5 massive observations from the Illinois football win over Rutgers

2. The Illinois defense was massively disappointing

Illinois won the game by seven points, but honestly, there isn’t a lot of positive to take away from the victory. The main thing is that Illinois got the win, and that is all that matters at the end of the day.

With that being said, Illinois’ defense was putrid against an average to below-average Rutgers offense.

Coming into the game on Saturday, Rutgers was No. 69 in the country in passing yards, and they averaged 24.3 points per game, which ranked No. 86 in the country. Illinois’ secondary made Athan Kaliakmanis look like a superstar, though.

Kaliakmanis threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns in horrible wind conditions. That alone had me upset with the Illini defense, but the run defense is what was most disappointing.

Rutgers finished the game with 45 carries for 213 yards and two touchdowns. This is a team that averages just 151.7 yards per game on the ground.

The Illinois front seven couldn’t stop the Scarlet Knights for anything in the world. They allowed Kyle Monangai to rack up the yards after contact, and he finished with 122 yards on the day.

I think the most disappointing aspect of the bad run defense was allowing Kaliakmanis to run all over us. He finished with 84 yards and had the two touchdowns. On multiple occasions, he made Illinois defenders lose their footing and would scramble for a first down.

The Illini offense pulled the program out of this loss. I can’t give the Illinois defense any credit. Giving up 31 points in any game is unacceptable, especially against someone like Rutgers.