Usually I don't need a whole lot of help making myself look stupid, but Purdue gave me a big assist Saturday in its not-as-close-as-the-score win over 23rd-ranked Illinois.
I predicted a 28-20 Illinois win and didn't give Purdue the 'advantage' in any phase of the game in our matchup preview posted Friday.
I could not have been more wrong, I'm not afraid to admit.
Purdue controlled the game from the start and won every phase of it, though its offense curled up in a ball in the second half and left its defensive counterparts out there so much that they were bound to suck wind, as seemed to be the case as Illinois broke the shutout with a pair of late TDs.
Otherwise, the offense was good. It jumped out to a big lead with Caleb TerBush playing really, really well in guiding 91- and 88-yard touchdown drives, then in making Illinois pay for a nice display of special teams buffoonery deep in its own territory.
TerBush played as well as Purdue's seen a QB play since some of Joey Elliott's better games in 2009.
Elliott didn't play until he was a senior, and experience made him better through the course of the year; TerBush hasn't played until this, his junior year, and experience is clearly making him better.
And so on Saturday, Purdue was a one-quarterback two-quarterback team.
TerBush made a couple big plays, none more pivotal than the rabbit he pulled out of his hat (uh, helmet?) to Justin Siller on third-and-21 on Purdue's first scoring drive.
The Boilermaker running game didn't put up huge numbers, but it was striking how Ralph Bolden and Akeem Shavers ran. Both, time and again, made yards where there were no yards to be made, keeping the offense moving forward against a defense that's thrived on moving offenses backward.
Bolden and Shavers got all the tough yards; rookie Raheem Mostert poached the touchdown.
There was a carry in the second half where Bolden was steered toward the sideline by the Illini, but showed tremendous game awareness in re-directing himself toward the middle of the field to stay in-bounds without taking any risks with the ball, at a stage of the game where Purdue was competing against the clock as much as it was Illinois.
The offense scored enough points to win in the first half; in the second, it just did enough to make sure it did, which I guess is only kind of a compliment.
Purdue won this game, though, on defense and special teams, especially after halftime.
It's a real credit to Purdue's coaching staff how this defense has come along. It was downright bad during non-conference games. All of a sudden, it's good, three straight strong outings behind it. Danny Hope says things have been simplified for the defense now and the pay-out is showing; the question then is, what the heck were they trying to do before and why?
At the heart of the defense's coming of age of late has been a defensive line that's really turned it up, looking just as disruptive Saturday as it did in any game last season with No. 94 out there. The trick vs. Illinois was two-fold against Nathan Scheelhaase: Pressure the QB, but also contain the edges. That's a fine line.
The Boilermakers did both and effectively stuffed Scheelhaase in a suit case for the afternoon.
Kawann Short is this close to being that dominant player. Ryan Russell is getting better every game, and Gerald Gooden, maybe for the first time in his career, lived up to that talk of him being a guy who could stack up with Purdue's great defensive ends of the past.
Of course, Ricardo Allen and Josh Johnson helped that D-line considerably today. They gave Illinois nothing, playing physically with A.J. Jenkins and rendering the nation's receiver-yardage leader a non-factor, eight catches for 92 yards or not.
The difference between this week and last week for the defense was that other phases of the game didn't compromise it with turnovers or long kick returns.
The offense committed just one turnover and the defense wiped it right off the board; the special teams were absolutely flawless while Illinois' were flawed as hell.
This was a great win for Purdue, which needed a positive result to show for the trending-upward it's done during the Big Ten season.
It's indicative of the nature of college football how one game can change so much. A week ago, you're looking at Purdue's remaining schedule - and bear in mind, Illinois came into this game with a number in front of its name - and wondering where three more wins were going to come from.
Now, Purdue just needs two of its last five, with Indiana still remaining on the schedule to account for one of them, not that that game should be taken for granted.
Purdue should be a confident team right now and a win like this could potentially have a real positive effect on its season. In 2009, Purdue finished 4-2 after beating Ohio State. Last season, the win at Northwestern was parlayed into a win the following week (albeit against Minnesota) before injuries took hold.
Complicating matters is the fact that these next two, maybe three, games are such that Purdue's very best football still might not be enough, but what matters right now is the Boilermakers needed a big win and got one.
Despite what some of us predicted.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2011. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
Check out GoldandBlack.com on
This post was edited on 10/22 9:21 PM by Brian_GoldandBlack.com
