Coming into Saturday’s clash in West Lafayette, both Northwestern and Purdue are desperate for a win. After a strong opening to the season, each team has stumbled recently. The Boilermakers come in to the game with a record of 1-3 while the Wildcats own a 2-2 mark. Still, both teams could claim to be several plays away from being undefeated.
“It’s going to be one hell of a football game,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “We have to go down there for their homecoming, so it’s going to be raucous. It was rocking and rolling there (last) Saturday and it’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten. You’ve got to execute and play well.”
For Purdue and new coach Danny Hope, the past three games have been frustrating. After a beatdown of Toledo in the first week of the season, the Boilermakers went into Oregon and were a two-point conversion away from sending the game into overtime. Purdue returned to West Lafayette, Ind., only to be stymied by Northern Illinois, a team that hadn’t beaten a Big Ten opponent in over a decade.
Last week, the Boilermakers were leading Notre Dame late in the fourth quarter, but the Irish put together a game-winning drive with 3:41 left in the contest. Purdue lost these three games by a total of 12 points.
The Cats limp into the game on the heels of their first back-to-back losses since the 2007 season. Last week NU was burned by Minnesota’s rushing attack – the Gophers rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns. To make matters worse this week, the Cats go up against the Big Ten’s leading rusher, sophomore Ralph Bolden. In the Boilermakers’ first four games, Bolden has notched 488 yards and four touchdowns.
“He’s very athletic and very quick,” linebacker Ben Johnson said. “But we also have some speed on our side. We have some great linebackers – Nate (Williams) will be awesome in the middle for us, Quentin (Davie) off the edge (is awesome, too).”
The Purdue air attack isn’t too shabby either. Senior quarterback Joey Elliot has thrown for seven touchdowns and is averaging 240.8 yards per game, second in the conference only to NU gunslinger Mike Kafka.
Purdue’s weak link has proven to be its defense. The Boilermakers rank last in the Big Ten, allowing an average of 421.5 yards-per-game.
The Boilermakers will be looking to return the favor to the Cats after NU hammered Purdue 48-26 at Ryan Field last year. Purdue holds an all-time series advantage of 49-26-1 over NU.
