How and what to watch for Purdue vs. Illinois

The 1-0 Purdue Boilermakers travel to Memorial Stadium to take on the 0-1 Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday afternoon.

As Big Ten play just got underway last week, it’s hard to determine anything about these teams. Illinois ran into a buzz saw last weekend in a thrashing by the Wisconsin Badgers, while Purdue came away with a narrow win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The Illini offense managed just seven points and quarterback Brandon Peters led the team in both passing and rushing yards. The team gained a total of 218 yards and its leading pass-catcher had under 30 yards. The Purdue offense will be easier for them to stop and the defense won’t be as stingy as Wisconsin’s was last week, so this will be a much more real display of how good Illinois is.

Purdue escaped with a close win over Iowa last week thanks to some timely turnovers and the team’s offense. Quarterback Aidan O’Connell had three scores and 282 yards passing. Running back Zander Horvath had over 120 yards on the ground and the team was also missing its best player, wideout Rondale Moore. Moore could come back this week to play, which would provide a massive spark to the Boilermaker offense. Defensively, Purdue gave up 460 yards to Iowa, but got two takeaways and only allowed 20 total points. That’s 30 more yards than Illinois gave up, but 25 less points.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Purdue vs. Illinois on Saturday, October 31st at 12:00 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network, or you can stream it via the Fox Sports Go app with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Purdue (-7) vs Illinois
Point Total: 58.5
Money line: Purdue (-265), Illinois (+205)

• Purdue is 5-1 ATS in its last five
• Purdue is 5-2 ATS in it’s last seven against Illinois
• The total has gone under in six of the last nine times these teams have met
• Illinois is 6-3 in its last nine

Betting splits

Purdue -7.5: 52 percent of handle, 79 percent of bets
Over 58: 68 percent of handle, 34 percent of bets
Purdue -286 ML: 80 percent of handle, 77 percent of bets

The Best Bet

That point total is sitting suspiciously high. Sure Illinois had a tough draw against Wisconsin last week, but still, banking on both these teams scoring close to 30 points seems risky.

Pick: Under 58.0

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