| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | BCS | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 18 | RV | 1 | -- | ||||
| 2 | Sep 9 | RV | 1 | -- | ||||
| 3 | Sep 16 | RV | 6 | -- | ||||
| 4 | Sep 23 | RV | 73 | -- | ||||
| 5 | Sep 30 | 23 | 5-0 | 218 | 0 | 20 | -- | |
| 6 | Oct 7 | RV | 48 | 0 | -- | |||
| 8 | Oct 21 | RV | 1 | NR | ||||
| 9 | Oct 28 | RV | 22 | NR | ||||
| 10 | Nov 4 | RV | 3 | NR |
Note: Purdue's ranking in the final 1961 poll has been changed to unranked after the original AP wire story and poll was revisited and confirmed across several newspapers.