Illinois Football: 5 reasons the Illini need to fire Barry Lunney Jr.

2. Decision-making ability

The only way you don’t know what the Illinois football team has on offense is if you don’t watch the games at all.

It is pretty simple. Illinois has a defense that is undermanned due to losing so much talent to the NFL. We have an offense that lost an All-American running back and some key offensive linemen, along with a talented passer.

With that being said, I think most people want an offense that eats up the clock and gives rest to the Illinois defense. That isn’t the case, though. Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. is doing nearly the complete opposite of this.

Illinois has one of the quickest offenses in the country. We are currently running a play every 23.5 seconds, which ranks No. 24 in the nation. There are many problems with that style of offense for the Illini. We don’t have the defensive depth to sustain that, the Illinois offense can’t convert on third downs, and our personnel isn’t equipped to handle that style of play.

The decision for Illinois to run a quick offense is massively flawed. But there are more issues than just the style of play that Lunney brings to the table.

Decision-making in general has been substandard. Going for it on fourth and one at the Purdue 17-yard line, but then not going for it on fourth and one at the Purdue six-yard line made no sense.

Illinois ran 33 plays in the first half against Purdue, and only 10 of those plays were runs by a running back. Yet, Illini running back Josh McCray was the only touchdown in the first half, and running back Kaden Feagin broke off a big 19-yard run to help get Illinois in field goal position at the end of the first half.

The decisions made by Lunney have hampered the Illinois offense. The weapons we have can do some damage, but I don’t believe they are being used right. The bad decisions have to change.