5 damning observations from Illinois' football win over Purdue

Man, that was an entertaining first half for the Illinois football team against the Purdue Boilermakers.

Do you remember the first half? The Illini were up 24-3. Things were going well, people were happy and stress was low.

Purdue came out in the second half and thwarted Illinois' luck. This was supposed to be a blast after the first 30 minutes of action, but then the Illini let our guard down and the Boilermakers took advantage.

Point after point led to a Purdue comeback. Finally, after a 23-point fourth quarter performance, Purdue took the lead with less than a minute to play. That seemed to be the end.

Luke Altmyer and Co. put on their capes and were able to drive down the field for a game-winning touchdown. This led to overtime in which Illinois scored first. Purdue came back with a rushing touchdown and went for a two-point conversion. Illinois hadn't stopped Purdue in the second half, but a big blitz and a sack ended the game. Illinois managed to beat the Boilermakers 50-49.

After this win, I think it's appropriate to start with how bad Illinois' run defense was against Purdue. What we saw on Saturday was completely inexcusable.

Coming into the weekend, the Illini weren't great when it came to run defense, but we weren't the worst team in the country. We gave up 153.8 yards per game on the ground, which ranks 69th nationally.

That's about middle of the pack when it comes to rush defense. What Illinois fans got on Saturday was probably the worst run defense I have ever seen.

Illinois couldn't stop Purdue in any form of the run. Quarterback Ryan Browne torched us in the first half and continued that success in the second half. He finished the game with 17 carries for 118 yards.

Devin Mockobee also continued his dominance over the Illini. The talented running back had 11 carries for 102 yards and a touchdown.

As a team, the Boilermakers were able to score 32 carries for 239 yards and two scores. That's an incredible average of 7.5 yards per carry. The Illinois defense should be embarrassed.

Illinois had no pressure on the defensive line. We could stop a toddler if he was given the football. When Browne got into space, Illinois defenders took poor angles or failed to contain him.

Purdue is not a good running team. They don't have a lot of talent, but they managed to tear us apart on the floor. If we don't fix this quickly, Illinois is going to have a really tough time next week against Michigan.