Purdue's Taylor Swift 'curse': Boilermakers 0-10 after album releases - ESPN

Purdue, 2-2 on the season under new coach Barry Odom, has already come a long way in showing signs of progress after a 1-11 2024 campaign.

This Saturday, however, Odom and the Boilermakers' rebuild will face a tough task — and not just on the field. While Purdue's opponent is strong — Illinois boasts a Top 25 ranking — it'll also have to resist the wills of an unlikely curse.

The Boilermakers have never won a game occurring directly after Taylor Swift releases a studio album.

As explored on the college football podcast «The Solid Verbal» on Thursday, Purdue has played 10 games within seven days of Swift releasing or rereleasing an album. They have lost all 10.

In bad news for Boilermakers fans, Swift's latest album, «The Life of a Showgirl,» was released at midnight Friday.

The pattern dates back to Oct. 24, 2006, when Swift's self-titled debut album preceded Purdue's 12-0 loss to the Penn State two days after its release. It continued for six consecutive albums: «Fearless» on Nov. 11, 2008 (22-17 loss at Iowa four days later), «Speak Now» on Oct. 25, 2010 (44-10 loss at Illinois five days later), «Red» on Oct. 22, 2012 (44-28 loss at Minnesota five days later), «1989» on Oct. 27, 2014 (35-14 loss at Nebraska five days later), «Reputation» on Nov. 10, 2017 (23-13 loss at Northwestern the next day), and «Lover» on Aug. 23, 2019 (loss at Nevada seven days later).

• Ex-Panthers Mayfield, Darnold don't reminisce on Carolina days
• Top scenes from Vikings-Browns in London
• Is there a Taylor Swift curse on Purdue?
• A history of Miami-Florida State kicking woes
• Phillies create «9-9-9» Challenge box

The trend paused in 2020 because Purdue's next game fell outside the one-week window of Swift's releases. When «folklore»