Illinois Football: Illini gel in second half to beat Kent State
The Illinois football team moved to 1-0 for 2018 with a win over the Kent State Golden Flashes.
This wasn’t an easy win for the Illini. In fact, they found themselves down 17-3 at halftime. Many people thought things were looking bleak heading into the third quarter, but Lovie Smith and the Illinois football team gelled in the second half and pushed their way to a 31-24 victory.
Honestly, as cliché as it sounds, this was a tale of two halves. Illinois didn’t look good in the first half. Their offense wasn’t clicking. They didn’t seem like they had much chemistry. Quarterback AJ Bush had moments where he was a talented quarterback, but things just seemed to go wrong. The defense was pretty bad as well.
Kent State quarterback Woody Barrett was able to do just about whatever he wanted to do against this Illinois defense in the first half. He ended the half with 110 yards and two touchdowns through the air. A lot of the defensive secondary struggles were due to the suspension of two defensive backs and an injury as well. The ability to stop Barrett on the ground wasn’t there either. Illinois gave up 71 rushing yards to him as well.
Illinois was a completely different team in the second half. They were able to slow down and, really, shut down Barrett. He managed to throw for more yards – most of which came on their last drive – but he wasn’t as accurate. Barrett finished the second half with 160 yards and two interceptions through the air.
Barrett wasn’t as dangerous on the ground in the second half either. He only rushed for 46 yards. I attribute his struggles in the second half on the ground to the Illinois defensive line and linebackers. They did a great job.
There is a lot you can take away from this game that is both on the positive and negative sides of the aisle. Let’s first start off with the negative so we can get that out of the way.
Right before kickoff, the news that Bennett Williams, Carmoni Green, Nate Hobbs, Louis Dorsey and Deon Pate were all suspended indefinitely. I am not sure why they were suspended, and it may not come out. But, these suspensions killed the team. Having Williams and Hobbs out of the secondary was just brutal for the team. Illinois had to start a few freshmen – Delano Ware and Jartavius Martin – and they weren’t ready to be starters in the Big Ten. This is a huge reason why Kent State was able to pass all over the Illini.
Dorsey being out was a huge hit as well. While Daniel Barker tried his best, Illinois had nothing in the way of a catching threat at tight end the entire game. Losing Dorsey hamstrings the offense.
I don’t know what these players did to deserve a suspension, but it was enough to jeopardize the first game of the season. Hopefully, they are back for the next game. But, for at least this game against Kent State, they really put the program behind the eight ball and for that I say, I am disappointed.
Let’s go to some positive now. Illinois finally started to gel in the second half and looked like a team who is going to have a good season. This was the team we had all expected from the first snap.
I assume AJ Bush was just rusty considering he really hasn’t been a starting quarterback in his college playing career. He looked good in the second half, though. His legs enable him to get into space, and he can move around to avoid sacks. He is going to be special for this program.
I really loved a lot of about the defense too. The defensive line is looking amazing, but I will get into that in another article. I loved how the linebacker corps performed in the second half. Del’Shawn Phillips and Jake Hansen are a really good duo.
Illinois now moves to 1-0. People may judge them because they only won by seven points and had to come back against Kent State. But, that second half was positive. They should be able to carry this momentum into future contests.