It's still early in the season, yet Saturday evening's contest between 3-0 Northwestern and 2-0 Purdue seems like a pivotal one in the Big Ten West during this tumultuous fall.

Our predictions.

Apparently, I am choosing to ignore that the game may be played in bad weather, the Vegas money is on Northwestern and the fact that the ‘Cats are pretty darn good.

But in this upside-down world, maybe the wind and rain won’t be as bad as predicted, and Purdue will prove it is pretty good too.

Aidan O’Connell has been excellent and the Purdue offense has good options in good weather and bad. And Northwestern’s offense, at least in the last two weeks, hasn’t set the world on fire.