Know Your Opponent: Illinois Fighting Illini
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Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
Head Coach: Brett Bielema
Overall: 2nd season at Illinois, 103-65
Bowl Appearances at Illinois: Zero
2021 Record: 5-7
Mascot: None
Colors: Orange and Blue
Outfitter: Nike
National Titles: Five (1914, 1919, 1923, 1927, 1951)
Conference Titles: 15 (most recently in 2001)
Heisman Winners: None
Last Week: 38-6 win over Wyoming
Statistical Leaders
Passing: Tommy DeVito – 27 of 37 for 194 yards with two touchdowns
Rushing: Chase Brown – 19 carries for 151 yards with two touchdowns
Receiving: Pat Bryant – three catches for 44 yards with one touchdown
Tacklers: Jartavius Martin – seven tackles
Stat of the Week
A win for the Hoosiers on Friday night would be the program’s 500th win all-time.
Picks For Tonight:
Check out PicksforTonight college football computer picks to see which way their model is picking the Hoosier game and more this weekend
Illini Talking Points
1. The game plan to defend Illinois begins with one key principle: contain Chase Brown. Brown, a junior running back, is one of the best players in the Big Ten and a surefire future NFL player. He was fantastic against Wyoming, scoring three touchdowns, and he is good as both a pass-catcher and a ball carrier. New offensive coordinator Barry Lunney has made it very clear that his number one priority on offense is to make Brown the feature-piece of this attack and the Hoosiers will have to find a way to limit the damage he inflicts. Josh McCray, a big back that figured to share work with Brown, left the game against Wyoming.
2. The Illini defense was strong a season ago and they picked that right back off with a stingy performance against Wyoming. The question becomes, how much can we take from that opening week showing? Wyoming’s offense is anticipated to be woeful and they lacked any sort of explosiveness. The one potential attack point the Hoosiers could have gleaned from Saturday’s contest was the success Wyoming had on the ground. The Cowboys ran for 182 yards on 5.9 carries. That included 5.8 yards per carry for running back Titus Swen and 76 yards for quarterback Andrew Peasley. Indiana’s offensive line and new crop of tailbacks should have a chance to get some traction on the ground against this defense.
3. How much difference does playing in “Week Zero” make for Illinois? They were able to work out some potential kinks against an FBS opponent and hit another squad instead of bashing against each other for another week. IU was able to see the new offense run by Barry Lunney and some new personnel on both sides of the ball. However, the scheme was fairly vanilla and the opponent was a poor one. Illinois has not seen Indiana and have nothing to go off of from last year because so much has changed for the Hoosiers. While the record says “1-0” and the extra game may help Illinois as IU shakes off rust in the early part of the contest but it seems unlikely the outcome is influenced much either way by the extra game.