The Illinois football team had a chance to shock the world on Friday night against UCLA.
It was a great game throughout, as neither the Bruins nor the Illini gave the other team too much of a margin.
UCLA looked like they had control of the game at halftime, going up 10-0 heading into the locker room. This lead grew to 12-0 in the third quarter. That is when the Illinois offense woke up.
Katin Houser started to throw some good passes, and Illinois scored multiple touchdowns. Down the stretch, the Illini had two opportunities to either take the lead or tie the game. Those fell short. UCLA ended up beating Illinois 22-14.
Here are five Illinois football observations from the frustrating loss to UCLA
1. UCLA made Katin Houser look like a freshman early on
One of the main reasons a team goes out and gets a transfer quarterback is for the veteran leadership.
Illinois went out and snagged Katin Houser in the offseason. He has been solid this season for the program, but when we needed his experience on Friday night, Houser didn’t have the juice.
The Illini defense was looking solid, but the offense couldn’t get going. We didn’t put a point on the board in the first two quarters. This included a second quarter in which we had a total of 32 yards and an interception.
Houser taking a sack in the end zone for a safety in the third quarter killed Illinois as well. We couldn’t afford to have him run backward and give the Bruins two points. That is where his experience needed to come into play, too.
Inefficient passing, bad decisions, and the inability to move the ball down the field all hindered the Illinois offense. Houser picked a bad time to have a bad day.
2. The Illinois offensive line was dismal
I have to give credit to UCLA and what they did on defense. They brought pressure all game long, and this overloaded the Illinois offensive line.
Illinois finally had a healthy offensive line against the Bruins, and it didn’t matter. They couldn’t stop anything UCLA threw at us. The Bruins put so much pressure on Houser, and it impacted his game.
Houser rarely had any time when he dropped back. It was an ugly scene to see him try to throw out of pressure. This caused a second quarter interception when he tried to throw the ball to the sidelines, and the UCLA defensive back made a great play.
The Illini running game couldn’t get much going either. Aidan Laughery was the most effective running back, but the offensive line wasn’t able to open up holes for the running backs.
Again, a priority for Bret Bielema this offseason is getting some good transfer portal offensive linemen. We need to boost this part of the roster.
3. The transformation of Kaden Feagin is fun to watch
When Kaden Feagin committed to Illinois, I thought we got an elite running back who was going to change the game. That didn’t happen.
Feagin kept getting injured, and he couldn’t get going at the position. This season, Illinois moved Feagin to tight end, and this opened up his game.
On Friday night, Feagin came up big for the Illini. He was found by Houser in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. This reception gave Illinois some momentum and led to us being competitive in this contest.
What is also fun about Feagin is his physical transformation. He went from being a big running back to a monster tight end. Feagin clearly put on a ton of muscle in the offseason, and he is a scary player out there to tackle.
Honestly, Feagin reminds me a lot of Mike Alstott right now. I love him at tight end, but it would be fun to see him at fullback a little bit moving forward. He is huge now, and defenses would be scared to see him in the backfield.
4. The Illinois defense played the best game of the season
When you look up at the scoreboard, the Illini ended up allowing 22 points. If you asked me before the game if I would be okay with 22 points allowed, I would say, yes.
The Illini defense looked really solid on Friday night. Two of the 22 points weren’t on them, as Houser took a sack in the end zone for a safety.
Illinois’ defense was also put in some bad situations. Houser threw three interceptions, which gave the Bruins the ball in Illinois territory. UCLA picked off Houser late in the fourth quarter, and the Illini held them to just three points. This defensive stand kept us in the game.
UCLA could have easily run all over Illinois, but the defense shut down the Bruins’ running attack. They only had 33 carries for 109 yards. That is a victory for the defense.
Even with quarterback Ty Deiffenbach, the Illini slowed him down, too. He drove down the field for a touchdown on the first possession of the game, but after that, he wasn’t great by any means.
I was really impressed with what the Illinois defense did against UCLA. This is exactly what was needed on Friday night.
5. Illinois doesn’t have the talent to lose the turnover battle
Coming into most games, the Illini have less talent on both sides of the ball. Losing the turnover battle will kill us, especially against good teams.
UCLA is a better team than Illinois right now. We couldn’t afford to cough the ball up on Friday night, but that is what ended up happening.
The Illini had three turnovers in the game, all coming through the air. It was not Houser’s best game with the Orange and Blue.
On the flip side, the Bruins only had one turnover. This was a big one for the Illinois defense, as it was in the end zone.
Losing the turnover battle 3-to-1 is not going to bode well for the Illini. Those numbers needed to be flipped for us to win this game. That wasn’t the case against UCLA. We let this game slip away.
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