Illinois Football: 3 adjustments for the Illini after Wisconsin loss

1. Establish confidence with Brandon Peters

Having an 8-of-19 passing game for only 87 yards probably hurts the confidence a little bit. Throwing more incomplete passes than completed passes is never a good thing.

On Friday night, those were Brandon Peters’ numbers. The majority of the eight completions from Peters came in the form of longer passes. It seemed like every offensive play that wasn’t a run was Peters looking downfield trying to make the big play.

Well, you don’t always have to make the big play. A first down is sometimes good enough. Illinois needs to make adjustments this week to give Peters more confidence. A good way to do this is to develop a shorter passing game.

Illinois running backs only had two receptions for 20 yards on Friday night. I believe using Mike Epstein and Chase Brown out of the backfield as receivers would help Peters with his confidence. Have the running back eye the defense to make sure there isn’t a blitz, and then he can roll out into the flat for an easy dump-off pass. This will get Peters’ confidence higher because of the completed pass and it likely gains at least a few years.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some slants into the middle of the field as well. Having Josh Imatorbhebhe out wide is fine, but let’s get someone like Brian Hightower in the slot and have him run some slants in the middle of the field. These easier passes will help with confidence.

At this point, Peters needs confidence that he can complete passes and get into a groove. Let’s shorten the playbook and start playing small ball.