It has been a minute since the Illinois football team has had one of those ugly blowout games that you want to forget.
Bret Bielema has done a good job keeping the Illini competitive throughout his time of being a head coach. We haven’t had too many big blowout games that knock you out early in the contest.
That is why against Oregon, it was a bit of a shocker when the Ducks came out and steamrolled the Illini from the start.
Illinois’ defense couldn’t get the bat off the shoulder. Before you knew it, the Ducks had a 14-3 lead. That lead continued to grow, as the Illini offense didn’t get going. Oregon’s athletes looked great, and they extended the lead to 35-3 at halftime.
Despite being down by 32 points at halftime, Illinois continued to fight. We played a much better second half of football and actually beat Oregon 6-3 in the final 30 minutes of action. Sadly, that was nearly enough, as Oregon beat Illinois, 38-9.
Here are five painful observations from the Illinois football loss to Oregon
1. Luke Altmyer’s second-worst game as an Illini
I have been impressed with Luke Altmyer this season, and quarterbacks are allowed to have bad games every once in a while. On Saturday, Altmyer had his bad game.
Altmyer couldn’t get the ball moving except for one drive in the second half. He ended the Oregon contest 17-of-35, 48.6%, for 161 yards and two interceptions.
There is a lot to unpack when it comes to Altmyer’s performance. Not everything was his fault.
On the side of Altmyer’s issues, he was clearly used to one speed of the game. He has been playing quarterback against teams that don’t have the horses like Oregon. Altmyer has that speed down. The Ducks took the speed up a notch on Saturday, and we weren't ready for it.
Altmyer’s timing was off with his wide receivers. He threw an interception in the middle of the field that wasn’t within 10 yards of Zakhari Franklin. This was due to Altmyer being in a hurry to get the ball off. He looked uncomfortable all game long.
I would also like to blame the offensive line. They can’t protect Altmyer, and this has been a trend this season. When it comes to run blocking, the offensive line is solid, but any pass protection and we fold like a cheap lawn chair.
Altmyer is a good quarterback, but this was a bad game. It was his second-worst game as a member of the Illini, only next to the four-interception game he had against Penn State last season.