GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 6 • 10
we're looking forward to it."
Lunt, a Rochester, Ill., native, has given
Cubit and head coach Tim Beckman certain
luxuries in their pass-first offense.
"The thing about Wes Lunt is he's able
to make all the throws, so it opens up the
whole playbook," said Doug Bucshon, who
covers Illinois for Rivals.com's Orangeand-
BlueNews.com.
An obvious goal for Purdue will be to dis-
rupt Illinois', and specifically Lunt's, rhythm.
"He doesn't like to be moved outside
the pocket," Hazell said.
For Illinois, Lunt will be crucial to his
team's success this Saturday and every Sat-
urday that follows.
Purdue can say the same thing about its
quarterback position.
That burden will fall on, well, someone.
Incumbent Danny Etling struggled bad-
ly against Iowa in the Big Ten opener, open-
ing a door for backup Austin Appleby to
maybe — maybe — see his first career start.
Whoever is lining up behind whatever
center Purdue has on the field — starter
Robert Kugler is "probable," per Hazell, but
didn't practice this week — will look to give
the Boilermakers more of a pulse in the pass-
ing game. Purdue threw for just 72 yards
against Iowa, with a pair of interceptions.
It'll have to do it against an aggressive
Illinois defense with effective edge rushers
and a robust blitz package
But be that as it may, the running game
will be critical against Illinois, one of the
worst teams defensively against the run
there is.
Illinois is allowing nearly 230 rushing
yards per game, worst in the Big Ten by a
mile, numbers that were warped by the 450-
plus Nebraska just hung on Illinois.
Purdue can't run the ball like the Corn
-
huskers — few can — but the opportunity
should be there for the Boilermakers to get
their ground game clicking again vs. a team
that was atrocious last season against the
run also.
"They've gotten a little bit better up
front," Bucshon said. "Their tackles are more
athletic, but their linebacker play, it just
seems like their instincts aren't great and
they're having a lot of trouble shedding
blocks and their gap discipline isn't there.
When teams are able to get to the edge,
they have guys who have trouble running
people down in the open field. That's really
a big problem, linebacker play, because up
front, they're not great, but they're better
than they were."
Purdue has talked for weeks about the
need for "big chunk plays" offensively. The
passing game being what it is right now, it's
safe to say more may be needed from the
running game on the big-play front.
"We have to be great with our double-
team (blocks) at the point of attack," Hazell
said. "They do some things defensively that
do allow you to do some things (in the run
-
ning game), but if we stay on our combina-
tion blocks and see ourselves off to the sec-
ond level, we have a chance to run the foot-
ball. And we have to break tackles.
"There's going to be opportunities
to make big plays if we can break some of
those tackles."
j
Illinois
V'Angelo Bentley is a dangerous return man on both punts and kickoffs.
OPPONENT NEWSSTAND
SunTimes.com: Illinois AD should be thinking about life after Beckman
FightingIllini.com: Beckman weekly press conference
FightingIllini.com: Illinois game notes
News-Gazette.com: Lunt good to go against Purdue
News-Gazette.com: Beckman on struggling run 'D'
News-Gazette.com: A night with Illinois football
Text is linked to live corresponding story
