Inside the Numbers: Week One vs Illinois

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

We will kick off the beginning of each game week with a deeper dive into the stats for Indiana’s upcoming matchup. Typically, we will keep this Indiana focused; however, with no data to go off entering week one, I decided to take a look into the opponent for this week, Illinois. Illinois was one of the few teams that had a week zero matchup. While the opponent was an outmatched Wyoming squad, let’s see what we can take away from their first week on tape.

Zero

For the first time in Syracuse transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito’s career, he was sacked zero times last week. He was only hurried twice. DeVito had an extremely efficient opening game with the Illini, to the point he was practically surprised.

“I’m not taking any shots here,” DeVito said, smiling. “I think this is the first game that I’ve been in where I did not get sacked. Am I fair to say that?”

He was correct. Weirdly enough, half (nine) of the week zero FBS teams registered zero sacks. There were only 25 total sacks in all 11 games Saturday. The talent discrepancy of the week zero matchups is likely to blame, but an interesting opening weekend statistic nonetheless.

DeVito ended his day early in the 4th quarter, having completed a pass to 12 different receivers and finishing 27-of-37 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. His first pass of the day went for a touchdown.

89.0

Switching over to the defensive side of the ball, defensive back Jartavius Martin had a standout performance in week zero. Martin boasts a host of experience, with over 1700 career snaps. He entered the season with the second highest tackling grade (88.8) among Big Ten cornerbacks by Pro Football Focus. The hype was real. Martin finished the game with three pass breakups from slot targets and didn’t miss a single tackle on seven attempts. The performance earned him an 89.0 coverage grade for the game, the highest single-game mark of his career. Wyoming only completed five pass attempts, and he was a big reason why.

8.3%

A big part of any offense’s success is going to be their ability to convert on third down; this stat will tell the story as to why Wyoming finished with just 6 points. The Cowboys started the game 0-for-11 on third down before finally converting on their twelfth and final try of the day, late in the 4th quarter against the Illinois backups. They finished the day just 1-of-12 (8.3%) on third down. Illinois did it with their coverage: just like DeVito avoided being sacked, so did Wyoming.