Illinois Football: Game-By-Game Prediction for the 2016 Season

The Minnesota Golden Gophers struggled in Big Ten play last season.  They went 2-6 in conference but one of their two wins was against Illinois.

Illinois Fighting Illini

In this game the Illinois defense is what really let the fans down.  They let running back Shannon Brooks have a big game.

Brooks went for 174 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 32-23 win over the Illini.

On the offensive side of the ball, Illinois was fine.  They moved the ball well and scored points.  But, you can’t give up that many yards to a running back and expect to win.

The scary part is, Brooks was only a freshman and is back for his sophomore season this year.

Illinois does have a big difference maker this season and that is a defensive minded head coach.

Lovie will get burned at times this season on the ground but something tells me it won’t be against Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers also had a pretty stout defense last season.  They only gave up 179.5 yards per game through the air and 166.4 yards per game on the ground.

This means that Vaughn is going to be crucial in an Illinois victory.  He was out for this game last season so I can only imagine if the Illini had him things would have been different.

Illinois will pull this win out and move to 7-1 on the season.

Next: vs. No. 12 Michigan State