3 ways the Illinois football team can attack Central Michigan

3. Play mistake-free football

The last game for Central Michigan was extremely weird. They were torched by Florida International, 52-16.

With a score like that, you would think the Panthers just trounced the Chippewas in every statistical category. That wasn’t the case in the least bit, though.

In fact, Central Michigan had better numbers than Florida International. The Chippewas had more total yards, 369-309. They converted 42.1% on third down compared to the Panthers’ 27.3%.

Do you know how Florida International ended up throttling Central Michigan? They played mistake-free football.

Central Michigan had six turnovers in the game. It is tough to win any game giving the ball up that much. Florida International was disciplined with the football too. The Panthers didn’t have a single turnover in the contest. They lost nearly every statistical category but still came away with a 36-point win because they took care of the football.

Illinois has been pretty good about playing mistake-free football this season. We have only had one turnover this season and that was against Kansas. It was the weird fumble turnover by Zakhari Franklin.

I have been impressed with Illinois’ discipline. We aren’t making mistakes. If the Illini can avoid mistakes against Central Michigan, then we should be able to blow them out of the water by halftime.