Illinois Football: 5 key players for the Illini to beat Purdue

2. Luke Altmyer

I have to throw Luke Altmyer out there as a key player for the Illinois football team to come away with a victory over Purdue. This offense goes as Altmyer goes.

Through four games this season, Altmyer has 874 yards and four touchdowns. He has also completed 65.3% of his passes. I like all of those numbers. The seven interceptions and eight total turnovers are what bothers me about Altmyer.

If Illinois wants to beat Purdue, Altmyer is going to have to play some solid football. Thankfully, we got a glimpse of that for the majority of the Florida Atlantic game.

In the first quarter against the Owls, Altmyer was 4-of-5 for 50 yards and didn’t put the ball in the end zone. He was also 1-of-4 on third downs. We moved the ball at times, but nothing was sustained, and Altmyer had a fumble.

From the second quarter on, Altmyer was a different player. For those three quarters, he was 21-of-31 for 253 yards, one passing touchdown, and one rushing touchdown. Illinois also converted 5-of-8 on third down.

Let’s also watch what Altmyer does on the ground. He hasn’t focused too much on the run the last couple of games, but Altmyer had 70 yards rushing and two scores against Kansas and 69 yards against Toledo. A couple of games ago, Purdue gave up 195 yards and four touchdowns on the ground to Syracuse quarterback Garrett Schrader.

Illinois fans have seen Altmyer play well. What he did in the final three quarters against Florida Atlantic is what I want him to be the rest of the season. If we can get that Altmyer on Saturday against the Boilermakers, then I think we can not just win, but we can blow them out of the water.