It would be the most massive understatement of understatements to say that Purdue football will step up a few weight classes in competition this week. Last weekend, the Boilermakers did to Illinois what the Fighting Illini did to them in 2015- destroy their Homecoming by absolutely obliterating them.
Coincidentally that was year three of the Darrell Hazell era just like this is year three of the Lovie Smith regime. It’s becoming clear now that Lovie is Illinois’ disaster hire much like Hazell was Purdue’s.
Purdue comes into this game as two touchdown underdogs, and should you want to bet on this game, but you don’t care for the 14 point spread being offered for this contest, you can utilize this promo from fanduel to make this game more interesting in other ways. If you want to watch how your potential investments might or might now pay off, kickoff is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST. The broadcast A-team of ABC/ESPN, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor will call this one in West Lafayette.
It’s also obvious that Purdue football, in year two of a new coach, is light years ahead of Illinois in year three of their new regime. Quite a contrast considering that the two programs were on relative equal footing for much of the 2010s.
Now the Boilers go to the completely opposite end of the league spectrum, as they host the #2 team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0 and 4-0 Big Ten) Preview:
Entering this season, there was only one 400 yard passing game in the entire history of OSU football, believe it or not. Now there are three, and the last two just happened the past two weeks. Sophomore quarterback Dwayne Haskins threw for 412 yards last week in a win over Minnesota, after having slung it to the tune of 455 against Indiana the previous week.
Haskins is balling out and slinging it all over the yard, and maybe as long as he keeps doing so, it will be enough to propel the Buckeyes into the college football playoff. Haskins has two stellar receivers in K.J. Hill and Parris Campbell, the latter of which has pretty high NFL Draft stock.
Right now the passing attack has to be the only facet of the game that Buckeye fans can feel absolutely 100% assured of. The Buckeyes have issues in the short yardage game, the red zone and the overall rushing attack. OSU has two excellent backs, each of which has accomplished a thousand yard rushing season already in Mike Weber J.K Dobbins. Yet they haven’t really been able to get it either one going fully in 2018.
Defensively, they give up too many big plays, or what modern football cliches/catch-phrases call “explosion plays” or “chunk plays.” Of course, in the grand scheme of things this is all nit-picking. Ohio State has won 12 in a row, which is the 2nd longest current streak in the FBS.
Purdue Football (3-3 and 2-1) Preview:
The Boilermakers are coming off back to back 40+ point performances in conference play for the first time since 1997 and they do not look like a team that started the season 0-3; at all. What’s really astounding here is that despite an 0-3 start, the Boilermakers are right there in the thick of it for the division race.
Purdue is tied in the loss column for the division lead. Yes, it’s a crappy division, and this year Wisconsin is finally taking a step down, so thus it’s up for grabs. What’s really interesting though is that the four teams in the division which are good to serviceable are all getting exceptional play at the quarterback position right now.
Had Jeff Brohm fully committed to David Blough right off the bat, who knows how this season would have turned out? He’s playing so much better without having to look over his shoulder. Blough is having himself a “cradle of quarterbacks” kind of final season.
Rondale Moore, who seems to have the same nickname as the Chicago Bears’ Tarik Cohen (“the human joystick”) has been every bit as good as advertised. If you don’t like watching him play, then you don’t like football.
Here’s a fact that is perhaps the best testament to how far Purdue football has come since 2016- this will be the second time ESPN/ABC has sent their A-team broadcasters to Ross-Ade Stadium and we’re only halfway through the season.
Prediction: Ohio State 42, Purdue Football 31
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his