Illinois Football: 3 observations from the Illini loss to Minnesota

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Nov 7, 2020; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Lovie Smith shakes hands with Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P. J. Fleck after the second half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Illinois football team went into the game on Saturday needing a win over Minnesota but failed to get the victory.

Starting the season 0-2 isn’t good, but a win over the Gophers would get everything back on track and moving in the right direction. Not only did Illinois lose the game, but they lost it in ugly fashion and made just about everyone start to question what is going on in Champaign.

Illinois wasn’t looking bad early on. They stopped Minnesota on their first two drives, one of which was a turnover caused by Jake Hansen. The Illini couldn’t convert on the turnover, so this left the door open for the Gophers to start a scoring barrage.

In the blink of an eye, Minnesota was up 14 points just barely into the second quarter. After another touchdown in the second quarter, the Illini were able to put some points on the board. By halftime, the Orange and Blue saw a deficit of 28-7.

Illinois has been known for their giant comeback victories during the Lovie Smith era, though. This gave some fans hope entering the third quarter. That hope quickly turned into despair as Illinois gave up a couple more touchdowns and couldn’t mount any form of an offensive attack.

By the end of the game, Illinois looked up at the scoreboard and saw a defeat of 41-14.

Here are three observations from the Illini loss to Minnesota.

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