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

5. No improvement from the Tony Peterson era

The last thing I want to note about the Illinois football program needing a change at offensive coordinator is the fact we made a change in 2021 and nothing has improved.

During the first year of the Bret Bielema era, the Illini offense struggled. Then offensive coordinator Tony Peterson was not producing at a high level, and at the end of the season, he was let go. Since then, I would argue the Illinois offense hasn’t changed. In fact, under Barry Lunney Jr., things have gotten worse in some ways.

Illinois converted 37.99% of third downs in 2021. Lunney steps in and in 2022, we convert 37.21% of third downs. This season, we are converting 35% of third downs.

Under Peterson, the Illini only averaged 20.2 points per game. That number has barely increased to 21.6 points per game this season. Not scoring also has to do with red zone attempts. Illinois averaged 2.6 red zone attempts in 2021, which ranked No. 120 in the country. We are averaging 2.2 red zone attempts this season, which ranks No. 119 in the nation.

Turnovers have increased greatly as well. Illinois only averaged 1.0 turnovers per game in the lone season Peterson was our offensive coordinator. In 2022, we averaged 1.3 turnovers per game. This season, the Illini average 2.2 turnovers per game. This is bad enough to rank No. 117 in the nation. We are getting worse each season.

Illinois moved on from Peterson after one season, and they made the right decision. The Illini were not effective in 2021. I don’t think we made the right move by hiring Lunney, though. Illinois, in most cases, has actually gotten worse in the 18 games under Lunney. I think it is time to make a change.