3 Key Stats That Explain Illinois Football's Convincing Win Over Purdue

No. 17 Illinois got its second straight win on Saturday against Purdue, moving to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play. Here are three key stats that defined Illinois’ first conference road triumph of 2025.

Luke Altmyer’s average yards per attempt: 17.7

Luke Altmyer likely had the best performance of his career on Saturday against the Boilermakers. Pick any number from his stat line: only three incompletions, a career-high 390 yards, a 90.9 QBR – all quite impressive.

Luke Altmyer is the first Big Ten player with 250 Pass yds on 90% comp. pct in a half vs. a Power 4 conference opponent since C.J. Stroud in 2021. pic.twitter.com/hsuOnTmcgK
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 4, 2025

Despite all those digits, the most attention-grabbing part of his showing in Week 6 was likely his yards per attempt. Altmyer averaged 17.7 yards per throw, meaning Illinois, on average, needed just more than four Altmyer throws to get from its own 25-yard line to the end zone.

And often it took much less than that, with the Illini putting together touchdown drives in two plays or less on a pair of separate occasions.

Luke Altmyer connected with Hank Beatty for 62 yards in @IlliniFootball’s win over Purdue, the longest reception of Beatty’s career 🙌

📍@Sitecore x Connection of the Game pic.twitter.com/VoTcDIWVRo
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 4, 2025

The turnover margin in favor of Illinois: plus-2

Illinois Footbal — Oct 4, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini defensive end Leon Lowery (9) tackles Purdue Boilermakers wide receiver Michael Jackson III (2) tackle during the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Illinois’ defense wasn’t all that exceptional in terms of slowing down Purdue’s offensive attack. The home squad gained 453 total yards and put up 27 points in Week 6.

That said, both of those numbers would have been even higher had the Illini not forced a pair of turnovers. A punch-out in the second quarter as the Boilermakers were driving, which Altymer and the Illini offense quickly parlayed into a one-play touchdown, served as the turning point of the game.

Additionally, a third-quarter punt to Purdue – which gave the ball back to the home team, down just 31-20 – turned into an Illinois field goal after wide receiver Ashton Hollins made a spectacular play to rip the ball loose.

Illinois recovered a chaotic fumble to put themselves in great field position 👀 @IlliniFootball

📺: BTN pic.twitter.com/Wb2SoohAsF
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 4, 2025

Without both of those forced fumbles, the Illini very well may have had their backs against the wall. And even if they had hung on, the final margin would have told an entirely different story.

Rush yards per carry margin: minus-3.1 Illinois

Oct 4, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini running back Ca'Lil Valentine (5) is tackled by Purdue Boilermakers defensive back Tahj Ra-El (21) during the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

This is perhaps the most discouraging part of the Illini's Week 6 performance: They managed just 2.9 yards per carry against a measly Boilermakers run defense, while they gave up 6.0 yards per carry on the other end.

Offensively, Illinois’ run game was clearly affected by the absence of center Josh Kreutz. (Reserve center TJ McMillen took a few expected lumps in his first career start, although he generally excelled in pass protection.) Aside from the center position, Illinois’ O-line failed to get any sort of push in the run game – which was never more evident than on Purdue's fourth-quarter fourth-and-1 stop. (The lone bright spot was Ca'Lil Valentine breaking one loose for a 25-yard score.)

The tuddy and the celly 💥

Ca’Lil Valentine punched it in for @IlliniFootball in the second quarter 👊 pic.twitter.com/Au8LXtlZmz
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 4, 2025

Defensively, yet again, there were gaps galore. Purdue lead back Devin Mockobee and Antonio Harris are talented runners, but neither had to show off any sort of elite vision or patience, given that a clear path was consistently paved out for them by their offensive line.

Also, an expected strength of the Illini has quickly eroded into a clear weakness: open-field tackling. Last year, few teams – and specifically secondaries – were better at wrapping up in space. Illinois obviously misses injured Xavier Scott, but the remaining Illini defenders need to take better angles, break down and wrap up before going for strips. Although the punch-outs continue to come, the Illini have to find a better balance between creating turnovers and allowing big plays based on poor fundamentals.