Illinois Football: No need to panic from the Illini loss to Northwestern

Listen to me Illinois football fans; there is no reason to panic after this ugly loss to Northwestern.

I know that sounds like Illinois, drinking Kool-Aid, propaganda. No, I don’t work for the athletic department and have no affiliation with the program. I just think this was an ugly loss, but it wasn’t with the team we have put out there most of the season and the team that will be out there for our bowl game. Let’s take a look at what we were missing on Saturday.

Brandon Peters was out for the game. He is our starting quarterback. That means Illinois was missing Peters, who has accounted for 81.4-percent of the passing yards and 94.4-percent of the passing touchdowns. Also, 78.2-percent of the passes this season have come from Peters. That is a lot of experience to not have behind center.

The wide receiver corps was missing some talent today too. Illinois was missing players today who account for 52.4-percent of the wide receiver production this season. This included Josh Imatorbhebhe who leads the team in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Ricky Smalling and Trevon Sidney were both out too. So, three of our top five pass catchers all were missing in this game.

On the offense, let’s not forget that center Doug Kramer went down early in the game too. He is the anchor on the offensive line. So, guard Kendrick Green had to swing over and be the center for most of the day. That is never an easy transition.

Illinois’ defense was also hampered with injuries today. One of our best linebackers, Jake Hansen, didn’t suit up. He is second on the team in tackles and sacks, and he leads the team in forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. Our most versatile defensive back, Tony Adams, didn’t play either. He is third on the team in interceptions and can play either cornerback or safety for this program. Losing him hurts this team.

Let’s also not forget that Milo Eifler went down in this game too. He had an apparent head injury that sidelined him for much of the game. That means two of our three starting linebackers were out. Northwestern ran all of us because of this fact.

So, let’s relax a little bit and take a look at why we lost this game. Things broke down on both sides of the ball. But we didn’t have a lot of our team for this contest. We were playing with backups at key spots. I am not shocked we fell to the Wildcats.

The silver lining here is the fact Lovie said in his post-game press conference that most of the guys who were missing in this game will be back for the bowl game. This is going to look like a completely different team in the postseason. I can’t wait to go bowling.