Illinois Football: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Rutgers

2. Penalties were a killer for any momentum

There are certain things Illinois can control throughout a game. One of those things that is in our control is penalties. We can not make the mental mistakes that enable Rutgers to have the advantage.

On Saturday, the Illini made those mental mistakes. We ended up having some brutal mistakes at the start of some drives that ended up killing any chance of moving the ball down the field.

Illinois was starting to move the ball down the field to start the second half. A nice seven-yard run for a first down by Isaiah Williams would have moved the chains. But Illinois was called for a chop block, which moved the offense back 15 yards. Instead of first and 10, it was first and 25. Three plays later Illinois was punting.

The start of the next drive wasn’t as bad, but it was still a penalty that drove us back. Illinois started with a first and 15 instead of first and 10 because of a false start penalty. It is most likely an entirely different set of plays Tony Petersen looks at when he has 15 yards to gain rather than 10 yards.

And on the next drive, Illinois was moving the ball again. They had a nice five-yard completion to Michael Marchese for a first down. But instead of moving the chains, Illinois was called for a facemask penalty that backed them up 15 yards. We went from first and 10 to third and 18. We then punted the ball away.

There are so many things we can blame this loss on. Self-inflicted wounds are a big reason for the lack of production in the second half. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot.