Illinois Football: 4 observations from the Illini loss to Rutgers

4. If we can find a spark on offense…

I know people are absolutely going to rip into me for saying this. But, if Illinois can manage to figure out what the heck they are doing offensively, I am not going to give up hope for a bowl game this season.

This sounds crazy, I realize that. But just look at how close we are to a bowl game already. Four of our six losses are single-score defeats. We had a drive that could have won the game against Rutgers. We let the Purdue and Maryland games slip away. Illinois’ record right now should easily be 6-3 and not 3-6.

Even with the hypothetical behind us, the final three games of the season are against teams the Illini can beat.

Minnesota is the hottest team right now. They are 6-2 and have rambled off four-straight victories. But the best team they beat was Purdue by seven points. This is a winnable game.

Iowa is next on the slate. They were the darling of the college football world until they came back down to Earth in an ugly way. The Hawkeyes have looked terrible the past two weeks, and I have no doubt the Illini can be competitive in that game.

The final game of the season is, of course, Northwestern. The Wildcats are 3-5 this season, but their best win is against Rutgers. They were blown out in pretty much every other contest.

These final three games are winnable. If Illinois could just figure something out offensively, then I think we could go bowling this season. What could that something be? I will say it; Isaiah Williams at quarterback.