I’m honestly more nervous about the Illinois football game against Purdue than I was against Penn State.
The Illini were not expected to defeat the Nittany Lions. We were playing with house money. But against Purdue, Illinois is a huge betting favorite. This scares me.
When you search for the term “let-down game,” this game comes up. Illinois is the better team, and Purdue has looked bad this season. But none of that matters. The Big Ten and Illinois better be ready for some big football.
There are some areas where I think the Illini can attack the Boilermakers. I think Illinois can overwhelm Purdue, but these three areas are the primary focus for me.
Illinois has been more of a passing team this season. We are down 100 in rushing attack, but our passing attack has outpaced the running attack, which was expected.
On Saturday, the Illini will have a chance to get right when it comes to the running game. The program has only seen a 100-yard rusher once this season, and that was against Eastern Illinois. Against Purdue, I think we can make it two in the 100-yard dash.
It’s not like Illinois can’t run the ball. This is not our primary focus at the moment. In fact, the Illinois linebacker is seeing success on the field.
Kaden Feagin leads the Illini in rushing this season, averaging 4.6 yards per carry. Aidan Laughery, although a bit battered, averaged 6.3 yards per carry. Even our freshman running back Ca’Lil Valentine put up an impressive 5.3 yards per carry.
The ability to run the ball is there for the Orange and Blue, but we were the more passing team in 2024. I don’t expect that to be the case against Purdue.
If you want to see a running offense, I fully expect the Illini to hit Purdue with a three or four player rotation during the game. The Boilermakers have one of the worst rushing defenses in the country, and Illinois needs to figure that out.
For the season, Purdue is giving up 273.0 yards per game on the ground. That’s bad enough to rank No. 131 out of 134 teams in the FBS. Teams open holes and are able to play their semi-finals through them during matches.
At the end of the day, I think there’s a chance Illinois has multiple 100-yard rushers. We have the horses to pound the rock, and Bordeaux’s biggest weakness is the fast defence. This could be fun.
