It was Nathan Scheelhaase’s turn in the Illinois football team’s 44-10 victory against Purdue on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Three weeks ago against Penn State, Mikel Leshoure bore much of the offensive load for the Illini, and last week against Indiana the defense used two interceptions for touchdowns to lead the team to a 43-13 rout of Indiana.

But Saturday was the redshirt freshman’s day as he completed 16 of 20 passes for 195 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 118 yards to lead the Illini to their fifth victory of the season.

“I felt good about it, it’s definitely one where, when you walk away, you feel good about the things you did,” said Scheelhaase, who gave credit to his offensive line for a few of his touchdowns. “Throughout all four quarters, we really moved the ball well on offense.”

The scoring started early for the Illini as Scheelhaase connected with A.J. Jenkins on a crossing route for a 17-yard touchdown on the Illini’s second drive of the game.

The next Illini drive started almost immediately after a botched kickoff in which Derek Dimke deflected the ball off a Purdue special teams player and Nate Bussey recovered it at the Illinois 45-yard line. Later in the drive, Spencer Harris was tackled just inches shy of the goal-line on a 10-yard reception, and 225-pound running back Leshoure scored on the next play.

The defense held strong throughout the first half, allowing only 65 yards as the Illini entered the break up 17-0.

Over the first 9:22 of the third quarter, Scheelhaase threw touchdown passes to Leshoure and freshman Darius Millines. In that span, Leshoure also rushed for another touchdown on a drive where an Illini receiver, this time tight end Evan Wilson, was stopped at the 1 yard-line.

Purdue put up 10 points in the fourth quarter to make the score 37-10, but the game was already out of hand. Scheelhaase put an exclamation point on the victory as he threw a fourth touchdown to a fourth different receiver, this time Chris James.

“He just took control,” Jenkins said of Scheelhaase. “For him, his confidence has risen a lot since his first game … our chemistry has just developed and gotten bigger. He’s excellent, he’s just maturing into a good quarterback.”

The other side of the ball, once again, was solid for the Illini as they shut out Purdue through three quarters.

“The coaches didn’t do a whole lot this week,” Illini head coach Ron Zook said. “They did a great job of just saying, ‘Let them run,’ having them make plays with their ability rather than having them thinking.”

On the day, the defense was allowed only 205 yards against a battered Purdue team, which lost its starting quarterback, Rob Marve, and top receiver Keith Smith to season-ending injuries early in the season.

Backup quarterback Rob Henry also suffered a hand injury last week against Ohio State and didn’t attempt a pass Saturday. Henry split time with freshman Sean Robinson, who completed 7 of 20 passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.

“We thought coming into the game today that Rob Henry would be able to play and Sean Robinson wouldn’t have had to play so much, but it’s not the way it happened,” Purdue head coach Danny Hope said. “In pregame Rob was struggling and I appreciate his courage…but we were very thin at the quarterback position today.”

While the Illini defense held strong, Martez Wilson was disappointed they couldn’t close out their first shutout of the year.

“Fourth quarter, we just can’t let down, we have to finish out the game completely. We were really close to having a shutout and we came up short,” Wilson said. “We’re still got a win. That’s what counts.”

With the win, the Illini are just one game away from bowl eligibility.

“Finishing the Big Ten season, we know we have a bunch of tough games ahead,” Scheelhaase said.

“We feel confident … If we’re able to do the things we’re able to do as a team, as an offense, as a defense, the sky really is the limit.”