What a difference eight days can make.
On October 15, the Illini were 6-0, one of only three unbeaten teams left in the Big Ten, with talk even starting to creep up about a possible BCS bowl bid. Now just over a week later, the Illini sit at 6-2 after dropping their second straight game, this time falling 21-14 at Purdue.
“I can’t fault the way we prepared, I can’t fault the way we’ve practiced and the effort and so forth,” head coach Ron Zook said. “We just didn’t get in there for some reason.”
While the team said all the right things after dropping their first game last week to Ohio State, the Illini started off much the same against Purdue. The offense struggled heavily throughout the first half, recording just 128 yards and converting just two of seven third downs before halftime.
Perhaps most frustrating for Ron Zook and the coaching staff was the lack of one obvious cause for the team’s struggles.
“I’m not sure whether we’re tightening up or what it is,” Zook said. “I know this: I wish you had something you could hang it on.”
While the offense was floundering early, the defense wasn’t faring much better. Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush entered averaging just over 158 yards passing, but completed eight of 11 attempts for 92 yards in the first half alone, including a six yard touchdown to Justin Siller.
The second half wasn’t much better for the Illinois defenders, as TerBush teamed up with a potent Purdue rushing attack for two more scores and a 21-0 halftime lead. However, linebacker Jonathan Brown said Purdue’s early success had more to do with breakdowns by the Illini defense.
“It was more of what we weren’t doing,” Brown said. “We weren’t playing gaps or coverage like we should have, so it was just a matter of what we weren’t doing.”
Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said the Illini could have kept at least 10 points off the board with better execution on just a handful of plays.
“We got caught a little bit off balance in the second quarter,” Koenning said. “There’s a lot of things that buy into it. We started having to substitute, and that’s been our nemesis … And then we gave up a couple plays. One we had the hands to the face (penalty), which would have stopped the drive and they probably try to kick a field goal after the muffed punt. And then we missed a sack on third and 20-something, and they’re gonna convert when a guy gets out in the open like that.”
The Illini made it a game in the second half, as the defense held the Boilermakers to just 75 yards after halftime. But the offense continued to struggle, failing to put any points on the board until nearly halfway through the fourth quarter.
The Purdue defense played a big part in shutting down the Illini, as the team came in with just six sacks in six games but put constant pressure on quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, including four sacks and seven total tackles for a loss.
“Sometimes it was an offensive lineman getting beat, sometimes the running back getting beat, so it was just different people,” offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. “We just gotta keep working hard and not let that happen.”
And while the offense came to life late, coming within an onside kick recovery of having a chance to tie, the slow start ultimately doomed the Illini.
“We just need to come out from the get-go and play better,” safety Supo Sanni said. “We always come out real slow. It’s just gonna be a point of emphasis in practice this week, just coming out and playing hard from the get-go. We don’t wanna fall into these problems.”