Illinois football entered a game ranked for the first time since 2011 and didn’t disappoint.
The Illini came out of the gates strong and played one of the best games of the season. Illinois’ offense was balanced, we ate up a ton of clock, and the defense shut down Minnesota’s passing attack.
It was an all-around brilliant game on the field, and the Illini coaching staff called a great game off the field. I was impressed with what I saw against Minnesota.
Here are five observations from the Illinois football win over Minnesota.
1. Illinois dominated the turnover battle
Coming into the game against Minnesota, one of my key numbers to beat the Golden Gophers was 2.2 takeaways per game.
I wanted the Illini to match that number. If we could get to two takeaways against Minnesota, then I thought we had a pretty good shot at beating them. Well, on Saturday, Illinois went above and beyond my expectations.
The Illini came out and dominated the turnover battle. Minnesota quarterback, Tanner Morgan, didn’t know what to do with the ball. He couldn’t complete passes, and he managed to throw an interception. After he went out with a head injury due to Gabe Jacas punching him on a play, a la Mongo punching the horse in Blazing Saddles, his backup Athan Kaliakmanis would step in and throw two more interceptions.
When Minnesota has six completions on the day to three interceptions, you know Illinois has a pretty good shot at winning the game. This Illini defense was consistently bringing pressure on the quarterback, and this enabled the defensive backs to pick off errant throws.
We needed to win the turnover battle, and we did 3-0. This was an all-around great performance by the Orange and Blue.