Bret Bielema has his Illinois football team entering the toughest game of the season on Saturday.
From top to bottom, Ohio State has more talent than Illinois. The Buckeyes’ offense is high-powered and will come out with everything they have on the ground and through the air. If you think that side of the ball is dangerous, just take a look at their defense.
The Illinois offense is going to need to move the ball somehow. Ohio State doesn’t allow opposing offenses to have much success, which is scary.
There are a few things Illinois needs to do on offense to have any chance at keeping this game respectable.
Here are three keys for the Illinois offense to find success against a staunch Ohio State defense
1. Win the turnover battle against Ohio State
There has been a lot of negativity coming at the new Illinois defensive coordinator, Bobby Hauck. I don’t blame the fans for any of it, but the one stat that stands out to me is turnovers.
Illinois doesn’t force a lot of turnovers this season, but winning the turnover battle is going to be key to keeping the game close.
This season, Ohio State is forcing 2.0 turnovers per game, which ranks No. 18 in the country. They can make the Illini offense cough up the football, so not having turnovers should be a focus.
Illinois hasn’t been giving up the football this season, either. We only average 0.5 giveaways per game. That ranks No. 17 in the nation.
If Illinois wants any chance of staying in the contest, we have to at least keep the giveaways and takeaways level. Winning this battle could make Ohio State sweat when the fourth quarter rolls around.
2. Illinois needs to beat the Buckeyes in discipline
Illinois has a chance to make this game respectable if we can control the controllables. I touched on giveaways in the section above. If Illinois can have great ball control, we can control the game more.
Another way to control the game is penalties. Illinois controls how many penalties we get in games, for the most part. Throughout the season, the Illini only average 37.5 penalty yards per game, which ranks No. 16 in the nation. Ohio State averages 45.0 penalty yards per game, which ranks No. 33 in the country.
That right there is nearly 10 extra yards. I want to see that margin bigger, though. Illinois can get an advantage in the game if we can win the penalty yardage by a wide margin.
If the Illini can stay disciplined and not make too many bonehead mistakes, we can make this game respectable. Ohio State will have a lot to throw at us, but we have to control what we can control.
In games, when the other team is clearly better, a way to keep up is to do the little things to narrow the margin.
3. Katin Houser needs to push the ball down the field
The last thing I want to note about the Illinois offense having any success against Ohio State rests on the shoulders of Katin Houser.
Illinois has one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten. I believe Houser can rival Luke Altmyer as one of the greatest Illini quarterbacks of all time. Against Ohio State, we have to let Houser loose.
If the Illini want any chance to keep this game respectable, we will need Houser to move the ball down the field. We can’t have a lot of three-and-outs. Houser needs to be able to push the ball and score points.
That won’t be an easy task, though. The Buckeyes only allow 7.4 yards per completion. That ranks No. 2 in the country. I will say, Ohio State is going up against one of the best wide receivers they will face this season, Collin Dixon, too.
Houser is averaging 9.4 yards per completion this season. That is a good number. If he can continue to hit that number and maybe even stretch it into the 10s, then I think Illinois can make some noise. This is a monumental task for the Orange and Blue.
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