Illini - Penn State recap

While most people won't believe this, Illinois has been getting better. In St. Louis they played terrible the whole game. Against Ohio State, they played a very good first quarter except for a Juice Williams interception. Finally this last weekend, Illinois played about as good as they could have against Penn State for more than 2 quarters. All week long I tried to talk myself and whomever else would listen to me into believing that all the offense needed was one big play. A long touchdown pass or run, and this offense would be jump started. Well that didn't happen, and now we are moving on to back-up Eddie McGee (at least for 3 series).

Here is the bottom line: Before this season started everyone knew Illinois' defense wasn't going to shut anyone down. What we all expected though was that the offense would put up enough points that the short-comings in the defense wouldn't cost us games. Well almost the complete opposite has happened. The defense in the last 2 games has played well enough early to allow our offense to get going. The offense however has not accomplished this, and eventually our defense gets exposed and makes mistakes. Is Eddie McGee the answer? Hell no! Although, right now this is the only choice you can make as a coach since unlike the NFL, you can't fire assistants during the season.

For the most part I have to lay the blame with Mike Schultz who is the Illini's new offensive coordinator. He is to blame not because he is calling terrible games. Mike needs to accept blame here because he is trying to change what this team does well due to his play calling. Illinois ran the ball 35 times against Penn State. 20 times by Juice Williams. 6 of those were scrambles, 2 were sacks, 2 were option keepers, and 4 were Juice keeping the ball on the zone read option.

Out of the other 15 runs, 7 were zone reads, 3 were options, and 5 came out of regular or jumbo sets. The only complaints I have about running the ball is that when we run the option, on all but one play it was to the short side of the field with 3 receivers on that side. It worked in the first half, but then in the second half, Penn State was ready for it, and so Illinois went away from it. Would it be out of the question to run the option to the long side of the field, or away from the trips? I personally love the option because it causes the defense to play assignment football. If any of the defenders who are play side make a mistake or are out of position, a small gain can turn into a very big play. Also is it possible to run the ball a little more in sets that are not shotgun? Can we run the option with the QB under center? Our running plays are so predictable out of shotgun. Speed Option, Zone Read, QB draw. Thats it.

Where I have to question the play calling is when you don't try to pick up the pace and get the defense on their heels. I understand that at the end of the half and the end of the game, Penn State was trying to not give up a big play. However, the rest of the game Illinois played very methodically and did the same thing they have for 4 games, which was run the ball, and throw screens or have 5 yard routes.

Juice threw the ball 5 times in the first quarter and the first play of the second half. Only one of those was a pass past 5 yards. Juice did scramble 2 times on pass plays, but 7 passes out of 20, and only one past 5 yards is disgusting. I can't believe that Shultz doesn't believe that his offense is capable of stretching the field, but I can't come to any other conclusion. I am tired of seeing 5-10 screens a game. When you are either running the ball, or throwing short routes, who is a screen pass going to fool? Only after Illinois got down by a touchdown did Juice finally throw a deep pass, and it was for 50 yards to Benn to set up Illinois' field goal. When Illinois got the ball back with 1:31 left in the half at their own 2 yard line, we saw probably the best play call of the season from Schultz. A play action pass to Duvalt for 20 yards, and then Illinois sped up because they had to. On that drive, Juice did a great job of making good passes and moving the team. He completed passes of 20, 20, 10, 15 and ran for 8 on a draw, all in less than a minute. He was partly to blame for the intentional grounding, but Ryan Palmer didn't even touch the defensive end who got to Juice. Just like every other game, the offense, especially the offensive line, pulled out the shotgun and took direct aim at their foot. Even still, Illinois was only down 7-3.

In the second half, Illinois started by running 3 straight plays to the short side of the field, and shockingly they were plays that they ran a ton in the first half. A QB draw by Juice, an option to the short side (which was brought back by a hold on Ryan Palmer), and then a screen to Dufrene. Finally Juice got sacked on 3rd and 14.

After Penn State scored to get the game to 14-3, guess what Illinois ran when they got the ball back? First down was actually a pass that Juice threw incomplete terribly to Fayson, the on 2nd and 10 it was a 1 yard zone read to Dufrene (or Dushane if you are Mike Patrick), then a 2 yard screen to Dufrene on 3rd and 9.

After Penn State scored again to go up 21-3 can you guess what Illinois did? They actually tried to pass on first down again but Juice scrambled for 7 yards. So it is 2nd and 3, you have just gone 3 and out twice in a row, and now the game is getting away from you, so what do you call. Perhaps a run or draw to get the first down so your defense can get a little rest? A play action pass and perhaps take a shot down field, if it falls incomplete, you are still at 3rd and 3 or maybe juice can scramble for the first down? Nope, you run a wide receiver screen, and lose 8 yards. Now you have 3rd and 11, and Juice has to check down to Jason Ford for a 9 yards reception.

By the time that Illinois got the ball back, it didn't matter anymore, so now Illinois started to speed up and throw the ball downfield. By this point, Penn State really didn't care, and had a lot of back-ups in the game.

So here is my point: Illinois has gone from one of the most explosive offenses in the Big Ten the last 2 seasons, to being one of the most predictable and cautious offenses. Now last season I was screaming for a team that would run the ball. Now we have one, but it has come at the expense of the deep passing game. We are starting to see it, but only when we are behind. I understand that on pass plays that Juice scrambled on we might have had routes that were longer, but you have to believe that a Juice scramble has a much better chance of being successful than a wide receiver screen!! I feel like the coaches can't be on the same page, or they are completely delusional as to what their players are capable of. We probably saw the best game that our defense is going to play all season, and you have all figured out that the ball control offense is a terrible experiment. If you are going to run the ball, then run it and then maybe take a shot here or there on deeper routes, but stop throwing screens and 7 yards curls that your QB can't throw, and your receivers can't catch. You want a breakdown of what Illinois runs: Zone read option, QB draws, Speed option to the short side of the field, running back screen to trips side, wide receiver screen. As long as Illinois isn't in the 2 minute drill or behind by 70 points, these plays are going to be run 75% of the time. Hopefully playing a team other than the top 2 of the Big Ten will help this team out a little bit, but without Juice taking snaps we have to hope a guy who put up 210 total yards against ISU can lead us to a bowl game.