Boilermaker Special Hat Tracker
In 1994, Boilermaker Special Pilot Ned Franklin started the tradition of attaching baseball caps of defeated football teams to the BMS Cowcatcher. That year, Purdue rattled off a 4–1 record and grabbed the first four hats: Toledo, Ball State, Illinois and Minnesota.
Those first 4 hats became part of the 40 different schools sacrificed in this manner out of 54 opponents.
You can view a subset of the data showing total Hat Game attempts and number of hats collected for each team on Google Sheets.
Ground Rules
Hats are collected by Reamer Club members from fans of the defeated opponent and then zip tied onto the front of the Boilermaker Special. Just because a hat was earned, it does not mean a hat was collected — there may have been instances where a hat was not found or attached for an opponent that I am not aware of.*
Any game since 1994 is eligible for a Hat. Hats are only awarded for wins; ties and losses do not count for a hat. While I believe the Reamers will collect FCS hats, I will not be tracking those because MCubed.Net does not track FCS — Indiana State for example.
The first time a team plays Purdue since 1994, that is considered a New Hat Game. Until a victory, all attempts against that same team are considered New Hat Games; Purdue had 7 new hat games against Penn State until finally winning one in 2003.
*Known Hat Game without Hat — CMU in the Motor City Bowl, 2007. They were already defeated and added to the cowcatcher, so the Club did not grab another one.
Big Ten Hats
Illinois was the first Big Ten Hat Game, and the first fallen victim in 1994. Minnesota joined them the next week, but that would be all for the campaign that year.
With the expansion of the B1G, Purdue’s ability to collect new hats has changed drastically. In the Big Ten West, Purdue plays the same 6 opponents annually:
- Illinois: 16–6 in the Hat Era
- Minnesota: 13- 12
- Wisconsin: 4–18–1
- Iowa: 9–12–1
- Nebraska: 4–5
- Northwestern: 12–12
And when you add in Indiana as a protected, thats 7 possible games accounted for right off the bat. While all hats are good hats, new hats are special.
With the rotating Schedule in the East, Purdue gets some less commonplace opportunities to add some unique hats to the board:
- Rutgers: 0–2 in the Hat Era
- Maryland: 1–2
- Penn State: 2–15
- Michigan: 4–12
- Michigan State: 8–11
- Ohio State: 5–13
- Indiana: 17–10
Rutgers is the only Big Ten Team to not have the privilege to adorn the BMS. There will not be another attempt at this hat until 2024 when Purdue returns to New Jersey.
Out of all the opponents, Penn State proved the hardest to grab — it took 7 games to finally win the prize.
The Boilermaker Special has collected 95 Big Ten Hats across 224 Big Ten games — only including games for Maryland, Nebraska, and Rutgers after they joined the Big Ten.
Bowl Game Hats
Bowls are a great way for teams to meet up when they never would have naturally done so otherwise. Traditional wisdom says “It’s also a great way to collect hats for the first time”, but it hasn’t proven to be so successful for the Boilers:
Successful Conquests
2021 — Music City Bowl, Tennessee
2002 — Sun Bowl, Washington
1998 — Alamo Bowl, Kansas State
1997 — Alamo Bowl, Oklahoma State
Less than profitable Endeavors
2018 — Music City Bowl, Auburn
2006 — Champs Sports Bowl, Maryland
2004 — Sun Bowl, Arizona State
2003 — Capital One Bowl, Georgia
2001 — Sun Bowl, Washington State
2000 — The Rose Bowl, Washington
1999 — Outback Bowl, Georgia
The Tennessee Hat was the first hat won in a bowl game since 2002/Washington, and the first game since 1998/Kansas State where Purdue won a hat in their first attempt with one on the line.
The 2017 Foster Farms Bowl, 2012 Heart of Dallas Bowl, 2011 Little Caesar’s Bowl, and 2007 Motor City Bowl paired Purdue against teams who had already lost at the hands of the Boilermakers since 1994 and already given up their hat. Most notably was Central Michigan at the 2007 Motor City Bowl, who had already been defeated in Non-Conference, but would lose again in the bowl game — the first hat was already collected in 1999 as it was.
Quick Work
16 Teams have given up their hats in the first meeting.
Tennessee became the 11th team to play a single game in the hat era and lose:
- NC State
- Kansas State
- Kent State
- Syracuse — Scheduled in 2022
- Middle Tennessee State
- Ohio
- Boston College — Was Scheduled for Return game in 2020
- Vanderbilt
- UConn
- Oregon State
- Tennessee
Ball State has been taken advantage of the most with 6 Hats given up across 6 contests. Arizona and Western Michigan each have 3 losses in the Hat Era without a successful defense yet. From 2002–2006 one of these three teams was always on the train.
Rivalry Hats
Purdue Football holds 3 true rivalries: Indiana, Illinois and Notre Dame. Occasionally we have seen rivalry hats tied on upside down, primarily Indiana, but thats at the discretion of the Pilots.
Illinois was the first Rival to give up a hat, and out of all the rivalries continues to be the most common (16 hats in 22 games).
Indiana held off in 1994, but in 1995 lost and gave the first hat in Old Oaken Bucket series. In total, Purdue has gone 17–10 in the Hat Era against the Hoosiers.
The first Rivalry hat at home was the 1997 Notre Dame hat, which Notre Dame staved off for 3 straight contests before losing in the 4th. This is the third longest defense — Tied Michigan State — before giving up the first hat. Notre Dame has only given up 5 total hats in 22 meetings.
Long Time Comin’
Purdue took the field 7 times against Penn State before finally stealing a hat. They hold tightly onto first place, with Ohio State (5 attempts), Michigan (4) and Notre Dame (4) being the only teams in the same solar system.
Still Searching
13 Teams have successfully defended their hat from the trophy case. Rutgers, Northern Illinois, Oregon, Bowling Green and Georgia are the only teams to do it twice (Bolded below)
- TCU
- Rutgers
- Auburn
- Louisville
- Virginia Tech
- Northern Illinois
- Oregon
- Hawaii
- Arizona State
- Bowling Green
- Washington State
- Georgia
- USC
Upcoming New Hat Games
2022
Florida Atlantic — First meeting ever
2023
Fresno State — First meeting ever
@ Virginia Tech — Second New Hat Game
2024
@ Rutgers — Third New Hat Game
2027
North Carolina — First meeting ever
2030
@ TCU — Second New Hat Game
2033
@ Ole Miss—First New Hat Game
