What do we make of the Illinois football team right now?
We have lost three games in a row after starting the 2019 campaign 2-0. It is hard to assess everything and make everyone happy. There will be the contingency of people who think I am being too negative if I say things that are bad about the team. There is also the contingency who will think I am drinking the Kool-Aid if I say anything remotely good about the team. So, let’s just give an honest opinion here.
This isn’t the worst Illinois team I have seen in recent years. It is extremely frustrating watching this team, though. I know they have some talent on the field, but I feel like the coaching staff isn’t putting these players in a position to win games or succeed some of the time.
I have been in multiple discussions about the Illini and if Lovie Smith is going to get fired. Do I know the answer to that? No, but it only makes sense to let him go if the losing continues to happen. I am not saying this season but more in the near future. They shouldn’t fire him mid-season or even after this season. With that being said, I am extremely frustrated with this coaching staff right now.
How can you only use Reggie Corbin 14 times in a game? This kid is one of the best running backs in the nation. He can, literally, carry this team to victory at times. It blows my mind he only gets 14 touches in any game, let alone one that we need him in the most.
In addition to Corbin’s lack of carries, why are we not trying to play a more ball-controlled game? It is the most frustrating thing in the world when I see drives less than three minutes long – scoring or not scoring – and then people ask why does are defense struggle. Illinois’ defense is on the field way too much. They don’t have the depth to be on the field that long and the coaching staff knows that. Why the heck aren’t we running the ball more and slowing down our offense? It drives me absolutely insane.
This Illinois team doesn’t have the most talent in the world, but I don’t believe we are a bad team. I just don’t. I think we have enough talent to win some football games. I don’t think Minnesota is 23 points better than us, but they sure did hand us an ugly loss. The Illinois coaching staff needs to start game planning to their team’s strengths.
The next couple of weeks could be rough for Illinois fans. Thankfully, though, we do still have Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern on the schedule. Those are three games we could win. If we can still get to five wins this season, I would say that is at least keeping the ship above water. I just don’t understand why the coaching staff continues to coach the way they do with the players we have. We need to play a ball-control game and that isn’t happening. It is frustrating.