Illinois Football: Illini coming alive, Strain has career first half against FAU

It wasn’t the prettiest first half for the Illinois football team, but we are in this game despite some offensive woes.

Coming off back-to-back losses, the Illini needed to come out against Florida Atlantic and look good to help instill confidence in the fanbase. That didn’t end up being the case, though.

• Illinois football vs. Florida Atlantic – 1st Quarter

Illinois’ early-game struggles are extremely frustrating. These continued against Florida Atlantic.

The Owls led 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, and many would see that and think the Illinois defense struggled. It wasn’t the defense’s fault.

Florida Atlantic’s two scoring drives in the first quarter started on the Illinois 28-yard line and the Illinois 38-yard line. When you put the defense into those tough situations, you should expect to be down at least 10-0.

Quarterback Luke Altmyer had problems holding onto the football. He waited a little too long in the pocket, which led to a strip sack and turnover. This led to a field goal for the Owls.

The second scoring drive was so short due to a nice return by Florida Atlantic followed by a 15-yard penalty for a late hit out of bounds. We continued to shoot ourselves in the foot, and it was frustrating. This drive led to a touchdown.

I was actually pleased with our defense, though. Illinois managed to bend but don’t break on the 28-yard drive. The only reason for the touchdown by Florida Atlantic was due to a pick play on Tyler Strain.

Strain was the star of the first half in my eyes. He was in on quite a few tackles and stopped Florida Atlantic on numerous occasions.

• Illinois football vs. Florida Atlantic – 2nd Quarter

The Illinois offense continued to struggle to start the second quarter. We couldn’t put together consistent drives, and this killed both the offense and defense.

Altmyer did throw a touchdown, but it happened on a trick play that had the wide receiver on a jet sweep hand off to another wide receiver who then pitched it back to Altmyer. He threw a strike to tight end Griffin Moore for a touchdown.

I enjoyed the second-to-last Illini drive of the first half as well. Isaiah Williams came to live and had a ton of yards after catch. Altmyer had a great touch pass to Tip Reiman. He then capped it off with a touchdown run. It was arguably the best drive Altmyer has had in an Illinois uniform.

Strain made a huge third-down tackle that forced Florida Atlantic to punt. His tackling has been huge for Illinois in this game. I would argue this is his best game since joining the Illini. Strain’s play energized the other members of the secondary, and they played lights out too.

I have been disappointed with the Illini special teams today, though. Florida Atlantic has been able to put together some decent returns, which has hurt our defense. Their coverage has been pretty bad against the Owls.

The Illinois offensive line has also been shredded. The right side of the offensive line in particular has been bad. It has hurt the offense tremendously.

Tyler Strain is the Illinois football MVP of the first half against Florida Atlantic

There are a few players who I thought about giving the MVP to in the first half against the Owls. Most of the players are on the defensive side of the ball.

I think Moore did a good job hauling in the first touchdown of the game. Kenenna Odeluga and Gabe Jacas had a good first half with some big tackles for loss.

With that being said, I have to give the MVP to Strain. He has been a hawk for this program and is one of the main reasons we can get Florida Atlantic off the field.

Strain’s best game of his career came against Kansas with six tackles. In the first half against Florida Atlantic, he has five tackles, which leads the team.