I just want to start this weeks post off by saying that I purposely decided to not post last week because I wanted to do the Michigan v. Michigan State game, but I felt as if my bias would of come into play a little to much seeing as I do not like the Michigan Wolverines (check prior posts about them), but I do like the Michigan State Spartans, so that would of been a train wreck of a post. Anyway back to the game at hand.
This game was an upset. Plain and simple. Illinois didn't play to their full potential and Purdue definitely took advantage of Illinois shortcomings and exploited them. As you can see, Purdue is generally a mediocre team when it comes to their record, winning a hand full and losing a handful. On the other side of the field is Illinois, a team that generally wins a majority of their games, plays in bowl games and wins. Illinois fans saw this game as an opportunity to move their team up in the rankings, but it didn't turn out that way. I personally am a fan of any kind of upset, underdog win, so this to me was a good game.
Purdue took the lead early, with the only points scored in the first and second quarters. The first touchdown came with only three minutes left in the quarter, completed by a 6 yard pass from quarterback Caleb Terbush to Justin Siller. This put Purdue up 7-0. In the second quarter, a phenomenal run by halfback Raheem Mostert of the Purdue Boilermakers but 7 more on the board, with 12 minutes to still play in the quarter. He ran for 21 yards on that play and that was his only carry of the game. Fast forward four minutes and Purdue was looking to put the score, in their favor, up by three touchdowns. Quarterback Caleb Terbush completed a 4 yard pass to receiver Jared Crank. Terbush threw for 178 yards with 2 touchdown passes.
The third quarter became a blur, as both teams did nothing but punt the ball making for horrible TV and also horrible football. I felt like I was watching a youth football game. It is good to note that even though the game went sour in the third quarter, the Purdue crowd was still on their feet ranting and raving for their team to complete this upset. Consequently, this crowd fell silent in the fourth quarter. This is why.
Illinois decided that they finally wanted to play football. Purdue's hopes of an underdog victory started to become a meek dream. With eight minutes left in the game, Illinois's halfback Jason Ford grabbed the ball for a 16 yard run, which resulted in Illinois first touchdown of the game. putting the score at 21-7. Ford ran for 83 yards on 10 carries, basically being shut out by the Purdue defense. Illinois comeback once again flared with 54 seconds left in the game, when a 2 yard run by quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase put the game at 21-14. Illinois decided to go for the on-side kick, the drama was high, the crowd was loud and the kick was returned by Purdue. The crowd went even more insane. Purdue ran out the clock for probably their biggest win of the season, giving them some momentum to hold onto going into week 9 when they play rival (and once again my number one hated team) #18 Michigan, in the Big House. Don't count Illinois out of their own game though, every good team has a down game and loses as a consequence. Illinois who lost their ranking will step into #19 Penn States house, but I wouldn't count them out of that one just yet. I actually hope both Purdue and Illinois win their games this week. I just want to point out, also that Michigan State jumped to #11 in the rankings and are playing #14 Nebraska at Nebraska. This should be a great week of football.
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