4. Illinois didn’t have an ounce of running game
There were a few ways Illinois could have helped the massively outmanned secondary on Saturday night. I touched on the defensive front seven showing up, and that didn’t happen.
Another way for the Illini to help the secondary was to control the clock. We needed to get first downs and move the ball, so Indiana couldn’t drive and score touchdowns as much. The running game can be an effective tool in this situation.
Sadly, for Illinois, the running game didn’t show up. See a theme here, yet? The Illini running backs struggled to get anything going on the ground, and it was a contributing force to why we couldn’t score or, for that matter, stay within 50 points of Indiana.
Kaden Feagin isn’t quick. I know that he is fun as a force, and he punishes defenders with his size, but he is too slow coming out of the backfield. He doesn’t hit the holes with any speed, and all you have to do is go low, and the big man will fall.
I was hoping Ca’Lil Valentine would get something going, but he wasn’t able to spark the Illinois offense. There is a part of me that believes he wasn’t used right and enough early on.
Illinois' two running backs combined for 11 carries for 29 yards against Indiana. The longest carry for either running back was six yards. There were a lot of embarrassing moments on Saturday, and the lack of a running game was one of them.