Illinois Football: 3 observations from the Illini’s 2019 season
3. Oh so close to a big year
It was exciting seeing Illinois get back to a bowl game for the first time in years. On top of that, the clinching game was against Michigan State where the Illini were down big and made a miraculous comeback.
The Illini finished the 2019 regular season with a 6-6 record and went on to lose to Cal in the Red Box Bowl. It wasn’t the ending Illinois fans wanted, but the campaign was a step in the right direction. But how close was the Orange and Blue to having an incredible year?
Well, let’s start off with the first loss of the season. Illinois welcomed in Eastern Michigan, but the defense didn’t live up to expectations. The Illini dropped this game by three points, 34-31. If we could have had one less turnover or made one less mistake, this easily could have been a win.
The next game after the Eastern Michigan loss was against Nebraska. Illinois had a 35-27 lead in this game heading into the fourth quarter. We had a 38-35 lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the game. The Illini let it slip away, though. Illinois lost the game 42-38. This four-point margin could have been erased I few could have made one more play.
Let’s say those two games go our way. That would put Illinois at 8-4 for the season, which would have been incredible. Even with some of the games we lost by double-digits, the Illini were in it down the stretch.
Illinois was only down 28-25 with less than 10 minutes to go against No. 16 Michigan. We were down 16-10 with less than 10 minutes to go against No. 17 Iowa. We are a play or two away from, potentially, winning those two games as well. If that happens, this Illinois team is 10-2. That would be insane.
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The Illini aren’t that far away from being a competitive team in their side of the Big Ten. To say we can make a Big Ten title game in the near future is not a crazy proposition. The future is extremely bright for this program.