Illinois Football: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Rutgers
Illinois football came so close once again only to fall short at the end.
In another single-score loss, the Illini failed to convert on their final drive of the game to fall to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 20-14.
It was a tale of two halves for the Orange and Blue. Illinois was leading going into the halftime locker room and the team was looking good. In the second half, things went off the rails.
Here are four observations from the Illinois football loss to Rutgers.
1. We didn’t execute offensively in the second half
Illinois was looking like a good football team in the first 30 minutes of the game. We took a 14-10 halftime lead into the locker room, and our quarterback was playing well.
In just the first half, Brandon Peters ended up throwing for 153 yards and two touchdowns. He was an efficient 9-of-12 as well. But whatever we were doing in that first half did not work in the second half of the game.
The Illini failed to score a single point and still only managed to lose 20-14. Usually, not scoring means the game will be a blowout.
We had five total possessions in the second half and four of the five possessions ended in a punt. The other possession was when Illinois went for it on fourth down in the last possession of the game.
Illinois got into Rutgers territory just one time, and that was the final possession of the game for them. As a team, the Illini had 46 yards in the second half.
Offensive coordinator Tony Petersen couldn’t figure out how to move the ball. The one time he did was on the final drive where Illinois still could have won the game. But, on fourth and one, he decided to do a pitch outside to Chase Brown. The run would end up losing four yards.
It didn’t help Petersen that Illinois had a quarterback who couldn’t complete a pass for more than a few yards in the second half. Peters ended up going 5-of-7 for 37 yards and most of that came on the final drive of the game.
Overall, offensively, we were awful in the second half. Rutgers went into the locker room and made adjustments. We didn’t do anything different, and they ended up taking advantage of that fact. It was a very disappointing showing.