When Bobby Hauck came to Illinois, he immediately chose to implement his 3-3-5 defensive scheme, one that worked very well for him at Montana for years. It is not an easy scheme to master, putting a lot of emphasis on the secondary with five DBs, leaving the front a little more vulnerable, and that showed in Illinois' season-opener against UAB.
Now this is nothing against UAB, but the Blazers are entering into its first full season with Alex Mortensen as their head coach, and they aren't the darling of The American Conference. While UAB may not be labeled as a complete "cupcake" school, they had no business putting up 413 total yards on the Illini.
That number is definitely startling if you are an Illinois fan, even more so when you see the Blazers had 194 rushing yards. Illinois struggled to stop the run and short passes to the edge and middle of the field, and Illinois never really had an answer to its problems. In the end, the Illini just took on the "bend but don't break" mindset, getting key stops in the red zone.
Even those stops in the red zone tell a story because Illinois didn't have to cover as much of the field, it could load the box, and trust the secondary to take care of business on the outside and in the end zone. So, how worried should Illinois fans be about the defense? Well, it is just Week 1, but the Illini also faced UAB, so probably more than they should be.
Bobby Hauck may have bitten off more than he could chew with new defensive scheme at Illinois
Changing defensive schemes is no easy task, even in the offseason when the time to install is lengthy. Hauck had a lot of success with this defense at Montana, but that was a Division I AA school, and this is Division I Big Ten football, so making this change in his first season may not have been his best decision.
Not only was he working with an entirely new defense, but he was also missing his biggest pieces, with Matthew Bailey and Xavier Scott dealing with injuries and surgeries in the offseason. Both missed spring ball when a lot of the install took place, but were at least present to see it all take place.
Even with the offseason to work on the new defensive scheme, Illinois looked shaky, especially when stopping the run. It may not have been a big deal against UAB, who in the end Illinois just wore out, but against teams like Ohio State and Oregon, it will be a bigger problem.
The Big Ten is a conference known for playing in the trenches, and against UAB, Illinois was floundering. When Ohio State and Oregon run the ball, it will be a lot harder to stop than it was for UAB, which had three running backs with 10 or more carries, and two of them with 50 or more rushing yards.
It isn't time to panic yet about this defense, but it definitely is looking like a red flag when the struggles were there against UAB. Week 2 against Duke will be telling, as the Blue Devils have a talented running back in Nate Sheppard, who rushed for 1,132 yards and 11 touchdowns in his freshman season.
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