Illinois Football: 5 keys to beating the South Florida Bulls

4. Bring the blitz

In week one, the young Illinois secondary struggled to stop the Ball State passing attack. Many people thought this the Illini team was going to struggle the rest of the season just because they had a hard time with the Cardinals. But, week two proved this coaching staff can coach a team up.

Nate Hobbs took a huge step forward against Western Kentucky. He was able to stay with his man longer and was a menace to Hilltoppers quarterback, Mike White. I also liked how Tony Adams played as well. He made some great tackles and, overall, the defensive backs were impressive. White only threw for 238 yards and 1 interception. That is mission accomplished in my books.

Lovie realized these young defensive backs struggled week one as well. The coaching staff didn’t blitz much at the beginning of the Ball State game and this enabled their quarterback to pick apart Adams and Hobbs on the outside. That changed in the fourth quarter and the coaching staff implemented more blitzes against Western Kentucky as well.

The defense needs to continue bringing an extra man or two so there is more than a four-man rush. If Flowers is left in the pocket with time and then realizes all of his receivers are covered downfield, he will take off and run for a first down every time. Illinois needs to get pressure on Flowers and then have a quarterback spy, preferably Tre Watson, to tackle him when he starts to scramble. That is what Lovie did with Brian Urlacher and the Bears when they played against Mike Vick.

Friday will be all about pressure and containment. These are two keys for the Illini and bringing a blitz will help put pressure on Flowers all night long.