5 sad observations from the Illinois football loss to Minnesota

2. The Illini run game should have been leaned on more

I love that Illinois can throw the ball down the field. It is fun seeing players like Pat Bryant making great catches or Zakhari Franklin streaking down the sidelines. That is entertaining football.

While the passing game development is fun to watch, when you have a running game that is working, we need to use it. Barry Lunney got a little too cute with the Illini offense on Saturday, and it cost us points.

Illinois’ running game was working quite often against Minnesota. Josh McCray was having a good game. He had five carries for 64 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He also had the 42-yard touchdown run that got Illinois’ offense going.

In the second half, it was a different story. McCray only saw two touches, going for 8 yards. It is criminal to only give McCray, who has been the best running back for the Illini in the game, only two touches in the second half.

I thought the other Illini running backs were running well too. Ca’Lil Valentine was seeing success with little running room. Aidan Laughery was a bolt of lightning out of the backfield as well. Laughery only had three carries in the second half for 16 yards.

If you looked at the lack of usage of the Illinois running backs, you would think we were down by 21 points heading into the second half. That wasn’t the case, though. Illinois got out of their game and started flinging the ball around the field. We forgot about the running game.