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Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Rutgers

By Rees Woodcock

PISCATAWAY, NJ - OCTOBER 06: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith during the College Football Game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 6, 2018, at HighPoint.Com Stadium in Piscataway, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PISCATAWAY, NJ - OCTOBER 06: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith during the College Football Game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 6, 2018, at HighPoint.Com Stadium in Piscataway, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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PISCATAWAY, NJ – OCTOBER 06: Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith during the College Football Game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on October 6, 2018, at HighPoint.Com Stadium in Piscataway, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

The Illinois football team went into a Big Ten game on Saturday and came out with a victory.

Yes, that first sentence wasn’t a typo. The Illini beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Saturday to move to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play. This was the first Big Ten victory for the Illini since Lovie Smith’s first season with the Orange and Blue. That game was against Michigan State on November 5, 2016.

Coming into this game against Rutgers, I wanted to see a clear improvement from this Illinois football team. This was a must-win in my mind. If the Illini couldn’t pull off this win, then I would have started to question this coaching staff and what is going on with the program.

But, Illinois didn’t lose. They showed me everything I wanted to see. They stayed committed to the running attack and this paid off. Their defense was solid most of the time. AJ Bush looked the best he has looked the entire season. This was a complete team victory.

Illinois now has a winning record five games into the season. This team is clicking and the chemistry with the players is there. It seems like everyone is buying what the coaching staff is preaching. Illinois is on the rise and anyone who said otherwise is being proved wrong. This is still more work to do, though.

Here are five observations from the Illini win over Rutgers.

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