2nd thoughts on Illinois defense
The Illinois Preview led off with the following:
Run Offense vs Illinois
Illinois appears to have a for-real defense this year after bringing in Vic Koenning, an established collegiate defensive coordinator with a recent history of success at Clemson and Kansas State. The three years before his hire, Koenning's Ds were 9th, 18th, and 39th in total defense, with that last stop a one-off year at Kansas State where he took the Wildcat D up from 117th. Ahem.
Illinois has been shutting down guys on the strength of a good defensive line (one that features MGoSouldongmate Corey Liuget) and the emergence of Martez Wilson (right) into something resembling the uber-hyped recruit he was. Wilson's by far Illinois's leading tackler with 68; he's second to Liuget in TFLs and sacks. Against the Big Ten:
| Opponent | Carries | Yards | TDs | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OSU | 39 | 230 | 1 | 5.9 |
| PSU | 24 | 83 | 0 | 3.5 |
| MSU | 30 | 100 | 1 | 3.3 |
| Indiana | 33 | 114 | 0 | 3.5 |
| Purdue | 33 | 160 | 0 | 4.8 |
In my opinion, this is the danger of relying too much on statistics. Penn State was pre-bye week and in the midst of a populating a MASH unit, Sparty was suffering from a post-Michigan hangover (especially those arrested for DUIs) and Inidana's running game hasn't been the same since Darius (what you talkin' bout ) Willis got injured.
Mad props to the O-line and the running backs, who both came up huge today.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
It seemed to me they were basically completely selling out to stop Denard running and wanted the other guys to beat 'em if they could. And that's what happened. In that sense their gameplan was effective, I'm just not sure they realized how good our RBs/WRs are.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:39 PM ^
Denard had zero running room either inside or outside so it was good play calling to go to the wideouts who were mostly single covered. Pick your poison against our offense.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:48 PM ^
they completely sold out on the Denard run. it actually seemed like they bit on every option, targeting him and not the running back. strongest 'real' game our RBs had and for that specific reason
November 6th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
a for-real defense, but we have a for-real offense.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
A for-realer offense
November 6th, 2010 at 5:05 PM ^
Recognize!
November 6th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^
For realsies.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^
You can't just discredit all of the good games they played. With your logic you could say that almost every game they play is some kind of "look ahead" or "hang-over" or make up some other excuse for why the opposing team played well. I don't buy that.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:06 PM ^
is pretty good. Especially their D-Line. They put quite a bit of pressure on our quarterbacks today and held Michigan to a 4.8 ypc average. That's probably the best an opponent has done against Michigan this year.
The simple fact is Michigan has been putting up tons of yards on everybody especially on the ground. This is just the first game where the offense's miscues didn't kill them and they scored a lot too.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
This same Illinois defense did a nice job against Ohio State, for example. Michigan's offense is destructively scary. I'm actually looking forward to all of the upcoming games. Our defense will give up points but as today's game showed - they won't give up.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:06 PM ^
Their DT was a beast
November 6th, 2010 at 5:13 PM ^
Yeah, he's legit.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:20 PM ^
Liuget
November 6th, 2010 at 5:49 PM ^
Exactly.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 5:09 PM ^
Their front 7 is good (especially Liuget), but the secondary is prone to breakdowns.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:14 PM ^
Our offense is the best they've played all year.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^
are correct...and I will argue, it is the best they will face all year
November 6th, 2010 at 5:19 PM ^
My hat goes off to the RB today.. they took a ton of pressure off of denard. Although today at times denard looked like V. Smith just running into the pile and going nowhere.
Hopkins, Shaw and Smith all had big runs here and there. Good game
November 6th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^
In one of his better performances, Vincent Smith took 13 carries for 73 yards - a 5.6 average. And, while this is due to the fact that Illinois was keying on Denard, Smith was our leading rusher while Denard only managed 3.3 YPC.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:22 PM ^
Regardless of opponent's strengths/weaknesses, we move the ball at will and so do they.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:27 PM ^
twice this game, end of REG and end of OT, the last team with the ball did NOT score the winning points.
November 6th, 2010 at 5:50 PM ^
Koenning should be fired, there is just no excuse for that dismal performance
November 6th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
Would you say that Koenning's performance was
UNACCEPTABLE?!!!?
Also, dude, lolhair!!! He can't hold GERG's dop kit!!!!
November 6th, 2010 at 7:43 PM ^
has been doing it to everybody all season long. Illini defense were fantastic this season before Michigan game which will certainly drop their ranking big time.
November 6th, 2010 at 6:04 PM ^
November 6th, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
The ball popped out on Stonum's attempted catch. It was an obvious call.
November 6th, 2010 at 6:51 PM ^
With all the comments about getting rid of Gerg and replacing him with a successful college d-co-ordinator . Illinois did just that and look what happened to Koenig - his defense gave up 67. Replacing Gerg may not be the answer.
November 6th, 2010 at 7:33 PM ^
One game's stats don't mean much put into the context of this D's total turn around. In a blog where stats are used quite a bit, please use more statistical analysis when posting.
Oh, and we also have a top 5 offense, so there's that too.