The Illinois football program takes on a better team this week, as the Duke Blue Devils await.
It was a good start to the 2025 campaign, as the Illini throttled Western Illinois in week one. This saw us move up one spot in the AP Top 25, as well.
Illinois now takes on a Duke team that was good last year and wants to take another step forward this season. That remains to be seen, as Duke allowed Elon to hang around in their opening game.
Here are three keys for the Illinois football offense against Duke
1. Expose the weak Duke run defense
I think the biggest area Illinois’ offense needs to attack on the Duke defense is the run game. The Blue Devils don’t have a solid rush defense, and this is an area of weakness.
The Illini are coming off a game where all three of the three-headed monster ran for at least 50 yards. Aidan Laughery, Kaden Feagin, and Ca’Lil Valentine had a combined 31 carries for 225 yards and three touchdowns. That is 7.3 yards per carry.
Duke, on the other hand, gave up 44 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns against Elon. That is 3.7 yards per carry for a bad program against an ACC team.
Continue to push the ball with the running backs, and then mix in the passing game. Illinois should be able to run all over Duke on Saturday.
2. Don’t give Duke the pass rush momentum
The Illinois offense isn’t going up against a formidable force with the Duke defense. Their defense struggled against Elon, and a lot of that had to do with the pass rush.
After week one, the Blue Devils sit with the No. 100 ranked pass rush in the country. They did manage to get eight quarterback pressures and three total sacks, but again, this was against a horrible Elon program with a true freshman quarterback starting.
Illinois’ experienced offensive line should be able to protect quarterback Luke Altmyer. The only question is, can Altmyer protect Altmyer?
Altmyer held on to the ball way too long against Western Illinois, and this led to some ugly hits. He has to get rid of the ball. If he has worked on getting rid of the ball in practice this week, which I believe he has, then I think we should be okay against this Duke defense. We can’t let them get confidence.
3. Keep unleashing Justin Bowick down the field
It was exciting seeing Illinois with a new weapon out there against Western Illinois. Justin Bowick is going to be a dangerous wide receiver for the Illini in 2025.
Bowick already has a nice rapport with Altmyer, which should bode well for the Orange and Blue against tougher competition. While Bowick only had three receptions for 23 yards, he did manage two touchdowns, and he was a couple of close receptions away from having a massive game.
I think Illinois needs to continue sending Bowick down the field for Altmyer. The solid connection is there, and Duke didn’t do well against Elon in week one down the field.
Elon starting quarterback Landen Clark was 10-of-16 for 101 yards against the Blue Devils. Out of those numbers, he was 3-of-4 for 63 yards when throwing the ball at least 10 yards down the field. Those are eye-popping numbers.