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5 biggest surprises from the Illinois football win over Kansas

Beating Kansas was huge for the Illinois football program, and there were some big surprises throughout the game.

By Rees Woodcock

Sep 7, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini cornerback Xavier Scott (14) celebrates his team’s lead over the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
Sep 7, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini cornerback Xavier Scott (14) celebrates his team’s lead over the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
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4. Kansas didn’t continue to pound the rock

Holding Kansas to 17 points is a pretty impressive feat. This isn’t the Jayhawks of the 2010s. They are a good team with an offense that can put up points.

I touched on Illinois’ secondary in the last slide. I thought the Illini did a great job defending against Jalon Daniels and shutting him down for pretty much the entire game. There was a weakness in the Illinois defense, though.

Illinois’ defensive line struggled against the Jayhawks. It is a new world without Jer’Zhan Newton and Company, and the effects of the entire 2023 defensive line departing are being felt.

Kansas had tremendous success running the football on the Illini. Their top two running backs combined for 21 carries for 140 yards. That is 6.7 yards per carry average, which is pretty impressive.

What was the biggest number out of the three numbers I mentioned above? The 21 carries. Why in the world did Kansas only hand the ball off to their running backs 21 times? They were gutting the middle of the Illinois defense, but the Jayhawks went away from the run.

Not only was Kansas seeing success in the run, but they could have controlled the game and not turned the ball over nearly as much if they kept it on the ground.

Mid-game adjustments needed to be made for the Jayhawks, and they didn’t make them. They continued to try to push the ball through the air when the running game would have worked better. I was shocked when Kansas stopped running the football.

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