A blog post from Jason
And we open the quarter with an example of Illinois’s crappy secondary. Big missed tackle from Trulon Henry. Along this drive (all four plays of it) we see just how good the Illini D-line is, and just how bad the secondary is.
Announcers calling for a naked bootleg out of our own end zone. Well, it would show guts, I guess.
It’s going to be hard to run on Illinois this year. The line is solid, and the backers have great sideline-to-sideline speed. So long as the front four can provide a strong rush, and the linebackers can avoid biting on play-action, I think we might be able to hide our glaring weakness in the secondary. Until opponents start going 4 verticals on every play.
Nice to see Illinois realized that they can run with someone other than the QB; this is the team’s primary strength, and it should not be ignored.
The special teams really are improved. Better kicks, better coverage, better blocking, better returns.
Jeff Allen (#71) is our best OL; but he’s been called for three, maybe four false starts. I know this is a solid run blocking line, but is the pass blocking even worse than I thought?
Illinois’s only defensive strength is on the line, and Missouri, up 7 with the ball well in field goal range and one minute to play, runs the QB on a draw with an empty backfield. That’s a really good way to end your season unnecessarily.
