Purdue vs Illinois: Week 2 Grades

There were ups.

There were downs.

But, in the end, the Boilers won the football game 31 to 24 and that is always better than a loss.

Now, we focus on if there will be a game against Wisconsin, in which Vegas has us as 7 point underdogs.

First though, the grades from Week 2.

Passing Offense: A+

• Little errors were made in the passing game this weekend. Aidan O’Connell made an impression that he is the the starter - even with Jeff Brohm back we only saw AOC. He passed for over 370 yards, on 29 of 35, including two touchdowns.
• David Bell continued to dominate, having over 100 yards again and another touchdown. Milton Wright had 6 catches for 100 yards and a reception as well. Payne Durham played a vital role in the intermediate passing game.
• A+ without Rondale Moore. A lot of “what ifs” might be in play this season.

Rushing Offense: B-

• Zander Horvath broke 100 yards once again and scored, but he also put the ball on the ground twice, losing both fumbles. One wasn’t a fumble, but, you aren’t in that situation if you just hold on to the ball anyway.
• To date, Horvath has been fantastic, having 3 100 yard games in a row, but the big fella needs a lightning to his thunder - could that be King Doerue?

Overall Offense: B+

• The passing game continues to look great early on. David Bell is David Bell, he looks like the best wide receiver in the nation. He would be the best wide receiver for the Colts right now.
• Zander Horvath is doing great early on, but we need some lightning to him.
• The biggest surprise - the offensive line.

Passing Defense: C

• The 4th string quarterback kind of did what he wanted in the pass game. While he made some mistakes, he had nearly 300 yards.
• The defensive backs looked lost at times, especially when in the prevent defense, which is the worst defense on the planet.

Rushing Defense: C+

• Giving up over 170 yards rushing the back up running back is not an ideal day, but the front 7 made plays when they needed to make plays, forcing a couple of turnovers and making some big time 4th down stops.

Overall Defense: C+

• A so-so day for the Boilermaker defense. Not great, not bad. It was just average.

Special Teams: C+

• Two shanked punts. But we made all of kicks. Return game wasn’t too bad, again just average.

Coaching: D+

• I was fine through three quarters. But, the fourth quarter game management was.... less than ideal. Three incompletions up 31 to 17 instead of running the ball and killing a couple of minutes, Illinois goes down and makes it a one score game.
• Luckily, the defense bailed out the offense and some questionable calls by the hed football coach.

Overall: B-

• Winning a road game in the big ten is never easy, but I felt like this should have been a blow out, especially since Illinois lost a bunch of players two days before the game.
• The offense was spectacular, making plays when asked, David Bell sealed the game with a one handed catch, just another day for him.
• 4th quarter clock management left a lot to be desired, but in the end we won and the cannon came home.