5 observations from the massive Illinois football win over Kansas
It is Sunday morning, and the Illinois football team is 2-0 with a top 20 win on the schedule. Crazy.
Coming into the 2024 season, I didn’t have the Illini winning this game. I had Illinois dropping the game to Kansas in my preseason predictions, but I still had us winning eight games this season.
Do you know what that means? The sky is the limit for this program. This was a roller coaster of a game. Illinois’ defense looked great, but our offense had trouble moving the ball for most of the contest.
Despite some offensive struggles, both special teams and the Illini defense kept us in the game. Illinois finally put an offensive drive together, and just like that, we ended up winning the game 23-17.
Here are five observations from the massive Illinois football win over Kansas
1. Xavier Scott. Have a day
The 2022 Illinois football team was so memorable for multiple reasons. One of the biggest reasons was the tenacity of the defense.
That team had some incredible defensive backs hawking around and causing chaos. I didn’t see that type of play last season for the Illini, as most of those defensive backs departed. On Saturday night, I finally got to see that style of defense pop up again.
Illinois’ defense looked great against Kansas. The leader was cornerback Xavier Scott. He had a game for the ages.
Scott finished with eight tackles, all of which were solo. That is incredible considering that means he had at least eight one-on-ones and won them. The next best on the team was three solo tackles.
Scott's dominance didn’t stop in the tackling department, though. He was everywhere on the field.
Kansas was driving the first series of the game. When they got to midfield, Scott was able to pick off a pass from Jalon Daniels. This helped change momentum.
Daniels would try to go at Scott numerous times throughout the game, and I am pretty sure the only catch he had against him was the little touchdown grab in the red zone.
And then right before halftime, Scott comes up with a huge interception for a touchdown. It was a masterpiece performance from Scott. Illinois doesn’t get the win without him. It was one of the best games I have seen from an Illinois player in my lifetime.