Purdue Takes Down No. 23 Illinois, 21-14 

Boilermakers continue playing with confidence.

Caleb TerBush passed for 178 yards and two touchdowns to help Purdue upset No. 23 Illinois 21-14 on Saturday afternoon.

Raheem Mostert ran for a touchdown and tackled the punter on a play that led to another score for the Boilermakers (4-3, 2-1 Big Ten). It was Purdue's first victory over a ranked team since beating No. 7 Ohio State in 2009.

"We're still in control of our own destiny," Hope said. "It would be really hard to go down and play in the championship game in Indianapolis with two losses already. It's a milestone win in some ways, just to beat a ranked opponent at home."

Illinois (6-2, 2-2) lost its second straight. The Fighting Illini scored on a 16-yard run by Jason Ford with 8:12 remaining, and a 2-yard run by quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase to cut Purdue's lead to 21-14 with 54 seconds to play.

But Purdue's Justin Siller recovered the onside kick, and the Boilermakers ran out the clock.

"Everyone showed up, everyone played hard," Hope said. "For three weeks in a row now we've taken the field with a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm."



Last year, Scheelhaase passed for four touchdowns and ran for a game-high 118 yards to lead the Fighting Illini to a 44-10 win. This year, he passed for 217 yards, but ran for just 16 yards on 13 carries. He was sacked four times and was under constant pressure. Kawann Short led Purdue with two of the sacks.

"We got a lot of push today up front," Short said. "Last night, the line had a talk and we really came together as a unit. It is nice to see our hard work paying off."

Illinois' A.J. Jenkins, who led the nation in yards receiving, finished with eight catches for 92 yards. He never broke anything big, though, as Purdue cornerback Ricardo Allen got the best of their matchup.

Purdue has been playing with confidence. The Boilermakers hit a low with a 38-10 loss to Notre Dame, but rallied with a 45-17 win over Minnesota the next week and a spirited effort in a 23-18 loss at Penn State.

Just two weeks ago, Illinois was undefeated and looked like a solid contender that might hang with Wisconsin and Penn State in the Leaders Division. Then, the Illini stumbled through a mistake-filled 17-7 home loss to Ohio State and now have lost to Purdue.

Purdue's offensive line protected TerBush from Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus, who led the nation with 10 sacks and was tied for the national lead with five forced fumbles. Mercilus was held without a sack.

Illinois' defense, ranked 12th nationally in yards allowed per game coming in, gave up 304 yards, including 229 in the first half.

Purdue squandered an early opportunity when Antavian Edison fumbled after the Boilermakers moved into Illinois territory.



But the Boilermakers got it going again on their next possession. TerBush rolled right to avoid the rush and found Siller downfield for a 32-yard gain. TerBush and Siller later connected again for a 6-yard touchdown that gave Purdue a 7-0 lead with 3:25 left in the first quarter.

"It looked like Caleb was going to be red hot today," Hope said. "It started off that way, anyway. We mentioned it to Rob, that we thought he was red hot and Robert said, 'Well, he looks like he's red hot to me, too."

Mostert scored early in the second quarter on a 21-yard run to give Purdue a 14-0 lead with 11:41 left.

Illinois went three-and-out on its next possession, and Mostert tackled Illini punter Justin DuVernois at the Illinois 14. TerBush found Jared Crank in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass to put the Boilermakers up 21-0 with 7:48 left in the half.

Illinois tried to get Jenkins involved, and backup quarterback Reilly O'Toole fired deep to him late in the first half, but Allen intercepted inside the Purdue 10-yard line.