Ask the Illinois Fighting Illini defense which game they had circled on their calendar going into the season and it would be a safe bet week 3 vs Virginia would be a common response. 364 days after getting pantsed 42-14 in Charlottesville the Fighting Illini flipped the script. Bret Bielema’s team won in true Bielema fashion. A stifling defensive performance and an offense that did just enough, mainly on the back of their workhorse running back dispatched the Cavaliers. Chase Brown had his weekly ho hum performance with 146 yards on 20 carries and quarterback Tommy DeVito completed 17 of 25 passes for 196 yards and a couple touchdown passes. Wasn’t pretty on that side of the ball, but it didn’t have to be.
Defense Defense Defense
It wasn’t hard to imagine the defense would have a better showing than a year ago, but not many would have predicted a complete shutdown of one of the more prolific offenses from a year ago. Illinois refused to be a punching bag this time. Only allowing three points on a short field after two Illinois turnovers to start the game. Even more impressive is Virginia not converting a single third down, going 0-16. No, I’m not going to count a defensive penalty as a successful conversion.
The Fighting Illini allowed only 42 rushing yards on 29 carries. 31 of those yards came from a broken play scramble with one minute left in the game. Complete domination. The front seven wasn’t the only component of the defense running on all cylinders. Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong had a career bad performance. So bad that 13-32 for 180 yards and 2 Ints doesn’t do justice to how ineffective the Virginia offense was. A far cry from the numbers Armstrong normally puts up. In fact, today was the first time in 18 games he didn’t throw a touchdown pass. Again, that’s the same guy that threw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns in last year’s game. That’s an offense that scored 35 points per game last year. This defense is scary.
Fighting Illini Achilles Heel?
Illinois is touting a Big Ten championship level defense, while the offense is doing everything it can to not put the ball in the endzone. A faction of their game that has been even worse than the redzone offense is the kicking game. Every week its been the same ol’ song and dance; defense embarrasses opposing offense, chase brown carries the team inside the 30, passing game sputters, Griffin misses chip shot.
Even in the Big Ten that’s not a sustainable formula for success. The passing game has had it’s moments in the sun, bu it needs to deliver when it counts. Isaiah Williams had a slow game and Casey Washington has only six catches for 53 yards. I know it’s an offense predicated on pounding the ball, but Brown can’t carry the ball every play. Fighting Illini Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. and DeVito need to figure out how to score in the redzone when teams are keying on Brown. I am confident they will get it worked out.
Sidebar – If you are like me and get frustrated with the offense’s inconsistency, go take a gander at Iowa. Little brother is 0-2 and they’ve scored a total of 14 points, 4 of those points have come off safeties. It can always be worse.
Illinois fans have been spoiled over the years with great kickers, so maybe we were due for a season of inconsistency. Regardless, Caleb Griffin simply needs to be better or else Illinois will be on the outside looking in on bowl selection Sunday. Kicking has without a doubt been the weakest link on the team. No points after a long drive is a major momentum killer.
I was hard on the tight end group after last week’s loss @ Indiana, but they showed up today catching 8 passes for 87 yards and the only two touchdowns.
What’s Next?
Next week Illinois will play their last non-conference game of 2022 when they play host to Chattanooga. Today’s upsets across college football should serve as reminder to not take them lightly. Every game is a must win when fighting for bowl eligibility as an up-and-coming program. This will be their last chance to iron things out on the offensive side of the ball before the games really start to count.