Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Toledo

3. I was surprised by Illinois’ inability to stop the run

Coming into the season, I was mostly worried about the Illinois secondary. I mean, the talent we lost in the secondary is something I have never seen in Champaign.

Illinois lost starting cornerback Devon Witherspoon and starting safeties Sydney Brown and Kendall Smith from the secondary in 2022. That is a ton of talent to replace, so I thought Toledo had a chance to pass all over us on Saturday.

That didn’t end up being the case, though. They had some okay passes down the field, but Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn only completed 55.5% of his passes. We also had a pick-six that changed the game completely.

What shocked me the most was Illinois’ inability to stop the run. The Rockets had their starting running back Jacquez Stuart go for 12 carries for 82 yards. We had a difficult time stopping the run-pass option that Toledo was implementing.

Finn also ran the ball well at times. While he only averaged 3.8 yards per carry, Finn was able to effectively manage the RPO and the Illini looked confused.

The font six should be Illinois’ strength, though. We had Jer’Zhan Newton return, and he is a preseason first-team All-American. Keith Randolph Jr. is a preseason All-Big Ten player. Gabe Jacas is coming off a freshman All-American campaign. I could go on and on about the talent up front, but they had a rough game on Saturday.

If Illinois can’t manage to stop the run, it is going to be a long season. We are lucky to come away with this win. Toledo was able to do anything they wanted up front. That has to change moving forward.