Eye on the Illini: What Does Illinois Bring to the Table

presidentjlh

presidentjlh

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Admittedly, I haven't paid much attention to the offseason. Got into baseball, following the Huskers again (Which was enjoyable!) and the Pirates (not so enjoyable). Along with my following of the NHL and NFL, college football has taken a backseat up until now.

I know Illinois isn't a powerhouse by any means. I know Bert is their head honcho. I know that Illinois has nonetheless beat us routinely as of late, which is saddening.

What does Illinois bring to the table this year? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? How do we match up against them?

 
Illinois is pretty unknown with Beliema, especially in the first game of the season.  The OWH did a bit of an Illinois preview in their recent Pick 6 Podcast.  McKewon thought that Illinois could surprise NU with a few wrinkles on offense, but Illinois' offense isn't all that good.  Sam also expected their D to look similar to last year, with some additional cover 3 played.  It's difficult for DC's to make wholesale changes in the offense and the defense to be effective early in the year.  Other than the 2003 season under Bo, we have all seen that first-hand with recent DC's at NU.

 
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They return a lot of experience, but it's the classic question of whether returning experience is good for a team that hasn't had a winning record since 2011. IMO it's not good - this isn't like Maryland where the experience is talented freshmen/sophomores who will continue to improve, I think these guys are what they are and that hasn't been great.

Peters is a below average QB, but he has talent so he can go on a hot streak. Chase Brown is a solid RB, and they bring back a lot of linemen. I'm not convinced the 2 on the Pick Six teams are exceptional though. A great way to make pre-season all-conference teams as a lineman is to be a multi-year starter, which they are. I don't think they'll be better than new starters at Wisconsin/Iowa/OSU/etc, you just have to pick guys to fill out the preseason teams and you get less flack for picking guys who have played. They'll run the ball pretty well I imagine, but WR is very unproven (like ours) and not very talented (unlike ours).

Defensively, the scheme change will make them hard to prepare for and they know how to create turnovers. That's why they've had some success against us the past 2 years, we've moved the ball as much as we've wanted. You just can't lose the TO battle 5-0 against any team with a pulse. If we hang onto the ball, they just don't have the dudes on defense. Scheme probably slows us down to start, and if Hansen forces a couple fumbles all bets are off. But it's a couple individual standouts and a lot of guys that are just guys. 

 
Isaiah Williams could be a bad matchup now that he is at WR but he is not a huge guy.

He also might be their only real starting WR for this game. 

 
I can pretty much guarantee we see them run him from the slot straight up the seam  against Jojo, we'll see if Chins tweaked anything there. Jojo covers pretty well, but whatever defense we call where he has to cover that is not my favorite. Minnesota came really close to hitting one of those and Rutgers did hit it.

 
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Husker in WI said:
I can pretty much guarantee we see them run a slot fade with him against Jojo, we'll see if Chins tweaked anything there. Jojo covers pretty well, but whatever defense we call where he has to cover that is not my favorite. Minnesota came really close to hitting one of those and Rutgers did hit it.
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Yeah I would assume we will see that play a few times.  

And Jetsweep stuff.

 
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Husker in WI said:
I can pretty much guarantee we see them run him from the slot straight up the seam  against Jojo, we'll see if Chins tweaked anything there. Jojo covers pretty well, but whatever defense we call where he has to cover that is not my favorite. Minnesota came really close to hitting one of those and Rutgers did hit it.
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Jojo is a very good player but having him as the primary nickel is not ideal. I am hoping with increased corner depth we will see him tasked with covering the slot less this year.

 
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