Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to the Kansas Jayhawks

5. I don’t know why Illinois abandoned the run so soon

During the Lovie Smith era, there were some big problems. I don’t want to get into the weeds on this, but one of the biggest issues I had was with the offensive coordinator, Rod Smith.

Smith would run an up-tempo offense that featured the Illini snapping the ball early to try to catch the defense off guard and not ready to play. Well, I believe this actually hurt Illinois’ defense tremendously.

That style of offense is fine if you had two or three levels of four-star athletes to replace the winded starters on the defensive side of the ball. That isn’t the case with the Illini. We have two or three stars, at best, because they weren’t recruiting at a high level.

Against Kansas, I got the vibes of the Rod Smith offense again. Illinois would go quick on offense, but we couldn’t get first downs because of the play-calling.

In the first drive of the game, Reggie Love III had two carries for nine yards. On the third play, we decided to pass the ball, which was incomplete. Illinois punts after having it for 71 seconds.

On the next possession, Illinois started with having the ball in Luke Altmyer’s hands a lot. The first four plays that drive were passes. Illinois ran the ball once, and it was for eight yards. After 158 seconds, we had to punt the ball again.

Now Illinois is down 14-0 just like that. In the next possession, we start with three straight runs. Love carried it for seven yards, five yards, and six yards. The Illinois offense was moving. We then go pass and a trick play that has our tight end run the ball. The result was a punt.

The next drive was much of the same. Illinois gets the ball back after the defense holds Kansas to a three-and-out. We had it for a total of 104 seconds and it was a three-and-out as well. Illinois passed the ball three straight times in this drive.

I just don’t understand the offensive mindset of the Illinois football team right now. Barry Lunney Jr. needs to correct this. Illinois can run the ball well, and we are not utilizing the running backs we have on the roster.

Illinois should not have abandoned the run. This is the heart and soul of the program, and our defense needs to be off the field as much as possible. I realize it is fun to pass the ball. It is flashy and it moves the ball down the field quicker. Do you know what is even more fun, though? Winning. Winning is more fun. Run the dang ball.