Illinois Football: Illini to be without Brandon Peters against Northwestern

It looks like the Illinois football team will be a man down on Saturday when we take on Northwestern.

According to Yianni Laros of IlliniPulse.com, Brandon Peters will be out for the game against the Wildcats. The reason for him missing the game hasn’t been disclosed but one has to assume it stems from the hit he took in the Iowa game. I would assume he is still in concussion protocol. But, thankfully, Illinois is already bowl eligible.

So, what would this mean for the Illini and our chances of stopping Northwestern’s four-game winning streak? Matt Robinson is likely to lead the way for the Orange and Blue.

Robinson, the redshirt freshman from San Juan Capistrano, California, at least has some experience this season. He started one game this year and that was against Michigan. Robinson almost led us to a comeback victory in that game. He has also played in four other contests.

Through the five total games Robinson has seen action this season, he is 34-of-60 for 367 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions. That completion rate comes out to 56.7-percent. He hasn’t done anything with his legs, though.

I think this quarterback change for the Northwestern game is obviously going to hurt the team. We need Peters in there because he knows this offense the best. Illinois was clicking with him behind center. But I don’t think this means we lose the game today.

The game between the Illini and Wildcats is going to be extremely low scoring. I would imagine the first team to 10 points will win the game. Illinois’ defense should have a fun day messing with the inexperienced Northwestern quarterback.

For the Illini offense, I would say let’s lean on the run and see where that takes us. I am talking, I want possessions where we don’t pass the ball at all. I expected at least a three running back rotation against Northwestern.

While the news of Peters not playing hurts the team, I think we still come away with a win. This Illinois defense is something special. Don’t be surprised if they score more than the Northwestern offense.