Purdue football: 3 takeaways from tight win over Illinois in Week 9

1. Quick takeaways for Illinois

The Illini need to clean up some mistakes. In their defense, some of those mistakes were due to playing a first-time starter at quarterback. The running game was effective in this game, and that was due in part to being able to throw the football down the field, something that does not often happen with Brandon Peters.

The secondary needs to play better. Illinois sacked Aidan O’Connell four times and held Purdue’s running game to just 85 yards rushing. However, the secondary got torched all game long. Illinois cannot play feast or famine with pass defense; there are too many teams in the conference that can effectively throw the football.

Quick takeaways for Purdue

Despite being sloppy at times, the Boilermakers held on for the win. Eleven penalties show a lack of discipline, and that cannot happen. If you are the coaching staff, four turnovers is a definite positive. The offensive line looked a bit better than last season but still has a long way to go before they are ready to compete with some of the country’s better defensive lines.

The Big Ten learned about David Bell last season when Rondale Moore was lost for the season. Today we learned about Milton Wright. The sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky, had 100 receiving yards and a touchdown. Whenever Moore returns to the lineup, the Purdue offense will have a potent array of weapons.