Scouting the Illinois Offense

[CaliLION79]

Film at 11: Illinois Offense

A breakdown of the 2023 Illinois Fighting Illini offense and the schematic tendencies and principles of offensive coordinator Barry Lunney.

fortheblogy.com

A lot has changed in two years. Gone are the 100% beef 7 OL, 2 TE nightmare Neanderball alignments. In their place, Illinois runs a homogenized modern college offense. They have a fun slot receiver and a terrible right side of their offensive line. So we shouldn't get any repeats of 2021 (fingers crossed).

 

[PSUWrestlingFanSince2011]

Is this a James Franklin burner? Scouting the Illinois offense at 3:58 AM. I like your work ethic.

 

[Obliviax]

Great write-up. BB teams always play big in big games. they haven't played well but have a good QB and anything can happen, especially on the road

 

[Obliviax]

Looks like the calvary is on the hill.

DE Amin Vanover, DT Coziah Izzard and CB Daequan Hardy all in full practice this week. They didn't play in weeks one or two, IIRC.

 

[lazydave841]

Looks like the calvary is on the hill.

DE Amin Vanover, DT Coziah Izzard and CB Daequan Hardy all in full practice this week. They didn't play in weeks one or two, IIRC.

JF wouldn't answer about their status (surprise surprise) but it's good news that they have been seen more than previously.

 

[CaliLION79]

Izzard is the guy who could be a gamechanger for this defense -- a big, athletic one-gap penetrator. Sucks to say but it feels like Ellies is a square-peg (kinda like PJ) in what Diaz wants to do on the d-line. And obviously a big test for Hardy if he comes back this week with Illinois' slot receiver.

 

[Online Persona]

Izzard is the guy who could be a gamechanger for this defense -- a big, athletic one-gap penetrator. Sucks to say but it feels like Ellies is a square-peg (kinda like PJ) in what Diaz wants to do on the d-line. And obviously a big test for Hardy if he comes back this week with Illinois' slot receiver.

Good point on Isaiah Williams. He is their top weapon and it isn't close. You need a guy who can eliminate their slot and Hardy could be that guy.

 

[Steve G]

Good point on Isaiah Williams. He is their top weapon and it isn't close. You need a guy who can eliminate their slot and Hardy could be that guy.

Illi should be 0 and 2 at this point. Except for a 4th down miracle throw by their QB, the result of which was 100% luck they would have lost opener as well. Should have lost that game. Played bad enough to lose. Looked lost last week.

 

[Online Persona]

Illi should be 0 and 2 at this point. Except for a 4th down miracle throw by their QB, the result of which was 100% luck they would have lost opener as well. Should have lost that game. Played bad enough to lose. Looked lost last week.

Yes that play was fairly unlikely. And Illinois was getting some officiating help by Big 10 officials to get them to that point.

 

[tboyer]

This game looks like a straightforward W for PSU on paper, which so often turns out not to be in real life. You know Bielema will have some surprises prepared for Franklin as he always does. Good to hear their OL has had trouble but those early season jitters always seem to go away when teams like this play PSU.

Not that I'm worried because I know PSU and Allar will be prepared for a tough game if that's what it turns out to be.

The 2021 fiasco is just two years ago so this team knows what happens if you play a game like this flat. The one benefit of Franklin's one-game-at-a-time rhetoric is that no one in the locker room is talking about Iowa this week. They know they need to go into Champaign and attack hard on both sides of the ball, be ready to play their hearts out, leave no doubt. Then do it again the following week at the Beav.

 

[tboyer]

Ill secondary is inexperienced and hopefully PSU can take advantage of that. But they're good athletes. The thing to watch this game is whether the PSU receivers can get open against the first B1G corners they see this year. If PSU isn't getting separation without trickery or picks, that's not a good sign.

 

[tboyer]

Yes that play was fairly unlikely. And Illinois was getting some officiating help by Big 10 officials to get them to that point.

Yes it was a bit of a miracle but at the same time it was a great play by the Ill. QB. Perfect back-foot throw with a guy in his face. Any QB who can do that is potentially a problem.