Purdue at Illinois: Opening Odds
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We have hit the apathy portion of this Purdue football season as the Boilermakers sit at 1-3 heading into week 5, where they will take on Bret Bielema and the Illinois Fighting Illini. This will not be a marquee matchup considering Illinois is 2-2 and fired their defensive coordinator Sunday afternoon following a drubbing courteous of Ohio State. On the other side, Purdue has lost 3 games in a row, most recently an embarrassing showing at home to Notre Dame. It looks to be a lowly matchup but of the 2 midwestern teams, who is favored? Let’s find out:
Thanks to the odds supplied by FanDuel, Purdue will play for the cannon against Illinois as a 9.5 point underdog as of Sunday evening. The Boilermakers are +285 to win outright while the Fighting Illini are -365. Considering the state of the defenses of these teams, it should be no surprise that the over under is current set at 59.5.
On the offensive side of the ball, Illinois and Purdue are somewhat similar stats-wise. Purdue QB, Ryan Browne, has 1135 passing yards, 7 touchdowns, and 1 interception on the year while Illinois QB, Katin Houser, has 1021 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. The leading rusher for Purdue is Fame Ijeboi, who has 67 carries for 289 yards and 6 touchdowns while Illinois’ leading rusher is Aidan Laughery. who has 33 carries for 272 yards and a touchdown. For Illinois, their rushing attack is two-fold as Ca’Lil Valentine has 47 rushes for 224 yards and a touchdown. Lastly on offense, the two leading receivers for Purdue are Asaad Waseem and Xavier Townsend, who each have 24 receptions this season. Waseem has 355 yards and a touchdown while Townsend has 282 yards and 2 touchdowns. On Illinois, the leading receiver is Collin Dixon with 30 receptions, 430 yards, and 7 touchdowns. Overall on offense, the Boilermakers puts up 32 points per game and 421 total offensive yards per game while the Fighting Illini put up 34 points per game and 419.8 yards per game.
On the opposite side of the ball, Illinois has struggled to create big plays this season (hence the removal of the DC). The Illini have only 3 sacks and 2 takeaways so far this season (2 interceptions). The defense simply is not doing itself any favors. And in the same token, Purdue’s defense has been limited this season, creating only 6 sacks and 2 takeaways. Illinois is at least getting off the field conventionally though. The Illini are allowing only 26.5 points per game compared to Purdue’s 39.5. The over under for this game may be broken early in all honesty.
Well, it won’t be the most star-studded Cannon game in history, but both teams will definitely play. We will see if Purdue can cover or if Illinois will force the Boilermakers to make a change of their own at DC. Thanks to our friends at FanDuel for helping us sort out some favorites and best of luck to all.
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