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Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Purdue

By Rees Woodcock

Purdue Boilermakers defensive back Markevious Brown (1) tackles Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer (9), forcing a fumble during the NCAA football game, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue Boilermakers won 44-19.
Purdue Boilermakers defensive back Markevious Brown (1) tackles Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer (9), forcing a fumble during the NCAA football game, Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue Boilermakers won 44-19. /
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WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA – SEPTEMBER 30: Yanni Karlaftis #14 of the Purdue Boilermakers reaches to make the tackle on fourth down on Kaden Feagin #3 of the Illinois Fighting Illini at Ross-Ade Stadium on September 30, 2023 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

It was a brutal Saturday if you are a fan of the Illinois football program.

The Illini had a chance to go over to West Lafayette and come away with a victory in the Big Ten. A win over Purdue would have put us at 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play. This would have been a perfect start to a nice little bowl run for the team.

That didn’t end up being the case at all. Illinois tried to make this an ugly game in favor of the Boilermakers from the first snap. Bad decisions, careless mistakes, and the incompetence of the offense doomed the Orange and Blue. Purdue ended up taking care of business, 44-19.

Here are five observations from the Illinois football loss to the Purdue Boilermakers

1. The Illini offensive line needs help

I think we can all agree that the Illinois offensive line is struggling. Besides, maybe, Josh Kreutz, not a single player up front can block consistently.

With that being a known fact, offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. is still trying to leave them out on an island. He isn’t giving the offensive line any help with protection.

With some decent tight ends on the team, I would have expected Lunney to add a tight end to the line so they could help block a faster defense end. That didn’t seem to be the case very much, if at all, against Purdue.

On each drive, the offensive line would be out there alone trying to block whoever was coming in on a rush. I feel like last season was different, though. Lunney would use 11 or 12 personnel and have someone like tight end Luke Ford helping the offensive line block.

That doesn’t seem to be the mentality this season, despite having a worse offensive line. Illinois tends to leave a running back in there as an extra blocker. But we are running a play-action nearly every play so that the running back doesn’t have time to find the blitzing man.

I just don’t understand why Lunney isn’t changing things up and going with at least one tight end on the end of the offensive line. I would prefer that the tight end be placed on the right side, as Isaiah Adams and Zy Crisler are the main struggling offensive linemen.

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