Purdue needs victories in 2021.

It’s Jeff Brohm’s 5th season, and after back-to-back losing campaigns — following years in which the Boilermakers played in bowl games — the want for a winner is high.

But Purdue has a wide variety of possible outcomes this season, in large part because of the number of questions during training camp.

Let’s take a look at 3 best-case and 3 worst-case scenarios:

Best-case scenarios

Beating ND and IU

The Boilermakers multitude of questions — about the starting quarterback, the running game, the new defensive scheme — get answered early in the season.

A quick start is almost a must for Purdue, and it gets wins over Oregon State and UConn in the first 2 weeks, setting up a big one at Notre Dame. With Drew Brees at Notre Dame Stadium to call the game for NBC, Purdue QB Jack Plummer turns in the best game of his career, with 300 yards passing, 50 yards rushing and 4 total TDs, as the Boilermakers upend the Fighting Irish. With the win, Purdue jumps into the top 25 for the first time in more than a dozen years.

The Boilermakers start 5-0, reaching No. 18 in the country, before running into challenges; Purdue loses 3 of the next 5, including reality-check losses to Wisconsin at home and at Ohio State. But those show only that Purdue is on the cusp of getting its program back going, but isn’t there yet.

Purdue recovers to win its last 2 games, first getting by Northwestern in Wrigley Field — the most exciting sporting event there since the trade deadline — and then Indiana in the Bucket game. In the win over IU, Purdue’s defense plays its best game of the year, flustering Michael Penix Jr. into 3 turnovers. More importantly, it shows that Brohm made the right choice in handing the defense over to new co-coordinator Brad Lambert.

The Boilermakers win 9 games, the most since way back in the Joe Tiller days, and make a trip to Tampa for the Outback Bowl.

Lucky 7

For a solid season, a solid start is almost a must. And the Boilermakers do so against the Beavers, with Aidan O’Connell, who barely beat out Plummer for the starting job, rallying Purdue in the final minute.

It’s O’Connell fourth come-from-behind victory in his Boilermakers career, as the veteran — and former walk-on — has shown a penchant for coming up big in big moments. He does so again later in the season, as Purdue gets a big win over Nebraska in Ross-Ade Stadium.

But it’s not all roses for the Boilermakers. Because they’re so thin at so many positions, they struggle to find the consistency necessary to make a big run in the Big Ten West. Instead, they’ve got to manufacture their way around a beat-up offensive line. Yet the Boilermakers can get Win No. 7 against the Hoosiers in the season-finale.

Purdue does so, getting a good performance from Plummer (he’s in because the scrambling ability makes up for the O-line), and a big effort from George Karlaftis, who brings down Penix twice in what turns out to be his last game as a Boilermaker.

Back bowling

After back-to-back sub-.500 seasons, the Boilermakers’ No. 1 goal is to go bowling once again.

Purdue has the chance going into the Bucket game after beating the teams it should: Oregon State, UConn, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan State. It doesn’t do much to excite a fan base hungry for a big winner, but at least Purdue hasn’t slumped, as it did in the second halves of the last two seasons.

And it has David Bell, who has provided the offense with a huge dose of electricity. He does so one more time against IU, helping Purdue to a come-from-behind victory that gets it back into the postseason.

There are positives to the year — mainly the 6 regular-season wins and a bowl — but questions again carry into the offseason.

Worse-case scenarios

Bringing home the Bucket

The Boilermakers win only 1 of their first 3 games — a road victory at hapless UConn seems like a guarantee — putting a damper on the season during the first month.

It’s not the kind of momentum needed for a program that comes into the season having lost 4 straight games. Although there are highlights to the season, like a win at Iowa and a home victory vs. Nebraska, Purdue has only 4 victories prior to the Bucket game.

What went wrong? The defense didn’t jell, mainly because it simply doesn’t have enough play-makers in the front 7. Sure, Karlaftis got his, with 9 sacks, but the rest of the defense accounted for only 6 more. It was so reminiscent to last season, when Karlaftis had 2 of Purdue’s 5.

The Boilermakers’ only chance to salvage something is vs. Indiana. Two days after Thanksgiving, Purdue squeaks by Indiana, as Zander Horvath and the previously dormant running game gets unleashed. Horvath goes for 150 and 2 touchdowns. But it’s only win No. 5 for the season, and Purdue didn’t do much to quiet the growing number of doubters in West Lafayette.

Losing the trophies

Purdue drops all of its trophy games, to Notre Dame and IU, along with the real head-scratcher vs. Illinois. It gets to 4 victories for the season, but none are particularly noteworthy, nor do they get the fan-base excited.

Bizarrely, the Boilermakers’ defense performs better than expected — it pressures the QB and collects turnovers, the latter feeling like it hasn’t happened in a decade — but it’s the offense that can’t get going. Purdue misses Rondale Moore more than expected, and although David Bell and Milton Wright are solid on the perimeter, the Boilermakers have virtually no other skill weapons.

It’s frustrating to watch, to say the least.

Is this the end?

Nothing goes right.

Purdue stumbles against Oregon State in the opener, then gets a win at UConn — because it’s UConn — and then gets boat-raced by the Fighting Irish.

And the start of the Big Ten brings more misery, with a loss to Bret Bielema’s Illinois team and then to Minnesota and Iowa. Purdue sits 1-5 at the halfway point of the season.

What happened? Purdue is so thin at some many spots, along the O-line, at running back, at linebacker and at cornerback, that it can’t stop the leaking once the injuries start piling up. The 10 transfers brought in to help pad the depth don’t pan out. The Boilermakers beat Michigan State on Nov. 6, but after getting mopped by IU in the finale, the second half record matches the first.

And man, the vultures are out in West Lafayette. Is Brohm really the coach to get Purdue back on track? The clock starts to tick.