Illinois Football: 3 key numbers for the Illini to beat Minnesota

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Oct 1, 2022; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini defensive back Devon Witherspoon (31) breaks up the pass during the first quarter against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /

2.2

Piggybacking off of the previous slide, Illinois’ defense has been tremendous this season in various forms. Yes, the rush defense has been great, but they are more than just a run-stopping unit.

The Illini have been doing everything right on the defensive side of the ball. I love what we are doing in the pass defense game as well. In fact, the Illini pass defense has created a lot of opportunities for the Illinois offense in 2022.

One of the big numbers I am going to be eyeing heading into the Minnesota game is 2.2 takeaways. That is how many turnovers we are forcing each game this season. That is going to be a huge number on Saturday against the Golden Gophers.

If we can get at least two turnovers against Minnesota, then Illinois will be in a great position to win the game. But it hasn’t exactly been that simple for the Orange and Blue.

Despite the Illini forcing 2.2 turnovers per game, which ranks No. 10 in the country, we only have a +0.2 turnover margin per game, which ranks No. 47 in the nation. That means we are giving up the ball at a high rate to go along with our forced turnovers.

Illinois has relied on turnovers to change the momentum in games this season. This Saturday will be no different. If we can get around that 2.2 takeaways mark, then we should be able to beat Minnesota.

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