Illinois Football: 3 keys for the Illini to beat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights
3. Control the clock more
I feel like I have said this a lot since Lovie Smith took over the Illinois football program. The Illini need to control the clock more.
I put a lot of the onus on the offensive coordinator, Rod Smith. This isn’t his first year as the Illinois offensive coordinator. He should know that eating up clock is the best way to win games.
Let’s face it, Illinois doesn’t have the athletes the other teams have. We aren’t going to outrun or out strength the other programs. So, how do you combat that? You have great ball control. Just look at how teams beat Patrick Mahomes. They don’t let him get the ball.
In the Minnesota loss last week, the Illini only had the ball for 22:25 compared to the Gophers who had it for 37:35. The result, a thumping by Minnesota 41-14. In the Wisconsin game to start the season, the Badgers had the ball for 43:28 compared to Illinois who had it for 16:32. The result, a pounding by Wisconsin 45-7.
Now let’s go to the Purdue game. The Boilermakers only had the ball for 30:38 compared to Illinois who had it for 29:22. The result, Illinois barely lost the game 31-24.
It really isn’t a crazy concept. Illinois’ offense needs to be more aware of ball control. They need to stop with the hurry-up offense because they can’t convert first downs. You can’t keep having drives that are less than two minutes long.
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Illinois is only controlling the ball 37.95-percent of the time, which ranks No. 129 in the nation. The style of offense Rod Smith runs only works if you have the best athletes on the field. Illinois doesn’t have that. Slow the ball down and control the game. We will win if that happens.