Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Iowa
4. Play calling got a little out of tune
The first drive and a half, Illinois called an amazing game on offense. But, after that point, things got a little out of whack when it came to play-calling.
In the first drive of the game, Illinois had seven designed runs to nine designed passes. That is solid balance, even though I would like that to be nine runs to seven passes. But it was still a pretty solid balance on offense, which led to a 17-play, 66-yard drive, and a field goal.
Toward the end of the second drive, Tommy DeVito would go down with an injury. At that point, a normal person would think that Illinois would run the ball more. We just lost our starting quarterback, so let’s pound the rock more on the ground.
On the first drive, after DeVito went down, Illinois did run the ball well. The offense had five runs to just three passes. This got Illinois into field goal range, and we would take a 6-3 lead. But, after that point, offensive coordinator Barry Lunney started to pass the ball more.
Illinois would come out on the following drive and throw two passes on the first two plays, and one would end up being a fumble. We followed that up with two solid runs of eight yards and had two yards to go for a first down. The ball was put in Art Sitkowski’s hands, and we didn’t get the two yards.
On the first drive out of halftime, Illinois came out and had three straight pass plays. The drive resulted in three players for zero yards and a punt. The drive after that, Brown started it with a two-yard gain, and then we passed it on the next two plays.
Coming out of the half, Illinois started with a 6-1 pass-to-run ratio. That is way out of balance. That trend would continue for what felt like the rest of the game. It would result in the offense not moving the ball well. There was also a bad interception in the red zone by Sitkowski, and he almost fumbled the game away at the end of the fourth quarter.
We have a great running back room. Our starting quarterback went down with an injury. Why did Illinois start passing it more? It was not the best offensive game called by Lunney.