The Illini to play battered remnants of a football team called "Purdue"

Perhaps it is unfair to treat the Purdue football team as an afterthought. I mean they did beat us last year, (although I think I had that game erased from my memory Eternal Sunshine style) and just earlier this off season Danny "Mustache" Hope did say we were Purdue's arch rival.  But I would be lying if I told you I had any strong feelings toward this team one way or the other, in football at least.

In terms of actual football quality, I think we have to assume that the Illini are the superior team, and with the home field advantage should win comfortably. Why? Well last week's 49-0 beat down in Columbus is pretty good evidence, that along with a loss in West Lafayette to a not great Toledo, as well as the loss to a Notre Dame team that has once again proven that it is worse than the service academies.

Purdue is on its third string QB, and is currently without their best wide receiver Kieth Smith, half of their defensive secondary, and their best running back in Ralph Bolden and look like the shell of what their team should be. the fact that they have gotten four wins to this point in the season at all deserves some applause even.

All of these injuries make it rather difficult for me to get a good read on what to expect on Saturday, at least from Purdue's end, but what I can tell you is that the way our defense has been playing lately it may not matter what Purdue does, they will get blown off of the line of scrimmage.

The combination of Clay Nurse, Corey Liuget, and Whitney Mercilus on the defensive line has been far better than even the most optimistic of outlooks, and when combined with the way Ian Thomas, Nate Bussey and especially Martez Wilson have been playing at linebacker, I will be amazed if Purdue is able to get many yards at all on the ground, even though the option is their bread and butter.

I think that we should be more than capable of winning by playing this fairly close to the vest, relying on our defense, running game and special teams to salt this away. We cannot give the ball away on offense, that is the most important thing of all. Regardless of how well the defense is playing, we cannot afford to routinely ask them to bail us out of mistakes like interceptions and fumbles, our punting and field goal kicking is good enough that we wont need to take unnecessary chances. This isn't a #2 ranked Ohio State team we are playing, it is a Purdue team that is on its last legs, we wont really need to be quite so bold to beat up on them.

Two more wins and we go to a bowl. Win this one and it will be time to start getting greedy. Minnesota is in the toilet, Michigan may be  beginning another death spiral this weekend, and Northwestern and Fresno State are looking much more beatable, although clearly will not be push overs. All the Illini need to do is keep playing at the level they have and this team could win as many as eight games, get an invitation to a good bowl and actually, maybe, after all climb out of the football hell we have accustomed ourselves to living in.