Illinois Football: Grades from the Illini win over Charlotte

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Oct 2, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Charlotte 49ers defensive end Markees Watts (0) attempts a block on the point after kick of Illinois Fighting Illini kicker James McCourt (17) in the second half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /

Illinois football continued their trek to get back to .500 on Saturday with a solid win over the Charlotte 49ers.

Progress comes in the form of being competitive and winning games. It is also in the form of beating teams that you should beat. The Illini managed to not have a letdown weekend. They took Charlotte head-on and came away with the victory.

Here are the grades for the Illinois football win over Charlotte.

Special Teams: B-

Illinois’ special teams are usually the best thing going for the program in each game, but I am giving them a grade of B- against Charlotte.

The B- isn’t due to a really bad performance, but there wasn’t a lot of action for the special teams on Saturday. Blake Hayes was only used one time throughout the game, and that was a 39-yard punt that ended up at the 20-yard line of the 49ers. Usually, these punts are inside the 10-yard line.

James McCourt had an okay day, hitting one of his two field goals. His lone miss was a 50-yard attempt toward the end of the game. He did nail his 29-yard try, though.

Charlotte punted the ball three times, but Illinois’ returners couldn’t get much going. This has been par for the course pretty much the entire year, though.

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