Pseudo rivalry to restart

By Greg Doddridge
Staff Writer

Purdue has not played Illinois in football in 157 weeks.

The last time Purdue played Illinois, on Oct. 10, 1998, it won 42-9 in West Lafayette. Drew Brees was a sophomore quarterback for the Boilers and Brandon Hance was a junior in high school. As a matter of fact, there were only 10 players on the current roster that played in that game back in 1998.

Senior tight end Tim Stratton is one of those players, and he said that the Fighting Illini have improved drastically in the years since Purdue last played them.

"They are playing with a lot of confidence," said Stratton. "Their program took a couple of years, but now they are there.

"I think both teams have changed. Where the strengths of one team used to be is now the strength of the other. I think their defense was the better three years ago. And look at ours, our offense was the strength and now our defense is. So it's role reversal. And it's going to be challenging."

The game may be challenging, but Purdue can use tape of several of No. 22 Illinois' seven games to help it in its preparation for the Illini.

"I think now that we are so far into the season we have a little bit more of an understanding of an idea of what they are trying to do defensively so that we can be better prepared for that," said Hance.

One of Illinois' games was a 34-10 win over Louisville on Sept. 22. Purdue coach Joe Tiller considers Louisville a team that probably most resembles Purdue's offense. So the Boilers can use tape of the Louisville game to see what tactics the Illini use to defend the Purdue brand of the spread offense, as used by offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.

"They blitz and when we empty the formation, they are going to blitz a lot and that poses a problem for any quarterback," said Stratton. "You have to get the ball off or otherwise you are going to get killed. I think it is a good tape for us to watch and Coach Chaney just says watch it over and over again because those are probably the looks you'll get. It all comes down to just preparation."

But the Boilers don't get a chance to prepare for the Illini on a yearly basis even though the two schools are fewer than 100 miles apart. Illinois, located in Champaign, Ill., is the Big Ten school closest to Purdue.

"It is odd that these two teams have not played considering their proximity," said Tiller. "If you look at the schedule, everyone has two designated rival schools. "We have Indiana and Northwestern and we will always play those two teams. I understand why the schedule is the way it is, but to me it makes sense geographically (for us to) play Illinois every year."

The lack of play on a yearly basis reduces any rivalry between Purdue and Illinois.

"There is probably not as big a rivalry as one might think just because of the fact that with the scheduling cycle we are not going to play them for two years straight," said Tiller. "To have a real intense rivalry you need to play an opponent year in and year out. It is not the wish of either one of the universities but rather the scheduling of the conference."

And this lack of a rivalry between the two schools takes any added pressure away from the game.

"But, like I said, at the same time we're at the point in the season where we can't afford to lose any games because we have high expectations to win the rest of the games," said Hance.

Pseudo rivalry to restart

Purdue, Illinois to battle for traveling trophy Saturday

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