Purdue has locked up bowl eligibility. It’s essentially out of the B1G West race. On paper, a game against Northwestern on Saturday at Wrigley Field doesn’t really do much for the Boilermakers.

What a pair of victories could do, though, in the final two games, is end a 15-year drought for the Purdue football program.

At 6-4 on the season, Purdue could defeat Northwestern and Indiana and close out the year with an 8-4 record. It would be the first time the Boilers have hit the 8-win mark in a regular season since 2006 under then-head coach Joe Tiller.

That season, the Boilermakers finished the year with an 8-6 record. Purdue actually hit 8 wins during the 2007 campaign, but needed a win over Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl to hit the total.

Purdue has only reached the 7-win mark twice since that 2007 season. The Boilers ended the 2011 season at 7-6 under Danny Hope and then again in 2017 under Jeff Brohm.

If Purdue closes out the year with a pair of wins, it will then get the chance to lock up that ninth victory in a bowl game. The last time that happened? 2003.

The next two opponents for the Boilermakers — Northwestern and Indiana — are a combined 5-15 on the season.