atmosphere for a program that’s gaining momentum and exceeding expectations.
Washington vs. Purdue best bet
CFB Best Bet: Purdue -3.5 (-108)
For all of my college football best bets this week, check out my CFB cheat sheet on DraftKings Network.
