Purdue, Illini each dealing with issues

If Illinois wins, I could see a split of the two upcoming road games against Northwestern and Penn State and a 6-2 Big Ten record at that stage. The way other teams are losing, 6-2 will seem pretty good.

If Illinois loses, I will expect a four-game winning streak that Illinois enjoyed to begin league play to be followed by a four-game losing streak. And 4-4 will seem shaky, especially with the very difficult second-half schedule looming.

Tupper