A miracle has happened. Purdue football played a complete four quarters and walked away with a victory. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t a sure thing until late in the fourth quarter but Purdue did it. Things looked great going into the fourth quarter after Purdue stopped the Illini on a 4th down to take over. However, Purdue’s offense couldn’t take advantage of that momentum and punted it back to Illinois with just over 14:00 minutes to play in the game. Luckily for the Boilermakers they were up 16-7,
quick math says that’s 9 points meaning two possessions. Purdue would need all of those points as the defense made mistake after mistake on the next drive. None bigger than the pass intereference that pushed Illinois to the Purdue 34 yard line. It was reminiscent of a play earlier in the game when the Purdue defense had forced Illinois into a third and long. On the subsequent third down pass Purdue committed pass interefence giving Illinois the first down. That drive, kept alive by the Purdue penalty, resulted in the first touchdown for Illinois. However, it wouldn’t matter as Purdue got a sack on third down just a few plays later. See what I mean when I say it wasn’t easy? Purdue got in their own way quite a bit during this one but did enough to win.
Could this be a turning point for the Barry Odom era of Purdue football? Is the Illinois curse over? We will find out next week. For now, let’s look at the good and the bad from this Purdue win.
The Good:
- Purdue won. This can’t be overstated. Purdue had not won a Big Ten game in their last 19 tries but they walked away with a win here.
- The Purdue defense stepped up time and again in this one. They held Illinois to just 17 points. They stopped illinois on a number of important third and fourth downs. That was something that Purdue had struggled with through the first four games of the season. I can’t say enough about the performance of the defense today.
- Fame Ijeboi continues to be a revelation for this Purdue offense. He can do it all. He made some mistakes sure, running backwards for a 8-9 yard loss comes to mind, but he’s been a huge addition to this year’s team.
- Ryan Browne just keeps maturing as a QB. No interceptions today and he made more plays down the field than the rest of the season combined. It didn’t always result in touchdowns, but it kept the offense on the field and the defense off the field. When you’ve got a lead sometimes that’s enough.
- Purdue got a turnover. That’s right folks. An interception in the fourth quarter that finally ended the game. It was the third interception of the season for Purdue.
The Bad
- Purdue had a chance to salt the game away with a long scoring drive at the end of the third quarter/beginning of the fourth. Instead, they ran three plays before punting it away. Then, with about 11:00 minutes left they got another possession to again salt it away. Same thing, three plays and a quick punt. The playcalling was bad and looked horribly scared. You’ve got to take chances if you want to win more games and Purdue just hasn’t done it.
- Penalties were problematic yet again. Especially silly mental mistakes. Purdue had a number of false starts that put the offense behind the sticks to start drives or pushed them back into tougher down and distance. It didn’t matter today, but you’ve gotta clean that up.
- Red zone offense was tough sledding today. Purdue finished with 24 points but that included three red zone trips that resulted in field goals only. Now listen,. I’ll take the points and be happy with it in this case, but tougher games down the road will require touchdowns and Purdue has consistenly struggled to punch it in. Clean that up and suddenly this game isn’t even close. Instead of 24 points you can add 12 more and Purdue is sitting as 36 points. (You’re right they probably would have 35 because they wouldn’t have gone for the two point conversion but I’m just doing basic math here.)
- The final touchdown for Illinois was due to some lovely prevent defense. I understand that you don’t want to let a big play get behind you, but Purdue had allowed 10 points over 3+ quarters but instead of continuing what they were doing they completely change their style of play. It’s maddening.
A Purdue win in the Big Ten? YES!
