Where is Purdue? Testing the new Big Ten football geography

INDIANAPOLIS -- Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel will spend 2024 playing a Big Ten Conference schedule with a non-conference feel.

That would have been true for the Oklahoma transfer regardless of the Ducks’ conference affiliation. Now, the rest of his teammates, his coaches and the entire fan base will spend the next few months learning about their new Big Ten opponents from scratch.

“I'm learning new people, but there are some benefits for that as well, in terms of not knowing each other's DNA and the history of it,” Gabriel said. “But it just comes with new territory. You make adjustments year to year and you roll with them, so I think it'll be fun.”

Getting to know the Big Ten also includes a whole new geography. That comes easier for some schools than others.

Of the 12 players from the Big Ten’s new west coast teams who attended media days this week, 10 correctly placed Purdue in the state of Indiana. Even the correct responses followed a similar pattern: A pause. Eyes rolling upward as if to search for an answer. Then a hesitant guess in the form of a question.

“Indiana?”

If that seems like an insult, Boilermaker fans, ask yourself how many friends and neighbors could accurately place Baylor, Clemson or Vanderbilt on their first try. The brand boost of a Final Four run in basketball can offset some of the university’s geographic ambiguity, but not all.

Only four of the 12 remembered ever setting foot in the state of Indiana before this week. USC’s Miller Moss and Jonah Manheim and UCLA’s J. Michael Sturdivant (while at Cal) all played games at Notre Dame. UCLA’s Jay Toia came here to support his cousin, Marlon Tuipulotu, in the NFL Scouting Combine.

Washington linebacker Carson Breuner was born in Pittsburgh, where his father, Mark, played for the Steelers. Yet he had never been to Indiana before Wednesday and could not correctly name which flyover state is home to the Boilermakers.

“I really didn't know that much to expect,” Breuner said. “Coming into Indy and obviously seeing the stadium, it’s beautiful. I've only seen it on TV and didn't really think much of it, just because it's hard to see on TV. But now being here in person, it's a beautiful area.”

Players from Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington may be in the same country, but they’re entering a different football world. To a man, the dozen who represented their teams at Lucas Oil Stadium emphasized the upside of their new reality.

Will all that extra travel wear on them over the course of the season? How about leaving sunny California or the temperate Pacific Northwest to potentially trudge through the snow in West Lafayette or East Lansing or Piscataway?

Oh, you mean like in the NFL, where all of these players hope to eventually play? Their conditions might flip from a cozy dome one Sunday to any icy evening in Foxboro or Green Bay the next. To them, this Big Ten schedule looks like on-the-job training.

"They travel all over the country, and sometimes they play games in Germany and in Mexico,” UCLA quarterback Ethan Garber said. "It's just getting us ready.”

What about the extra travel demands inflicted on families who want to watch their sons play both home and away games? Swapping out a road trip to Arizona for one to Wisconsin or Rutgers adds miles and hours and expense for moms and dads on the west coast.

Garber argued families who cannot attend a game for some reason will be better off in the Big Ten. Locating, acquiring and watching games via the Pac-12 Network apparently became a league-wide nuisance. Multiple players said they are looking forward to all of their games being on CBS, NBC, Fox or widely available Big Ten Network -- with only an occasional need to stream Peacock.

While some players knew Purdue’s location, fewer had any grasp on the Boilermakers’ current football identity. Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson admitted his knowledge stopped at one name: Drew Brees. “One of my favorite players of all time,” he said.

Between now and game week, their only familiarity with the Boilermakers may come through facing virtual Hudson Card and Dillon Thieneman on EA Sports College Football 25.

Washington running back Johan Coleman correctly placed Purdue in Indiana, though he admitted he’d missed the question earlier in the week. He came away from his first trip to the state impressed with the food, especially a meal of chicken wings and crab alfredo pasta-topped fries at Chicken Scratch.

While he wavered on Purdue’s geography, he knew with certainty of Indy’s other football destinations – the Big Ten Championship game and the NFL Draft Scouting Combine.

“It’s not my last time here,” Coleman said. “I’ll be back.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Where is Purdue? Testing the new Big Ten football geography