Coming off a rough loss to Wisconsin last weekend, the Illinois football team needs to rebound in a big way against the Purdue Boilermakers.
Purdue had a great week one win over Iowa. Illinois is going to need to play a good game against the Boilermakers to have any chance at pulling off the victory.
Here are three keys for the Illini to beat the Purdue Boilermakers.
1. Make fewer mistakes
When I say Illinois needs to make fewer mistakes, I don’t just mean they need to win the turnover battle. It is bigger than that.
Purdue had a big win over Iowa last weekend, and they tied in the turnover column with two turnovers apiece. But one area that the Boilermakers won was in penalties.
Iowa had 10 penalties for 100 yards compared to Purdue who had three penalties for 21 yards. That is a 79-yard difference in penalties alone. They essentially gave Purdue a touchdown in penalties.
Illinois wasn’t too far from the numbers mentioned above in the Purdue game. The Illini had five penalties for 60 yards against the Badgers. Meanwhile, Wisconsin only had three penalties for 15 yards. That is a 45-yard difference in penalties, which is essentially half a football field.
We can also look at turnovers. While Purdue and Iowa were tied with two turnovers apiece, the Illini lost the turnover battle with Wisconsin as the Orange and Blue had two turnovers and the Badgers had only one.
So, really, this is a two-prong slide. Illinois needs to make fewer mistakes than Purdue. This means the Illini need to win not only the turnover battle, but they need to win the penalties battle as well. Illinois needs discipline, but that did not occur in week one.