Illinois Football: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Maryland

Illinois football had the Maryland Terrapins on the ropes Friday night but could not pull off the upset victory.

The Illini were up seven points with under four minutes to go in the game. That is when everything would fall apart. Illinois’ defense gave up as many points in the final four minutes as they did in the first 56 minutes. It was a disheartening finish to what was, overall, a pretty good game.

Here are four observations from the Illinois football loss to Maryland.

1. Friday showed we aren’t a bad team

I am not counting the loss to Maryland as a moral victory by any means. A loss is a loss, and we are now 1-3 on the season. But Friday night did prove that we aren’t a bad team.

There were genuine questions about what type of team Illinois was heading into the game against the Terrapins. A win over Nebraska didn’t prove anything as the Orange and Blue had dropped back-to-back contests following that victory.

One of the two losses was to UTSA, which looks horrific on paper. A power-five program should not lose to a team like UTSA. The second loss was a 28-point drubbing by Virginia. This is a solid power-five program, and Illinois wasn’t even close to hanging with them.

So, on Friday night, there were questions on whether Illinois was truly a bad team. I would say most fans were in the camp of the Illini being a bad team but Nebraska being an awful team. But I don’t think that is the case.

I think Illinois is not a bad team. We are not a good team by any means either. The Illini are in a weird transitions phase right now where Bret Bielema is starting to bring in and play his own guys. The players are still learning the coaching staff and vice versa.

There are going to be some growing pains and we saw that against UTSA and Virginia. Sadly, we also saw that in the home stretch of the Maryland game. If I had to give a grade of the Illini right now, I would say we are a C- team. This program isn’t bad.