On Saturday, Illinois (1-3) travels to Purdue (2-1) for their third Big Ten game of the season. The Fighting Illini started the season 1-0 after being Nebraska in Week Zero, but they have dropped three consecutive games.

“Been talking about this conference rivalry, divisional game, the history of the Canon (Trophy) since 1905,” Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said on Thursday. “To be a part of a 116-years of tradition, history to have the series tied at 45-45-6, a lot of things are rallied behind the and bigger than the moment we are in.”

Illinois’ last win in the series came in 2019 when they topped the Boilermakers 24-6 behind a Tony Adams pick-six. Illinois lost last year’s game against Purdue 31-24 despite playing with their fourth-string quarterback Coran Taylor.

“Unfortunately, Purdue is four out of five in the last five games,” Bielema said. “So, we got a task at hand that is very, very difficult but one our guys are very excited to be part of.”

Purdue is coming off of a 27-13 loss at Notre Dame last week, but head coach Jeff Brohm led his team to back-to-back victories against Oregon State (30-21) and UConn (49-0) in their first two games of the season.

Heading into Saturday’s game here are some final storylines from the Illinois side of Saturday’s rivalry game at Ross-Ade Stadium.

Illinois has yet to play at full strength this season on either side of the football, but the Illini are expecting to be close to full health on Saturday. Of most importance, Illinois is expecting defensive lineman Keith Randolph to make his return to the lineup after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury, and center Doug Kramer will also return after being knocked out in the second half against Virginia.

“I’m excited, defensively, we get Keith Randolph back,” Bielema said. “He’s practiced the last two days. He’s a guy that brought a lot of energy in the games that he as a part of.”

Randolph had a strip-sack that went for a defensive touchdown against Nebraska in the season opener and had another sack against UTSA in the following week. Randolph is still listed as a redshirt freshman on the roster and has four years of eligibility remaining at Illinois and he has made quite the impact on his head coach since their first interaction.

“I’m a big believer as a head coach that you can kind of sense some things from guys on how they handle their business, ask questions, respond to adversity,” Bielema said. “I loved his demeanor. On the field, he’s big, athletic, he can run. I know he had a basketball awareness in the past. I met his parents this past fall at a camp, you could see where it comes from. He represents all the things I am excited about; his upside is off the charts.”

Kramer’s return provides stability to the interior of the Illinois offensive line, something that it has lacked this season because of a rotation of guards. Kramer has been one of the Illini’s best players this season and has been great in run blocking this season.

“Offensively, Doug Kramer has practiced both days and is ready to roll,” Bielema said. “That, I think, gives the guy’s confidence upfront, gives us more depth upfront as things unfolded last week when we had Julian Pearl go out. That really thinned out an already thin interior line position.”

While Illinois is expecting to be near their full health on Saturday, their head coach believes that the game could be decided by players that come into the game, due to injuries that could happen in the game.

“The story of the game is usually written by the players that come in due to injury,” Bielema said. “I’m sure that’s going to be the case on Saturday with players that we aren’t even aware of right now that are going to get injured.”

Two of the Purdue players most responsible for the 31-24 Purdue win last year in Champaign likely won’t suit up for the Boilermakers.

All-Big Ten wide receiver David Bell was knocked out of the Notre Dame game when he took a big hit from Fighting Irish safety Kyle Hamilton. As of Friday afternoon, Bell was still in concussion protocol and his state for Saturday is unclear. It will be a gametime decision according to Purdue coach Jeff Brohm.

In last year’s game, Bell caught 7 passes for 122 yards and a TD. Purdue has other capable receivers, but Bell was by far the biggest home run threat for the Boilermakers and has been a thorn in the side of the Illinois defense.

On the ground, Purdue was led in last year’s game by Zander Horvath with 102 yards on 22 carries, but Horvath is also out of the Purdue lineup due to an injury. He suffered a broken fibula in the route of UConn and will miss six to eight weeks.

Purdue is one of two teams in the Big Ten West that plays on grass, instead of field turf, the other is Northwestern. Illinois already played one game this season on grass when they traveled to Virginia, but this is their first conference game on grass this season.

This week, due to rain in Champaign, Illinois wasn’t able to practice on the grass field outside of the Henry Dale and Betty Smith Football Center. Instead, Illinois was forced to practice inside Memorial Stadium all week.

“We’ve practiced in the stadium, but we practice every week on the grass at least once, if not twice,” Bielema said. “We’ve had a lot of grass work.”

In an effort to help players prepare for playing on grass this week, Bielema said the coaching staff stressed the importance of running techniques and will allow the specialist – Blake Hayes and James McCourt – to travel to Purdue early.

“Our specialists go over early, so they will be a little bit ahead of us and get a chance to see the stadium and see the turf as it unfolds,” Bielema said. “Our team will exercise it as much as they can before the game to make sure they have the right feel, shoes, fitting for the game itself.”

Super senior defensive back Tony Adams was benched last week in favor of Taz Nicholson. Adams struggled significantly against UTSA wide receiver Zakhari Franklin in the Illini’s second game of the season and also struggled against Virginia, so Illinois opted to go with Nicholson.

“I think for us, truthfully, we just wanted to change it up a little bit,” defensive backs coach Aaron Henry said on Tuesday. “It’s nothing personal to any of those guys in my room. TA being a captain, he took it on the chin. He had opportunities to get in the game and kind of take it like it was. At the end of the day, I think as a position coach, I wanted to change it up.

“(Defensive coordinator Ryan] Walters wanted to change it up a little bit. we had to find a sparkplug a little bit. I think Taz with the way he plays and kid of his mindset, I thought he was a great change-up. TA was a great teammate. I think it showed maturity on his end. He didn’t complain, he didn’t cry. He took it on the chin. When his number was called, he stepped up in there and played.”

When Adams announced his return to Illinois for a super-senior season he did it with the expectation that he would be playing cornerback. But after his benching last week, there is a possibility that he could begin moving around the defensive backfield like had done the last four years.

“As things have evolved, we have recognized the value he brings not only to us depth-wise but at other positions,” Bielema said. “For sure, he’s a guy that will be utilized by us in other roles, other positions.”