Illini at Purdue

[12xu]

Illini offense looking good, defense not so good but they lead 40 - 27 with 5 min. left in the game......and they win 43-27

[Rickster]

the offensive line is still not very good, but hopefully we don't under-appreciate what kind of QB play we're seeing.

I don't know anything about the heisman, but can someone explain why he is not one of the 4 or 5 "ones to watch"? I glanced at a list on fox sports and see Jeremiah Smith - OK, I get that. He's pretty much unstoppable at this point and clearly the best WR in the country. But then I see 4 other guys, all QBs, none of which is putting together a season as good as Altmeyer.

Our guy is avg 10.6 yards per ATTEMPT. not completion, per pass ATTEMPT. That is crazy good. 0 INT in 148 attempts. Crazy good. 12 passing, 2 rushing and 1 receiving TD...for 15 total. Not as good some others, but still very good. I see the QB from Baylor has 19 TD passes, but he also has 100 more pass attempts.

will be interesting to see if Coach Henry sticks with his "bend but don't break" defensive strategy against OSU. To play that way, your tackling needs to be a whole lot better. A couple blown coverages, but mostly Purdue's big plays were from bad tackling. What's the over/under on receiving yards Smith will have?

I think this offense can put up 30 on anyone (even OSU) as long as the game is within reach. Not sure this defense can keep OSU under 40 though. Opening line is 15.5 ....and that feels right. 40-25-ish OSU winning.

[ChiefSTL]

the offensive line is still not very good, but hopefully we don't under-appreciate what kind of QB play we're seeing.

I don't know anything about the heisman, but can someone explain why he is not one of the 4 or 5 "ones to watch"? I glanced at a list on fox sports and see Jeremiah Smith - OK, I get that. He's pretty much unstoppable at this point and clearly the best WR in the country. But then I see 4 other guys, all QBs, none of which is putting together a season as good as Altmeyer.

Our guy is avg 10.6 yards per ATTEMPT. not completion, per pass ATTEMPT. That is crazy good. 0 INT in 148 attempts. Crazy good. 12 passing, 2 rushing and 1 receiving TD...for 15 total. Not as good some others, but still very good. I see the QB from Baylor has 19 TD passes, but he also has 100 more pass attempts.

will be interesting to see if Coach Henry sticks with his "bend but don't break" defensive strategy against OSU. To play that way, your tackling needs to be a whole lot better. A couple blown coverages, but mostly Purdue's big plays were from bad tackling. What's the over/under on receiving yards Smith will have?

I think this offense can put up 30 on anyone (even OSU) as long as the game is within reach. Not sure this defense can keep OSU under 40 though. Opening line is 15.5 ....and that feels right. 40-25-ish OSU winning.

You're right about Altmyer. In a year where there doesn't seem to be a runaway favorite, Alt should be getting more publicity. He needs a big signature win under his belt to get some notoriety. Big chance on Saturday.

I'm not thrilled with the job Henry is doing. We just look like a soft defense that sits back and hopes a turnover comes to us. We don't have a real identity. The biggest problem IMO is the secondary. One guy getting hurt shouldn't cripple your defense, but it sure seems like that's whats happened when Xavier Scott went down. I think the best part of our defense is our d-line. Problem is, when we play in soft coverage, our DL is negated because the QB gets rid of the ball in a hurry. We need to play more man defense to give the DL more time to get to the QB, but I don't think Henry trusts our man coverage. I think Bielema needs to take a bigger hand in the D, and it sounds like his is saying that too. I'm just not sure we have the talent at CB to do it.

With how our running game and offense line have been, my expectations are really low for this game. Lunney is gonna need to scheme some guys open, and quickly. I hope this game is close, but I'm afraid of a blowout.

[Rickster]

the offensive line is still not very good, but hopefully we don't under-appreciate what kind of QB play we're seeing.

I don't know anything about the heisman, but can someone explain why he is not one of the 4 or 5 "ones to watch"? I glanced at a list on fox sports and see Jeremiah Smith - OK, I get that. He's pretty much unstoppable at this point and clearly the best WR in the country. But then I see 4 other guys, all QBs, none of which is putting together a season as good as Altmeyer.

Our guy is avg 10.6 yards per ATTEMPT. not completion, per pass ATTEMPT. That is crazy good. 0 INT in 148 attempts. Crazy good. 12 passing, 2 rushing and 1 receiving TD...for 15 total. Not as good some others, but still very good. I see the QB from Baylor has 19 TD passes, but he also has 100 more pass attempts.

will be interesting to see if Coach Henry sticks with his "bend but don't break" defensive strategy against OSU. To play that way, your tackling needs to be a whole lot better. A couple blown coverages, but mostly Purdue's big plays were from bad tackling. What's the over/under on receiving yards Smith will have?

I think this offense can put up 30 on anyone (even OSU) as long as the game is within reach. Not sure this defense can keep OSU under 40 though. Opening line is 15.5 ....and that feels right. 40-25-ish OSU winning.

You're right about Altmyer. In a year where there doesn't seem to be a runaway favorite, Alt should be getting more publicity. He needs a big signature win under his belt to get some notoriety. Big chance on Saturday.

I'm not thrilled with the job Henry is doing. We just look like a soft defense that sits back and hopes a turnover comes to us. We don't have a real identity. The biggest problem IMO is the secondary. One guy getting hurt shouldn't cripple your defense, but it sure seems like that's whats happened when Xavier Scott went down. I think the best part of our defense is our d-line. Problem is, when we play in soft coverage, our DL is negated because the QB gets rid of the ball in a hurry. We need to play more man defense to give the DL more time to get to the QB, but I don't think Henry trusts our man coverage. I think Bielema needs to take a bigger hand in the D, and it sounds like his is saying that too. I'm just not sure we have the talent at CB to do it.

With how our running game and offense line have been, my expectations are really low for this game. Lunney is gonna need to scheme some guys open, and quickly. I hope this game is close, but I'm afraid of a blowout.

maybe some stunting on the D line? have Jacas twist around at the snap and rush up the middle?

some counter action on offense? or more designed QB runs?