Purdue Boilermakers vs Illinois Fighting Illini: Third Quarter Highlights

Now that was a pretty fun first half between the Purdue Boilermakers and Illinois Fighting Illini. The Boilermakers look like a completely different squad today. Their offense is moving the ball down the field and the defense, which has been given a good amount of time to rest – has held their own for the most part against the potent Illini passing game.

Here are the highlights from the third quarter:

• Purdue’s defense got the first turnover of the game after Illinois’ Wes Lunt threw a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Josh Ferguson who dropped the pass. It became a live fumble which was recovered by Boilermakers Jimmy Herman.
• On the following drive Austin Appleby hit Danny Anthrop for an 81-yard touchdown pass. The Boilermakers have now scored touchdowns of 44 yards, 54 yards and 81 yards today. Anthrop’s touchdown gave the Boilers a 24-14 lead.
• The Illini stopped the bleeding with a solid 13-play, 3:52 drive that ended with a Wes Lunt back shoulder throw to Geronimo Allison for a six-yard touchdown. That cut the Boilers lead to three, 24-21.
• Appleby decided he wanted to get in on the long runs today, so they called a QB sneak and he ran it right up the middle for 62 yards, getting stopped at the one yard line. He then finished it off with a 1-yard QB sneak for the touchdown, putting Purdue up 31-21.
• Frankie Williams has been beaten all day by the opposing wide receivers. Because of that, he’s not turned around to look at the ball when it’s in the air. That finally cost Purdue when he got hit with a pass interference call in the endzone, setting up the Illini for a 2-yard touchdown by Donovonn Young.�The Illinois kicker, David Resiner, shanked the extra point so the Boilers led by four.
• To end the quarter, running back Keyante Green joined the long-run party with a 53-yard burst, getting tackled at the Illinois 13.

It was a huge quarter for the Boilermakers as they scored 14 points and looked unstoppable on the ground and through the air. Appleby threw for 93 yards, almost matching the amount he had in the first half (100) and the Boilermakers added 132 rushing yards as a team. They’ve now ran for 331 total runs through three quarters.