Illinois' 31-27 loss to Duke on Saturday showed a glaring problem for the Illini, and it isn't the offense. Yet again, the defense struggled to get stops, but against a more formidable opponent than UAB, it cost Bret Bielema's squad the game.
In Week 1, the Illinois defense struggled with tackling, allowing over 400 total yards of offense to UAB. Luckily, when the Blazers got into the red zone and the Illini didn't have to cover as much of the field, they were able to get stops. Against a Duke team with a better running back and offense all around, the biggest red flag for Illinois' defense was glaringly obvious, and Bobby Hauck is to blame.
Illinois' offense put up 27 points and struggled at times to get past the Blue Devils' defense, but with their backs against the wall, the Illinois defense didn't just bend; it broke entirely.
Bielema brought Hauck in to get this Illinois defense in his patented 3-3-5 scheme, and while that seemed great on paper, it hasn't translated on the field. Illinois has the talent on defense, but the tackling problems and inability to stop the run game, or running backs in general coming out of the backfield, mean the Bobby Hauck experiment is not working out so far.
Illinois' issues with running backs will only get worse in Big Ten play
Big Ten football is a game played in the trenches, typically facing teams with great offensive lines and quality running backs. If Illinois can't figure out how to stop the run game, it is going to be a long season.
Not only did Duke kill Illinois with the run game behind Nate Sheppard, but he was lethal in the receiving game as well. So often, Sheppard started in the backfield on the snap and motioned out to the side, opening up an easy dump-off - a play used often by the Blue Devils against the Illini - and even gave Sheppard two of three touchdowns.
Illinois couldn't find an answer for Nate Sheppard, who finished the game with 167 rushing yards, 41 receiving yards, and three total touchdowns on the day. Hauck never made the adjustments to try to slow Sheppard down, and Duke was able to exploit it.
Now, give Sheppard credit where credit is due, he is a fantastic running back, maybe even top 10 in the country, but the fact that Illinois has guys like Matthew Bailey, Xavier Scott, and Juice Clark on its defense, and couldn't find ways to get stops of any kind is simply ridiculous.
The new defense Hauck has in Illinois was supposed to allow Bielema to spend more money and effort on getting quality defensive linemen. Well, those defensive linemen are making much of an impact right now, only getting to Duke quarterback Walker Eget once on the day, thanks to a sack by Will Holmes.
With the talent Illinois has on the defensive side of the ball, it shouldn't be this bad, and the only person the finger can be pointed at is Hauck. The tackling needs to improve quickly, or else the offense is going to have to score on every drive in hopes of the defense getting stops.
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