Illinois Fighting Illini College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Illinois Fighting Illini Biggest Key: Offense
Establish a positive identity right away – and that needs to include a functional passing attack.
It seemed like the move of Bret Bielema to Arkansas should’ve worked. Take the Wisconsin style that was so functional under his reign against the big boys on the slate, take it to Fayetteville, and pound away on the teams with the four and five-star guys.
He got the giant offensive linemen, but the running game wasn’t given enough time to build into something consistently great – Camp Randall wasn’t built in a day – the O got tweaked a bit, and none of it worked.
Illinois has to find one thing it can do consistently well and stick with it. There’s no winning the Big Ten West this year, but the groundwork has to be set to show what’s coming over the next few years.
No matter what, though, the passing game has to be better after hitting just 47% and only getting past 200 yards twice.
Illinois Fighting Illini Biggest Key: Defense
Stop … the … run. The Illini were dead last in the Big Ten in run defense allowing 230 yards per game. The secondary wasn’t anything great, either – the safeties had a rough year – but it was the defensive front’s inability to slow down the ground game that turned into the biggest issue.
Again.
The Illini struggled in 2019, allowing 4.3 yards per carry and gave up over 300 rushing yards three times and 275 or more in two other games. They didn’t exactly fix the glitch.
The 2020 Illinois D gave up over five yards per carry and were hit for over 200 rushing yards in five of the last six games. Minnesota ran for 325 yards and five scores, and Northwestern tore off 411 yards and three touchdowns.
Illinois Fighting Illini Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Brandon Peters, Sr.
He’s been fine. The 6-5, 220-pound former Michigan transfer can run a little bit, and he has the arm strength to start doing more, but he needs to be more for the attack.
He’s had his moments, and he’s okay when he gets time to work, but it’s been way too much of a struggle. His job as the super-senior quarterback with so much time logged in is to just be functional.
He has only completed 54% of his passes with the Illini with 21 touchdowns and eight picks, but he needs to be up around the 60% mark, has to be great on third downs, and he needs to lead the way on long scoring marches.
Illinois Fighting Illini Key Game To The 2021 Season
Nebraska, Aug. 28
At the very least, the season opener has to be a better showing than the 45-7 Graham Mertz-fest loss to Wisconsin to kickoff last season.
2015 – Illinois 14, Nebraska 13.
That was the last time Illinois won a Big Ten opener, and it was the only time it did that since 2011. Last year, Nebraska won 41-23 in Lincoln, but this time around the game opens the season as well as the Big Ten campaign.
With UTSA, at Virginia, Maryland at Purdue and Charlotte to follow, the Illini have a shot at a decent start if they can beat the Huskers – and they’ll need it with a rough back half of the slate.
2020 Illinois Fighting Illini Fun Stats
– 2nd Quarter Stats: Opponents 106 – Illinois 52
– Total Offense: Opponents 3,738 yards – Illinois 2,792
– Time of Possession: Opponents 32:34 – Illinois 27:26