Illinois football is coming off one of the ugliest blowouts in program history.
Following that horrible game against Indiana, the Illini rebound with No. 21 USC. We don’t have time to sulk, as the Trojans are looking to get a ranked win over an Illinois team that is reeling.
To beat USC, the Illini will need to be on our game. A ton of talent is back on the field after being injured or kicked out of the game, so that should help.
Here are the three keys for the Illinois football offense vs USC Trojans
- Get Aidan Laughery going on the ground
Illinois is heading into a game against a tough USC team, but they are beatable if we can get Aidan Laughery going on the ground. He is our best running back, which was made even clearer by his absence in the Indiana game.
The Illini will need to control the clock a little more against USC, as we don’t have the horse to compete in a shootout right now. That means keeping the ball on the ground and being effective in the run game.
Only having 13 carries for 29 yards out of the running back room is unacceptable. With Laughery back in the fold, who averages 7.1 yards per carry, Illinois should be able to break some nice chunk gains.
- Don’t let Jayden Maiava burn the Illinois secondary
The biggest worry for the Illini after the Indiana game was the secondary. We were torched for 63 points, and that is going to live with us for a bit.
Thankfully, the Illinois secondary is pretty healthy again, minus Xavier Scott. The goal for Saturday is not to let Jayden Maiava burn the Illini deep. Keep everything in front of the secondary.
Maiava hasn’t played against a good defense this season, so his numbers are a little skewed. But he is extremely effective with the deep ball. This season, on passes of 20 or more yards, he is 11-of-17 for 462 yards and two touchdowns. That is a 64.7% completion percentage.
Illinois’ secondary needs to be ready. I think the Illini front seven is also going to play a huge role in helping the defensive backs. If they get pressure on Maiava, that will enable the Illinois secondary to lock down the wide receivers.
- Eliminate the snowball mistakes
I am not going to stop mentioning the Indiana game because it was so ugly. A bad issue in that contest that inflamed the score was the bad mistakes.
Illinois couldn’t get out of our own way. We were in self-destruct mode and couldn’t get out of it. One mistake led to another, and the snowball effect took place.
The Illini can’t have those mistakes against USC. We can’t fail to realize that we only have 10 players out there when punting the ball, which got blocked. Illinois can’t then have a bad fumble or interception that follows. On Saturday, let’s not just limit the mistakes, but when we do have a mistake, don’t compound it. Don’t let that mistake snowball into a bigger issue.