Purdue Boilermakers football The Purdue Boilermakers football team is the intercollegiate football program of the Purdue University Boilermakers . The program is classified in the NCAA ' s Division I Bowl Subdivision , and the team competes in the Big Ten Conference . The Boilermakers have an all - time record of 571 - 487 - 48 . Stadium . The Boilermakers have called Ross - Ade Stadium home since 1924 . It replaced Stuart Field , which was home to the Boilermakers since 1892 . Ross - Ade Stadium has a capacity of 62 , 500 . Logos and uniforms . Purdue ' s colors are Old Gold and Black , as are their uniforms . Home uniforms are black with white numerals and old gold outline . On the sleeve is the player ' s number in white , outlined in old gold , along with two outer old gold stripes and a black one inside at the end of the sleeve . The pants are old gold with two black stripes along both sides . The away uniform is white with black numerals and old gold outline . Both home and away jerseys sport the Purdue slant " P " logo in the center front of the collar , surrounded by a patch of black fabric . The away pants are black with two old gold stripes . Since the arrival of Joe Tiller in 1997 , Purdue players have not worn names on the backs of their jerseys . This is the first year under Danny Hope that the players will wear their names on the backs of their jerseys . The helmet is old gold with the Purdue " P " in black with a white outline on both sides . There are three stripes down the middle ; two outer black ones , and one thick inner white one . The facemask is black . Before Tiller , the team wore uniforms that sported the school ' s name across the front of the jersey , and the old gold color was more pronounced , with almost a copper hue . In Tiller ' s first season , the helmet color was lightened substantially , as was the gold used on the rest of the uniform . Purdue ' s Pride sticker ( given out for good performances ) was the Purdue logo ( locomotive ) . This was changed in 2006 to a sledgehammer with the slant " P " in the hammer ' s head ( like the one wielded by mascot Purdue Pete ) . In the 2006 game against the Indiana State Sycamores , Purdue wore a throwback uniform from 1966 , in honor of the 40th anniversary of the school ' s first Rose Bowl team . It featured a white jersey with two outer black stripes on the shoulder and one inner gold stripe . The numerals were black with no outline . They wore gold pants with two black stripes on the sides , and the helmets were old gold with black numbers and one black stripe down the middle . The gold in the throwback uniforms was more yellow in hue than that in the regular 1997 – present uniforms . In 2002 , Purdue changed from its black home jersey to an old gold jersey . The old gold uniforms had white numerals and black outline for home games , and white uniforms with old gold numbers and back outline for away games . Some complained that the numerals on the jersey were too hard to see , so in 2003 they changed to an old gold jersey with black numerals outlined in white , and white pants with two black stripes down the sides . After losing their opening game at home to Bowling Green , Tiller and the team decided to dump the gold jerseys and go back to the black uniforms . After they changed back to the black uniforms , the team came out to Back in Black by AC / DC for every home game in 2003 . Since then , Purdue has stayed with the black uniforms . In one game against Wisconsin in 2006 , the Boilermakers wore the black jersey with black pants . They hadn ' t sported an all - black look at home since the last game of the season in 1996 against Indiana . In 2009 , Purdue also wore the Black on Black in a night game against Notre Dame on the Purdue Blackout , and then wore them for the remainder of their home games . In 2010 , the Black on Black remained the normal home uniform with the exception being the Homecoming game against Minnesota where the team donned Throwback Uniforms for the 2001 Rosebowl team . While the original jerseys were made by Champion , the replicas were Nike branded . Rivalries . Purdue ' s major rival has always been Indiana University , with whom they play for the Old Oaken Bucket , but during the Joe Tiller era the rivalry with Notre Dame in football has become the most heated and most competitive with Joe Tiller led teams going 5 - 7 vs . Notre Dame . Danny Hope picked up the Purdue - Notre Dame rivalry with a 24 - 21 loss in his first season as head coach . In addition , Purdue has a long - standing rivalry with Illinois , with whom they play for the Purdue Cannon trophy . Due to having an odd number of teams from 1993 to 2010 , the Big Ten utilized a rotating system of conference games . Every school was designated two official rivals , whom they played every year . The official rivals for Purdue were Indiana and Northwestern . However , after the expansion of the Big Ten to 12 schools , Purdue and Northwestern were placed into separate conference divisions and will no longer play each other on an annual basis . Beginning in 2011 , Purdue ' s new designated cross - division rival will be Iowa . " Spoilermakers " . Purdue has knocked off the # 1 ranked football team in college football seven times over the years — the third most of all the Division I teams in college football . Only Notre Dame and Oklahoma have accomplished this more times .