Usually, the game against Rutgers spells good news for the Illinois football team, but 2020 isn’t a normal year.
The Scarlet Knights have started their season 1-2 with all three games being good showings. The one weakness for Rutgers, though?
The defense. This should bode well for the Illini.
Defensive Line
Out of all of the position groupings on the Rutgers defense, the defensive line seems the strongest.
Rutgers is only allowing 129 yards per game on the ground, which ranks No. 45 in the nation. This smothering rush defense is led by CJ Onyechi. He has 13 tackles (#6 on the team) and two sacks (#1) this season.
The rest of Rutgers’ defensive line is littered with talented players. Julius Turner has 12 tackles on the season for the Scarlet Knights and in the last two weeks, he has racked up three tackles for loss, which ranks No. 31 in the nation.
It was nice to see Mike Epstein get going last week for the Illini. But the Orange and Blue are going to need a special running attack on Saturday to get past Rutgers.
Linebackers
Rutgers has a couple of good linebackers on the roster who could give the Illini some troubles on Saturday.
Olakunie Fatukasi is the best of the bunch for the Scarlet Knights. He has 37 tackles (#1), 2 fumble recoveries (#1) and a forced fumble (#3) this season. Fatukasi is also a menace in the opposing offense’s backfield. He has four tackles for loss in the last two weeks, and this ranks No. 18 in the nation.
Illinois will also need to keep an eye out for a couple of other names on the Rutgers linebacking corps.
Tyshon Fogg will make his presence known on Saturday. He has 26 tackles (#2) this season and will be hawking the ball the entire game. Mohamed Toure has received some play this year as well. He is a redshirt freshman who has 2 sacks (#1) and 2 forced fumbles (#1) this season for Rutgers.
The Illini haven’t been too successful over the middle this season. The Scarlet Knights will make sure that trend continues.
Defensive Backs
This is where Illinois could take advantage of the Rutgers defense. The secondary for the Scarlet Knights is not good and has been their downfall so far this season.
Brendon White has probably been Rutgers’ best defensive back with 21 tackles (#3) and 1 interception (#1) this season. Tre Avery has done some nice work as well with 12 tackles (#7), 3 pass deflections (#1) and 1 interception (#1).
With that being said, the numbers don’t lie. Rutgers gave up 314 yards and 5 touchdowns to Justin Fields of Ohio State. They gave up 238 yards and 3 touchdowns to Michael Penix Jr of Indiana. They even gave up 319 yards and 3 touchdowns to Rocky Lombardi of Michigan State.
In the three games Rutgers has played, opposing quarterbacks are completing 74.23-percent of their passes, which ranks No. 128 out of 130 teams in college football. They are also giving up 290.3 yards per game through the air, which ranks No. 116 in the nation.
If Illinois wants to win, Coran Taylor, who I believe will be the starter, is going to need to start coming into his own and hitting his wide receivers downfield. This is going to be a make or break game for the young Peoria native.