Purdue at Illinois

Purdue has been 6-30 over the past three years, but have had a most pleasant 2-2 start on the season. They have a lot of land mines ahead so this is perhaps their most winnable game that they have remaining, and I expect them to be competitive. Illinois has not won more than seven games the last eight years, and at 1-3 nothing seems to be changing, especially the fact that the one win came against Murray State. The Illini have dropped three straight to good opponents by a combined 64 points. What is most concerning is the fact that they have been out-scored 55-13 in the second half of those games, which begs the question: does this team have the stamina and depth to compete for 60 minutes? I'm a bit puzzled by the line here, as both of these teams grade out pretty evenly in terms of yards per play vs. the averages they have seen. That would tend to pose a line that would be 3-5 points for the home team. Think Purdue is underrated by a shaky past, and has enough to compete favorably here, so take the points on Purdue.