Josh McCray injects life into Illinois football first half against Minnesota

Illinois football was coming off a bad outing against the top team in the country, but there was no first-half hangover for the program.

The Illini looked solid in the first half against Minnesota. The defense only had one bad play, but even the broadcast pointed out a bad non-holding call that led to a 29-yard touchdown run for the Golden Gophers.

Illinois’ offense seemed to get in a groove too. We moved the ball well through the air and on the ground. One bad turnover aided Minnesota in getting three points. Overall though, it was a good first half of football, but the Illini are down against Minnesota, 13-10.

Illinois football first half successes

• Xavier Scott

A week after the Illinois secondary struggled against Oregon, they came out and put up a great first half against Minnesota. The Illini defensive backfield was led by Xavier Scott.

Scott was tasked with coverage on the Golden Gophers’ best wide receiver, Daniel Jackson. Scott played suffocating defense in the first 30 minutes, holding Jackson to just one catch for nine yards. Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer was only 11-of-21 for 99 yards too.

• Pat Bryant

It was another great first half for Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant. When the ball was thrown his way, he was coming down with the catch.

Bryant finished the first half with four receptions for 61 yards. He had an incredible catch up the right sideline when he was covered well, but somehow, he came down with the ball. My only question is, why isn’t Bryant seeing more targets?

• Josh McCray

I can’t go through the first half without mentioning the big first 30 minutes from Josh McCray. He led the Illinois running back room with five carries for 64 yards and a touchdown.

Illinois was in desperate need of a touchdown, and McCray came through. He could have easily been tackled behind the line of scrimmage, but McCray was not going to be tackled. He broke off a 42-yard touchdown scamper to tie the game at 10-10.

Illinois football first half failures

• Not finishing drives

I didn’t think the Illinois offense played badly in the first half. But we couldn’t sustain any drives or capitalize in the red zone.

Illinois was able to move the ball decently well. The offense was aggressive through the air, and our running backs broke some solid runs. But drives just weren’t ending in positive ways. Even on the one scoring drive, we got the ball in the Minnesota red zone but had to settle for a field goal.