Illinois Will Beat Purdue – and the Illini Will Have Taylor Swift to Thank for It

Will the Taylor Swift curse strike again?

Yes, if form holds, this one will be out of the hands of Illinois' Bret Bielema and Luke Altmyer , and there will be nothing Purdue's Barry Odom and Ryan Browne can do to stop it. You thought the Queen of Pop's purview was limited to the NFL? Hardly. Football is Taylor Swift's world, and the rest of us are just living in it.

At least, that's the worry if you're a Purdue fan. Because over Swift's 19-year recording career, the Boilermakers have never won a game following one of her album releases. Mind you, that covers 10 consecutive albums dating back to October 2006, when Purdue held Penn State to just 12 points in West Lafayette, Indiana, but Swift dropped her eponymous debut and thus the Boilers never stood a chance in a 12-0 shutout defeat. Check out the diabolical footage of her working her voodoo on the helpless Joe Tiller:

Four years later, Illinois was on the receiving end of Swift's mystical hold on Purdue's football fortunes when, in October 2010, she released "Speak Now," her third album. The Illini, of course, scored 37 unanswered points to start the game – including three touchdowns from Mikel Leshoure – on their way to a 44-10 housing of the Boilermakers in Champaign. Thanks, T-Swizzle.

Do we believe in a Taylor Swift curse?

We don't have to believe in it for it to be true, now do we? Say what you will, the evidence is compelling: Purdue has had many fine football teams over the years, and the Boilers have had five different coaches and won 94 games through these dark times of the Taylor Swift Era (the epoch, not the tour). The streak includes losses to Northwestern and Nevada, for heaven's sake.

And so what if it's all silliness, just pure coincidence? After the Illini's close call against the Boilers last year, and with so much riding on what they do with the rest of their season outside of next week's Everest climb against Ohio State, Illinois will take any edge it can get Saturday.Even if Bielema prefers Tay-Tay's earlier stuff.