Illinois is cooking early.

In their pivotal B1G West battle with the Purdue Boilermakers, the Ilini struck first. Brian Hightower went up and high-pointed the ball to move into Purdue territory early.

A few plays later, Chase Brown was there to punch the ball in from 2 yards out to give the Illini a 7-0 lead early.

The Illini are 7-2 on the season and ranked as the No. 21 team in the nation. They’re made it there via their defense, but plays like that from QB Tommy DeVito and with Brown in the backfield as one of the best running backs in the B1G has helped their case.

A long time left in this one. Let’s see if the Illini can increase their lead with some strong defense.