Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Nebraska

3. You can’t blame the Illini defense

Throughout the game on Friday night, there were people trying to tell me that the Illinois defense wasn’t playing well. That they were a part of the problem as well.

I am here to tell you, that is not the case at all. Does the defense have some issues? Sure, the secondary is young and is susceptible to big plays. We try to only rush three or four at times and this burns us. Our linebackers aren’t the best either. I think we struggle at tackling too.

But I am not putting any blame whatsoever on the defense for the loss against Nebraska. The Illinois defense was put into terrible positions the entire night, and somehow, they managed to get out of them with little damage.

Nebraska started five drives inside of Illinois territory. Three out of those five drives were started inside the Illini 25-yard line. If you give those scenarios to most defenses in the country, they are giving up 20-30 points. How many points did Illinois give up on those five drives that started in our territory? 10. 10 points.

I was pleased with the Illinois defense on Friday night. When you only allow 20 points for the entire game, you should win that game. On top of that, Nebraska’s offense couldn’t get anything going.

Illinois held quarterback Heinrich Haarberg to 154 yards and one interception on 50% completion. He was able to scramble a bit, but the Illini still held the Cornhuskers to 49 carries for 158 yards rushing, which comes out to 3.22 yards per carry.

There is not a single person who can convince me that the Illinois defense was at fault on Friday night. This defense played well enough to win the game. It is the other side of the ball that has the biggest issues right now.