Purdue 38, Illinois 27: This Is Rock Bottom

I drove 516 miles yesterday afternoon, stopping once in Macon, MO so as to get to Champaign as soon as possible. I grabbed a sandwich from Penn Station and drove to my hotel room. I left a warm Manhattan for a surprisingly frigid Champaign. I finally got to meet Jim and Matt, as well as a handful of media members, all of whom were just as nice in person as they have been online.

The last time I had the good fortune to be at Memorial Stadium for an Illinois game was the Fresno State miracle two point conversion loss.

Today was worse.

Purdue was averaging 3.9 yards per carry coming in to today's game. They were one of the worst offenses in the nation. They put up over 550 yards on Illinois. That is simply unacceptable.

There were positives. Before his offensive line allowed him to be beaten into oblivion, Wes Lunt completed 69% of his passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns. Mike Dudek caught eight passes for 200 yards. Josh Ferguson had yards from scrimmage and a TD to boot.

That's it. We missed an extra point. We had a field goal blocked. We gave up a 51 yard run to a fullback. A fullback. There was a 44 yard TD run for Purdue. A 54 yarder as well. An 80 yard TD pass. A 62 yard run from a quarterback.

The fact that Tim Banks is still employed is a direct insult to your intelligence as a fan. That's not hyperbole.

Tim Beckman needed to win this game to have any chance of keeping his job. He didn't. And he shouldn't. It's time to pull the plug. Make Cubit the interim. I don't care. A home loss to a Purdue team that couldn't even beat Central Michigan. This is what rock bottom looks like.