Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt is expected to miss the next four-to-six weeks with a leg fracture.

The quarterback fractured his fibula Saturday against Purdue and needed to be helped off the field following a sack in the fourth quarter of a 38-27 loss.

The Illini announced the injury via press release Sunday.

“I’m very disappointed for Wes, his family and the Fighting Illini family, but I know we all will respond to this situation in a positive way,” head coach Tim Beckman said. “He’s having an outstanding season and we’re very hopeful to have him back on the field for the final three games. We are fortunate to have two bye weeks coming up so the games Wes will have to miss are limited as possible. We have a lot of confidence in Reilly O’Toole and Aaron Bailey as we prepare for our upcoming game against Wisconsin.”

Lunt led the Big Ten in passing yards per game (309.2) heading into Purdue, where he threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns. He currently ranks 10th in the nation in completions per game (25.4) and 14th in passing yards per game (313.8).

Beckman has stressed he doesn’t want to play the sophomore Bailey, who has the potential to be redshirted. Whether or not that is still the case remains to be seen. O’Toole has been Lunt’s backup and started at Nebraska a week ago. O’Toole has thrown one touchdown and four interceptions in the past two weeks.

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @neumannthehuman.