’He left after 41 days in Champaign to go to Purdue’…

Illinois at Purdue...take the over!

22nd-ranked Illinois (4-1) at Purdue (2-2)

11AM central kickoff

TV: Big Ten Network

*Game notes-Battle for the Cannon game….Mid-week Illini anywhere from a 7.5 to 8.5 favorite….55.5 over/under…..Barry Odom first year head coach of the Boilers….His defensive coordinator Mike Scherer played at Mizzou when Odom ran Pinkie’s ‘D’….remember taking Scherer’s picture when he came to work out at the Illini one-day camp summer 2010….former St. Louis MICDS prep four-year letterman for the Tigers….coming off a bye week….Purdue has beaten Ball State/excellent SIU team…lost to USC/Notre Dame in 2025….54 portal transfers for Odom’s team….this team does play hard for Odom….make a lot of mistakes but will fight till the end…..Mark Followill (play-by-play), Yogi Roth (analyst), and Rhett Lewis (reporter) on the call for BTN…fuckin’ Yogi Roth seriously?🤡…always remember….Purdue and Illinois had the same player payment system in the 60’s….Illinois had Mel Brewer what became the Slush Fund scandal….Then Purdue head football coach Jack Mollenkopf has the Boilermaker indoor facility named in his ‘honor’.

*Purdue on offense…

-Spread offense….base seems to be 11 personnel (one back one tight end)….will throw to the tight end 6-foot-5 George Burhenn (#81)….after transferring to North Carolina last winter….Illini nemesis/quarterback Ryan Browne (#15) landed back in West Lafayette in the spring….6-foot-5, 220-pound sophomore, as we found out last year in Champaign, can be a one-man gang…Devin Mockobee (#45) still best Purdue running back….like the wide receivers Georgia transfer Michael Jackson II (#2) the best….wideouts Nitro Tuggle (#0)/Ahmed Branch (#6) not quite as good as Jackson II/pair can make plays.

Former St. Louis Trinity three-star offensive lineman Jalen St. John picked Arkansas over Illinois out of high school…after a couple of years in Fayetteville transferred to play for Odom/UNLV…now at Purdue….played both tackle positions/some guard on a makeshift line in 2025…if Boilers able to run the ball on the Illini…it’s going to be a long day for Aaron Henry’s defense….O-line doesn’t play with much power…much better pass pro/scramble blocking when Browne takes off….wouldn’t be surprised if PU goes the trick play route early trying to loosen up the ‘D’…..get a momentum boost.

*Purdue on defense…

-When a defensive coordinator says, ‘we are multiple in our scheme’….Boilermakers live it….after watching their SIU/USC/Notre Dame games…..Odom/Scherer’s run a bunch of stuff….base looks to be 4-2-5….will employ 3-4-5 man fronts/blitzes lots of blitzes (defensive line ten sacks in four games)….back end a lot of pre-snap movement what looks like man turns into cover 3 what looks like cover 3 turns into cover 2 what looks like cover 2 morphs into man coverage….all that being said….if Illinois can’t run the ball on this Boilermakers d-line…we will see how ‘much improved’ they really are this week…defensive backs/linebackers make a lot of tackles down the field…way way too many tackles….run fits up front….????

Purdue defenders who caught my eye…former Illini commitment Jamarrion Harkless (#97) plays both nose/strong side end three-man front…not much movement but with his 330-pounds does a good job of occupying blockers allowing linebackers to run free to the ball-carrier…safety/rover Myles Slusher (#9) leading tackler…clean up guy makes up for other defenders mistakes/again way too many of his tackles down the field…6-foot-3, 265-pound edge rusher C.J. Nunnally IV(#91) good looking player….’most interesting’ is safety Crew Wakley (#7)….25-year old BYU transfer looks like a young Doug Plank out there trying to knock someone’s block off…..have to keep track where he is at all times type of player…..Boilermakers struggle covering kicks and punts likely caused by a lack of depth on defense….best covering punts/kicks usually your safeties and linebackers.

*Prediction-Bielema braggin’ about his game management skills this week….well he is going to need em’ Saturday or this one could get out of control real quick…..Boom or bust type of game….why do I have a feeling seeing a repeat of 2024 Browne first start replacing concussed Hudson Card ran wild rallying Boilers…. Can definitely see #15 spend the afternoon scrambling/making ‘baller’ plays keeping Odom’s team in this one….Illini by a TD…take the over.

*’He left after 41 days on the job to go to Purdue’…

-You know I love to write the ‘stories’….few of the assistant coaches who worked at Illinois…left to coach at Purdue….came up with five that I remember…enjoy…..Sidenote: Illini great Alex Agase played at both Illinois and Purdue (while training for World War Two Agase a Boilermaker for a season)….he coached at Purdue but was never listed as coaching at Illinois.

Bill Kollar defensive line coach (1985-1987)-Former Cincinnati Bengals first round pick defensive tackle out of Montana State….played six years in the league last few with Tampa Bay (former Chicago Bear head coach Abe Gibron Kollar’s Creamsicles position coach)….retired became a coaching intern with the Bucs…met former Illini recruiting coordinator/then Tampa Bay personnel guy Gary Horton….Head coach Mike White thought he was losing his d-line coach Bob Karmelowicz after 84’ season told about Kollar by Horton….’Karm’ didn’t leave…White brought Kollar on as a grad assistant 1985.

After disappointing 85’ season…..’Karm’ moved to offensive line coach 86’ (if a starting job on the o-line up for grabs Karm would reportedly have the two players wrestle for it…winner supposed to be the starter)🙂….Kollar promoted to d-line coach….terrific recruiter who class of 1988 had verbal commitments from such in-state blue-chippers as defensive end Frank Kmet (Cole’s father), nose guard Jeff Zgonina (Cole’s uncle), linebacker Jim Schwantz (NFL career/mayor of Palatine?) and Chicago King four-star defensive end Peyton Minter.

White fired…John Mackovic didn’t keep Kollar/hired Denny Marcin instead….Fred Akers/Purdue hired the Illini d-line coach….took all of his commitments to West Lafayette….Stayed two years….was going to take the d-line job at Iowa when Atlanta Falcons called…long time respected NFL assistant…member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Ed Zaunbrecher quarterbacks coach (2005)-Former head coach at Northeast Louisiana (FCS) ‘respected offensive mind’ in the 90’s….Ron Zook’s first offensive coordinator when he took the job at UofFlorida….under pressure…demoted Eddie Z. to QB coach/hired Larry Fedora new offensive coordinator in Gainesville….when staff let go….Zook missed on several QB coaches….Zaunbrecher didn’t have a job….next stop Champaign….guy had a personality of a dead fish…could tell Zaunbrecher didn’t want to be there….in staff meetings other offensive coaches would ask, ‘QB’s steps right?’ on drop backs….Eddie Z. would always shoot back quickly, ‘steps are fuckin’ fine it’s your play calling that’s the issue’…just a dick

AM day of the first spring practice 2006 Eddie Z. cleaning out his office …’what is going on?’ Zook asks….’Going to Purdue’ the reply….Boilers head coach Joe Tiller hired his old buddy as offensive coordinator…was there for a couple of years…Zook always thought Zaunbrecher did him like that cause he was still pissed way the head coach ‘demoted’ him at Florida…2007 Eddie Z’s wife files for divorce….finds out ‘Mr. Personality’ 😒Eddie Z. had ‘girlfriends’ supposedly all over the areas he recruited…She had met her future husband when working at a high school that Zaunbrecher recruited….it was Deja Vu all over again.

Jim Bridge offensive line coach (2013)-Hired off the North Carolina State staff where he coached tight ends…..Bridge replaced Luke Butkus who reportedly hated working for Beckman/Golesh so much he took a big pay cut to go to Florida International where his college coach Ron Turner had just been put in charge….Butkus didn’t last long at FIU taking o-line job with the Jacksonville Jaguars later that winter….Bridge stayed at Illinois 41 days before taking the o-line job at Purdue….how bad was the Beckman shit show?…..Darrell Hazell was the Purdue head coach💩….Bridge stayed a couple of years in West Lafayette….then to Duke…last I can find was o-line coach at University of Memphis before they let him go 2021……Nappin’ Tom Brattan replaced him as o-line coach….an older fella’…..Brattan had to supposedly take an afternoon nap just to make sure he could make it thru practice…always the rumor.

Cory Patterson tight ends/running backs coach (2018-2023)-Former St. Louis Trinity High School head coach hired by Lovie Smith….big reason for hire?…..Patterson’s squad ‘loaded’ with blue-chip talent…as a head coach….He did a great job of helping get his players offers/over-rated/played the on-line recruiting media like a drum……other than Isaiah Williams did any of his former players do shit at Illinois or anywhere else? What’s Mookie Cooper doing now?

Coining the phrase ‘Littyville’ his biggest contribution while in Champaign? Ryan Walters for some reason liked him/took Patterson along when hired as Boilermaker head coach….reportedly talked a lot of shit when recruiting against Illinois😡 ….now running backs coach at Oklahoma State which means likely out of a job after the season.

Kevin Kane outside linebackers coach (2021-2023)-Was a grad assistant for Bielema at Wisconsin 2008-2010….buddies with then Badgers defensive coordinator Dave Doeren…went to Northern Illinois when Doeren named Huskies head coach….left with Walters to become Purdue defensive coordinator/linebackers coach when told Henry not Kane would succeed departing DC….now a position coach with the Minnesota Golden Gophers…always thought Kane good guy/coach…loss when he left Champaign cause linebacker development/play still not where it needs to be…in my opinion.

*This week’s Big Ten picks….

Wisconsin (2-2) at Michigan (3-1)-Badgers+16.5 42 over/under….’Badger Godfather’ Barry Alvarez defending Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell ‘a lot of fans wanted me gone after our third year too’…big difference? Alvarez’s program got better every year/disciplined team/program that just wasn’t there yet…..Fickell’s assistant coaching hires have been questionable…3rd year his team still looks like an un-made bed too much…Wolverines by three TD’s…the over.

Penn State (3-1) at UCLA (0-4)-Bruins+25.5 50 over/under…UCLA fires their first-year offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri on Tuesday night…‘mutual parting of ways’…it’s a nice way of saying fired the guy….some books giving Bruins 28.5 points…Nittany Lions flying cross country coming off a heart-breaking OT loss to Oregon…Penn State by 25 and the over.

Washington (3-1) at Maryland (4-0)-Terps+5.5 52.5 over/under….Locksley’s Terps 0-9 off bye weeks…at Illinois with Zook those teams awful off bye week…Lox has a solution though ‘learned it from Nick Saban’ when he worked at Bama’…that’s is the go to for the Maryland head coach ‘I worked for Nick Saban’ ah never mind…..I am ramblin’….don’t get the line….Huskies got physically beat up last Saturday losing to Ohio State…cross-country flight….Washington bad o-line and you know what I think of that type of issue on the road….Take the Terps and under.

Michigan State (3-1) at Nebraska (3-1)-Sparty+10.5 53.5 over/under…Huskers so over-rated….Michigan State points and the over.

Minnesota (3-1) at Ohio State (4-0)-Gophers+24 44.5 over/under…Fleck will slow this game to a crawl….keep the ball away from the Buckeyes….Goofs points and the over (barely).