That was ugly. I’m not sure anyone ordered more than four hours of Purdue vs Illinois, but these two teams battled it out for the Purdue Cannon. Illinois kicker Chase McLaughlin missed his first field goal of the season as time expired, and Chayce Crouch fumbled in overtime before Purdue kicked a field goal for the win.
Illinois did not play well for long stretches Saturday, particularly on defense, but its patchwork offensive system with Chayce Crouch was enough to move the ball against a porous Purdue defense. Wes Lunt left the game in the second half and wasn’t able to return, and Crouch led a run-heavy attack that was mere inches away from a victory.
This is a Purdue team that just surrendered 50 points to Maryland last week. This Purdue team was held to just 10 rushing yards. I understand that it’s difficult to operate with your backup quarterback, but this isn’t a game that you should ever lose. This has the feeling of 2012 all over again, and it’s really, really hard to pencil in any more wins on the season. This is rock bottom -- just five games into the Lovie Smith era.
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