No. 23 Illinois (6-1, 1-1) somehow managed to lose 17-7 to the Buckeyes despite outgaining OSU by about 60 yards and holding the Buckeyes to all of one pass completion and 17 total yards. OSU was only third team from a BCS conference since 2000 to win with one completion. But three turnovers killed Illinois. QB Nathan Scheelhaase had two interceptions. Illinois, which entered that game averaging almost 450 yards and 34.7 points a game didn’t score until the 6:22 mark of the fourth quarter.

Purdue (3-3, 1-1) has alternated wins and losses all season and enters off a 23-18 loss at Penn State. Special teams killed the Boilermakers Purdue was stopped on a 2-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter that would have tied the game at 20. Purdue also had a missed field goal and extra-point attempt earlier in the game.

The Boilers have been playing two QBs the past four games, with Caleb TerBush the starter and Robert Marve getting snaps here and there. TerBush's 949 passing yards are 50 shy of last year's team-leading total produced by Rob Henry. Coach Danny Hope says he’d like to get Marve more snaps, although Illinois coach Ron Zook said he didn’t expect to see Marve on Saturday. Whichever the QB, Purdue will need max protection. Led by defensive end Whitney Mercilus, the Fighting Illini are tied with Texas A&M for the most sacks in the nation with 26. Mercilus leads the nation with 10 sacks and is on pace to break Simeon Rice's single-season school record of 16 sacks set in 1994.

The Illini defense held Purdue to just 205 total yards in last year's 44-10 victory. That ended a five-game losing streak to the Boilermakers. By the way, Zook is 1-11 against the spread as a favorite of 3.5-7 points as head coach at Illinois.

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