Opponent View/Scouting Illinois

Purdue’s quest for victory continues, as it looks to end a four-game losing streak when it plays at Illinois on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET) on FS1.

The Boilermakers (1-4 overall; 0-2 Big Ten) will arrive in Champaign coming off a 52-6 beatdown at Wisconsin. How bad are things for Purdue? Its four losses have been by an average of 35 points.

Illinois (4-1; 1-1) has been one of the Big Ten’s biggest surprises, bringing a No. 23 ranking into Saturday’s tilt. The Fighting Illini–who were off last week–were beaten by Penn State on Sept. 28, so this will mark the fifth straight game the Boilermakers will face an opponent coming off a defeat.

The Cannon will be on the line in Memorial Stadium. The recent history strongly favors the Boilermakers, who hold a 15-4 edge in the series dating back to 2003. The last Purdue loss in Champaign came in 2010, as Purdue has won the last six times at Illinois.

Brian Barnhart, the voice of Illinois football, breaks down the Fighting Illini in advance of Saturday’s game in Champaign.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Illinois offense?

Barnhart: The Illinois offense has really been pretty good. The passing game has really taken a step up. Luke Altmyer is now in his second season as a starter. I think he got better as the season went on last year. He had four interceptions in a game against Penn State last year, and then he didn’t throw very many after that, then he got hurt. John Paddock came in and pulled out a miraculous win at Minnesota, and then started the next two games. He set a Memorial Stadium record for yards in the next game, and Altmyer never got back in. But he was the definite starter in the spring.

He’s been great this year under OC Barry Lunney, the second year with the same coordinator, and he’s got targets to throw to. That’s one thing we haven’t really had at Illinois in recent years. We’ve had maybe one potential deep threat. Now, we’ve got two. Zakhari Franklin has been outstanding. Pat Bryant has been outstanding. If you look at the stats, as far as number of catches, I think they have over 40 or so between the two of them. And I think the next closest person is Tanner Arkin, and he’s got less than 10. So, that’s who they go to. So, the passing game has been excellent, and Altmyer has been tremendously accurate (70%).

The running game probably hasn’t been as strong as Illinois fans would like it to be, yet Bielema is rotating four tailbacks. Kaden Feagin, a young man from nearby Atwood, he’s been using him a lot. Aiden Laughery, another kid from a small town school Gibson City, has rotated in. He’s also used a couple of other guys. Jordan Anderson’s been in there, and Ca’Lil Valentine. Josh McCray’s the other one. But nobody’s really been the lead back. They’ve rotated them through during the course of the season. They just haven’t been able to consistently run the ball the way that you think a Bret Bielema team would be able to do it with an experienced offensive line. And I know the coaches did address that during the bye week.

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Illinois defense?

Barnhart: It’s been a lot better than it was last year. It’s been kind of a yo-yo situation. In 2022, they had Devon Witherspoon, who wound up with the Seattle Seahawks and has been a tremendous defensive back in the NFL. Quan Martin was another one who was really good. Ryan Walters at that time was the defensive coordinator, and so we had one of the top two or three defenses in the country that year, which helped them win eight games. You were going to have a fall off regardless, just because it was going to be hard to replace Witherspoon and Martin and some of those other defensive backs.

Last year, they really struggled in the pass defense. But now they’ve come the other way. Now, they’ve improved a lot. They’ve got some tremendous defensive backs. Xavier Scott has been unbelievable. Three interceptions. Miles Scott, no relation, has been very, very good. He has two interceptions. They’ve got Terrance Brooks, a transfer in from Texas. They’ve had Torrie Cox, whose dad played in the NFL, transferred in from Ohio. He’s got a couple of interceptions. So, that defensive backfield is pretty experienced and pretty deep, and so they’ve been much better defensively.

Up front, the question this year was: Could they replace Johnny Newton, who wound up in the NFL with the Commanders? So far, they haven’t completely plugged that hole. Dennis Briggs, transfer from Florida State, has been good. TeRah Edwards has been really solid. But it’s taken a couple of them to try to fill that gap of when Johnny Newton was there.

So, I think they got exposed for the first time up front a little bit at Penn State game. Illinois did not play bad, but Penn State eventually just kept hammering them with the running game. I think that was the first game Illinois got a little exposed by a really physical team.

GoldandBlack.com: How do you see this game playing out?

Barnhart: I think Illinois fans are nervous, because they know the recent history of Illinois-Purdue. You have to go back to 2010 to Illinois’ last win at home vs. Purdue, back when Illinois was coached by Ron Zook. Illinois has won a couple over in West Lafayette. But this has been a puzzling series.

I think it’s a game that Illinois fans feel confident: We should beat Purdue. They didn’t look very good last week at Wisconsin. We’re home. We’ve had a bye week. We should be in good shape. Yet, there’s that nagging doubt.

I think the team is rested. There hasn’t been a lot wrong with this team. This has been a really good football team. This is a team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. They’re pretty solid on both sides of the ball. Their special teams are really, really good. They’re not the flashiest team, but they’re very workman-like. This is a tough-minded, dependable team.

Illinois has been in about every game under Bielema vs. Purdue except the one game at Purdue last year. They got handled in the second half. I think the fans are confident, a little nervous, but also thinking: Hey, this should be the year we take care of Purdue.

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