Breakdown: Purdue's win at Illinois
Purdue's off to a 2-0 start following its 31-24 win Saturday at Illinois, weathering a late Illini rally and sealing the win a red-zone turnover on downs.
Aidan O'Connell completed 13-of-14 first-half passes, including a 45-yard TD to Milton Wright, and finished 28-of-34 for 344 yards and two scores, while Zander Horvath ran for 104 yards and David Bell caught nine balls for 122 yards and touchdown and a remarkable game-sealing third-and-11 catch.
Three things from the game ...
• This was a step backward for Purdue's defense, even though It made numerous big plays.Illinois, whose offense was bad before It lost a dozen-plus players to COVID, accumulated almost 500 yards with a fourth-string QB.
Purdue was undisciplined, allowing at least four first downs by penalty on either third or fourth down.
• All eyes now turn to George Karlaftis' status after he left the game in the first half with what looked like a lower-leg Injury, suffered when DT Lawrence Johnson inadvertently rolled into his ankle area.
Obviously a really important player for Purdue and cause for significant concern.
• Purdue could have run away and hid early in this game, but a couple of penalties kept its defense on the field and a Zander Horvath fumble was inexplicably upheld upon review after replays seemed to clearly show him to be down, leading to Illinois' first score.
That was a bad break, but the Boilermaker defense gave up way too much to an extremely limited Illini offense early. Points and yards are two different things, but 260 first-half yards were a lot of first-half yards. Illinois bungled opportunities in the red zone, and Purdue deserves some credit for that, but while there wasn't a whole lot of breaking, there was a lot of bending against an offense that was bad before it was decimated by COVID-19.
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2020. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.