I didn’t think Purdue would win today, especially with Illinois bully-ball and the weather. We didn’t back down, very impressive. Why was this team so much tougher today than it was last week against Iowa or the previous week against Wisconsin?
Great game, terrific win, but confused
- Thread starter Bernese
- Start date
The D down the stretch was pretty special. If they played like that all season, the team would be 8-2 at worst.
They seemed to toughen up as the game went on. The more trash talking Illinois did the more amped up we seemed and the more frustrated Illinois got. Purdue seemed to handle it better. Let’s also not forget this is the Illinois team that lost to Iu and then msu at home. Really looking back had no marquee wins.
I don’t really think we have to over complicate things. Teams have good games, bad games, and everything in between. Unfortunately for us our margins for error is razor thin. When we don’t play really well in all three phases we can be beat. Today we played well. We still have a shot at winning 7-9 games. I will take that! Boiler up!
My guess…we’re always going to be a team on the edge. Simple facts of depth and skills deficit between us and a lot of teams. Hence, emotion and/or momentum could carry us or kills us. Two to three early shots put us out of the game in Wisky from the beginning. A total lack of offense broke our hearts early at Iowa.
And not using Mockobee more because of the conditions.
They are still a very good team. IMHO, they are as good or better than the Iowa, Wisconsin, and PSU teams that beat us, and we won the game on the road in poor weather. Thoroughly enjoyable and redeeming.
Since everybody was speculating that the poor play the last couple weeks was because Brohm is leaving, then it’s equally reasonable to speculate with the result yesterday that he will be staying put.
We seem to elevate against ranked team and seem to play down to lesser competition
I don't have much to add to what's already been said, but here are a few observations:
1) Salty effort on both sides of the ball. Purdue made some big plays when they really had to. Great game by Durham.
2) The game was remarkably clean in the first half but became disjointed in the second. A couple long reviews contributed, but so did more idiotic personal foul penalties on Purdue. Maybe it's time to bench players who can't keep their mouths shut. That said, Illinois had some dumb penalties, too--like the late hit on O'Connell that extended a Purdue scoring drive late in the 3rd quarter after Illinois had just tied the game at 21.
3) Also on the subject of penalties: the officials threw A LOT of flags against the Illinois secondary. Most seemed spot-on, but I thought the PI that wiped out an Illinois interception just before halftime was a bad call. It led directly to the Purdue touchdown that tied the game at 14.
4) How about Crazy Legs? He's now at 732 rushing yards for the season. Given the last 2 opponents struggle against the run, 1,000 for the season looks like a very real possibility--especially if Brohm makes him a central feature of the offense.
1) Salty effort on both sides of the ball. Purdue made some big plays when they really had to. Great game by Durham.
2) The game was remarkably clean in the first half but became disjointed in the second. A couple long reviews contributed, but so did more idiotic personal foul penalties on Purdue. Maybe it's time to bench players who can't keep their mouths shut. That said, Illinois had some dumb penalties, too--like the late hit on O'Connell that extended a Purdue scoring drive late in the 3rd quarter after Illinois had just tied the game at 21.
3) Also on the subject of penalties: the officials threw A LOT of flags against the Illinois secondary. Most seemed spot-on, but I thought the PI that wiped out an Illinois interception just before halftime was a bad call. It led directly to the Purdue touchdown that tied the game at 14.
4) How about Crazy Legs? He's now at 732 rushing yards for the season. Given the last 2 opponents struggle against the run, 1,000 for the season looks like a very real possibility--especially if Brohm makes him a central feature of the offense.
Regarding #4, I hope the game plans for both IU and NW focus on the run game. The passing game is much better with a real running threat. Also, I liked seeing Aiden run the ball. His 20+ yard keeper was a huge play.
Some of those flags on both teams yesterday were iffy but I still cant believe that the Illini werent penalized for gang tackling Mockabee out of bounds.Yesterdays win was something Purdue desereved since they were definitly jobbed at Syracuse.What goes around comes around.
I agree. I get that both teams did plenty of jawing. And, I appreciate that the officials have a responsibility to keep control of the game. But there seemed like a stretch in the late 3rd/early 4th quarter where we had a penalty almost every other play.
