>>Purdue Stifles Illinois
Purdue's aggressive defense registered nine tackles for loss, including five sacks, and the Boilermakers snapped a three-game losing streak on Saturday with a 29-10 victory against Illinois.
The victory, however, was costly for the Boilermakers (4-5, 2-3 Big Ten), who lost starting quarterback David Blaugh to a leg injury with 12:27 remaining after he was tackled by Illinois free safety Stanley Green. Blough was carted off the field and left the field in an ambulance. Blough completed 16 of 24 passes for 194 yards before he was injured.
Illinois (2-7, 0-6) lost its seventh consecutive game, six in a row in the Big Ten.
The Purdue victory snapped a streak of five consecutive games in this series in which the visiting team came away with a victory, including the Boilermakers' 34-31 overtime victory last season in Champaign, Illinois.
The Boilermakers, who rushed for 209 yards on 44 carries, put this one away with 6:12 to play on Richie Worship's 2-yard run after strong safety Jacob Thieneman's interception of Jeff George at the Purdue 47.
Backup quarterback Elijah Sindelar threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Cole Herdman with 11:37 to play 50 seconds after the Blough injury, capping a 12-play, 91-yard drive that extended the Purdue lead to 22-10 when a two-point conversion run failed.
The Boilermakers increased their lead to 16-10 with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter on J.D. Dellinger's 30-yard field goal. David Blough's 37-yard completion to Jarrett Burgess to the Illini 8-yard line set up Dellinger's second field goal of the day.
Illinois hosts Indiana at noon on Nov. 11.
>>Western Rallies Past Illinois State
Sean McGuire threw for two touchdowns as Western Illinois roared back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to beat Illinois State 31-14 on Saturday.
The Leathernecks (6-3, 3-3 Missouri Valley Conference) scored 31 unanswered points in the second half on a pair of McGuire TD passes, TD runs by Clint Ratkovich and Steve McShane and a field goal by Sam Crosa.
McGuire finished with 288 yards passing and McShane had 67 yards rushing.
McGuire capped the first drive of the second half with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gaston and the Leathernecks trailed 14-7. Ratkovich ran for a score on the team's next drive and Crosa kicked a 28-yard field goal to give Western Illinois a 17-14 edge as the third quarter closed.
Early in the fourth, McGuire capitalized on a failed fourth-and-7 try by the Redbirds (6-3, 4-2) deep in their own territory with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Ratkovich and the Leathernecks led 24-14.
Jake Kolbe had 223 yards and two touchdowns passing for Illinois State.
>>Eastern Needs Overtime But Beats Eastern Kentucky
Matt Severino's third field goal of the game gave Eastern Illinois the lead in overtime and Bradley Dewberry's interception then gave the Panthers a 23-20 win over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.
After Eastern Illinois lost 3 yards on their first three overtime snaps, Severino connected from 45 yards before Dewberry intercepted Tim Boyle on Eastern Kentucky's first play on offense in overtime.
The Panthers (6-4, 5-2 Ohio Valley Conference), who have won their six games by a combined 15 points, looked to have won this game in regulation on Daryl McCleskey's 5-yard rush with 37 seconds left on third-and-goal. But Scotty Gillkey passed the Colonels (3-6, 3-4) down the field to tie with two seconds left when Alexander Hollins snagged a 24-yarder amid a crowd in the right corner of the end zone. Hollins finished with 107 yards on four receptions.
Eastern Kentucky has rushed for 508 yards over its two previous games but had just 64 net against the Panthers, led by McCleskey with 70 on 20 carries.
The Panthers have won all three of their overtime games this season, the previous two going double-overtime.
