College GameDay crew predicts outcome of Illinois-Purdue showdown
ESPN’s College GameDay crew weighed in with a number of picks for the Week 5 slate of college football. That included the trophy game between Illinois and Purdue with the Purdue Cannon back up for grabs!
As for recent history, the series has been all Boilermakers with Purdue winning the last 3 and 6 of the last 7 meetings in the series. The Boilermakers also have a 47-45-6 all-time lead in the series, but Jeff Brohm is no longer in West Lafayette.
This season, the game has a bit more intrigue with Ryan Walters beginning his tenure at Purdue. The former assistant for Bret Bielema will face his former boss in the matchup with Walters’ staff maintaining a number of ex-Illini assistants.
Here is how the GameDay crew picked the matchup:
Desmond Howard: Illinois. “Flip a coin, Illinois.”
Pat McAfee: Purde. “Purdue, new head coach (Ryan Walters) took 7 staffers from Illinois. 1-point spread, give me the Boilermakers who I have been wrong about having faith in every single week.”
Ken Jeong: Purdue. The Boilermakers “need this win.”
Lee Corso: Illinois. “Anyone but Purdue.”
Kirk Herbstreit: Illinois. “I think Illinois will get after Purdue at the line of scrimmage… Illinois wins this one.”
Saturday’s kickoff is set for 3:30 pm ET and will be broadcast via Peacock.