Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, October 13th, 2:30pm CT, FS1
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S&P ignores stats once garbage time is entered. That goes both ways. It's obviously not a perfect model, I'd imagine even to this point a lot of the rankings are based on last seasons performance/returning players/incoming talent. S&P is an efficiency rating, not necessarily a tool to determine who should win/lose a game. I'm not as familiar with it, but Sagarin is another rating system. Maybe for comparison's sake, it's more interesting to look at. We are ranked 92, EMU is 93, Purdue is 53, and South Florida is 54.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
At the risk of dead horse flogging, job #1 is putting pressure on PU's QB. We're not going to win the turnover battle (or the game), if we can't get Blough out of his comfort zone. Obviously, being able to drive the ball and score is key too. But the DL needs to step it up, big time.
I know David Blough and Rondale Moore should be #1A and 1B on everyone's Heisman watch list, but this seems a little extreme. It's not like Illinois hasn't faced a good QB or WR this season.
Remember score doesn’t necessarily mean touchdown. Teams move the ball between the 20s on us with ease. Field goal opportunities will be great.
I'd say the key is on the other side of the ball - OL. We need to out rush Purdue, and need to keep AJ's feet on the ground. Old fashioned Lovie Ball: Turnovers, Rushing, Special Teams. If we win all three, chances are we win.
Most interesting Illini FB game in years. Do we have enough young talent to beat a mediocre (no disrespect intended, Purdue is my second favorite team) BIG team with an old fashioned strategy? Unfortunately I say not quite, but I hope I am wrong.
Most interesting Illini FB game in years. Do we have enough young talent to beat a mediocre (no disrespect intended, Purdue is my second favorite team) BIG team with an old fashioned strategy? Unfortunately I say not quite, but I hope I am wrong.
Yes, I am well aware of the field goal. It's still an extreme statement. Remember, not every field goal attempt is successful. Also, Rutgers punted 4 times, South Florida punted 5 times. Even mighty Penn State punted once, and, as I recall, would have punted another time if not for a phantom pass interference penalty. Oh, and they missed their only field goal attempt. Yet, BD Mil has you convinced that Purdue will score on every drive where they don't turn the ball over?
Between Bush, Corbin, and Epstein, I think our run game will be. Bonner isn't awful, but he's leagues behind those three's ability to a) actually run and b) have the vision to find holes.
Yeah talent wise I agree. I guess tempo wise I don't think we need to be blazing fast... I'd actually like to slow downthe pace a little andkeep our backs fresh. If this game turns into a shoot out or we have to claw our way back in because we couldn't keep Purdue off the field I don't like our chances.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I really do think this game will be decided in the first half psychologically. I don't see us tiring out the way we did vs. PSU or even USF this time around, so it's crucial that we go into the fourth quarter not down more than one score.
True. That was just two guys. Two things I’ll never forget when I was a student at Purdue during the Brees years.
1) Ohio State fans were all obnoxious in 2000. Too bad Brees hit the bomb to win the big ten and send them packing.
2) when I was acacia at Purdue, 2 guys who were acacia Penn State came for the 99 #2 Nittany Lions at Purdue. They held off Purdue at the end to win. The consensus from our house were that these two guys acted like that whole town was keeping a secret.
Turns out they were lol.
Good luck tomorrow guys. If Illinois plays just a little closer to their best than we do to our best, the game will go down to the final minutes. Have a good game Illinois.
Let's win this freaking game! C'mon man, we can do this!!!
Low 50’s, not much wind and no rain. This will be a perfect day to be at the game. Let’s win this game.
Just picked up 11 tickets!! Go Illini!!
This is awful news.
Need it to be rainy and sloppy out and extremely windy. Hopefully we get some of the above to affect PU's passing game.
Desmond Howard had us as his SuperDog pick on Gameday. He didn't think Illini would win but they would at least cover the spread.
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