Illinois football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Charlotte

Illinois football faced a solid Charlotte program on Saturday and came away with a victory.

It was a rocky first half of football, but the Illini managed to turn on the jets in the second half to win the game, 24-14.

Led by Chase Brown and his amazing running, Illinois couldn’t be stopped in the third quarter, scoring 14 of their 24 points in this period. This is the type of game I needed to see out of this group to continue having confidence moving forward. It was a big win.

Here are five observations from the Illinois football win over Charlotte.

1. Front seven continues to impress

Through the first six games this season, it has been two completely different defenses for the Illini. Games one through three were pretty bad on the defensive side of the ball. But, in the last three contests, the Illinois defense has really shown up.

While the defense overall has improved, I believe the front seven for the Illini is what has helped this defense take a step in the right direction. They have wreaked havoc on opposing offenses on a consistent basis.

On Saturday against Charlotte, this dominance continued. Illinois’ defense was able to get to the 49ers quarterback, Chris Reynolds, quite often. Owen Carney led the way for the Orange and Blue with two sacks, both of which came at the end of the game to seal the victory.

The Illinois defense is more than just Carney, though. Seth Coleman added a big sack to the Illini numbers. Five different Illinois defensive players had at least 0.5 tackles for loss on the day, and four of those came from the front seven.

Illinois’ front seven doesn’t just put up big numbers, their ability to put pressure on the quarterback also helps the secondary. The more inaccurate the opposing quarterback has to be due to the Illini rush, the better chance for an interception or, at worst, a pass breakup. This group is doing some special things on the football field