5 painful observations from the Illinois football loss to Oregon

3. Having athletes matters

You can go back in time and think about the massive upsets in college football. Boise State beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Appalachian State beating Michigan. These were some fun upsets in the history of college football.

But, at the end of the day, sometimes athletes will be athletes. Sometimes you have to realize that athletes matter. On Saturday, athletes mattered.

I love the Illinois players and will always support them. They didn’t quit on Saturday, and they gave it their all on the field. But the talent and athletic difference was pretty evident.

Nearly every time an Oregon player would catch or run the ball, they were just a little bit quicker. They could get to a corner before our defender got to them. Illinois’ defensive backs would take a normal angle at a ball carry to tackle them, but that angle wasn’t good enough on Saturday, as Oregon was quicker than the normal teams we play.

What I saw on Saturday was the disparity in recruiting classes over the years. One team, Oregon, has clearly had top 10 recruiting classes in both freshmen and transfers over the years. Illinois, on the other hand, clearly has struggled to crack the top 40 in both freshmen and transfer recruiting classes.

Do I think Illinois got out-coached against Oregon? Maybe a little bit, but I think the coaching was fine. Bret Bielema did a good job at halftime, and Illinois looked better in the second half. But sometimes it is just a matter of one team having better talent than the other. On Saturday, I think that showed.