New Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema said it best “the good news is that we have 40 seniors, the bad news is that we have 40 seniors.” The first year Illini mentor went on to explain what he means by that- this group will be very experienced, but next year’s unit will be extremely inexperienced. While that sounds good at first, at least on paper for this year only, it sounds rather frightening for 2022.
That’s because almost every pundit in the country is picking Illinois to finish last in the Big Ten West. While Afghanistan is known as the graveyard of empires, Illini football might as well be that for college coaching careers.
Still, if you wanted to hire a guy who can win in the Big Ten, it’s Bielema, but he’s going to need time to clean this mess up.
As he pointed out at Big Ten Media Day, Illinois might lead the country in super duper seniors, and he could have one at every position somewhere in the depth chart. So where does that put things?
“I think all of us learn early in life that if you walk into something with not a lot of expectations, it’s probably going to be a lot of fun,” Bielema said of Big Ten Media Days at the event itself.
That attitude can be applied to the season here as well.
Biggest Strength
The giant people movers up front on offense are going to be the strength of this team. While the stellar Kendrick Green is gone, they still return four starters, led by their very good center Doug Kramer and leader extraordinaire Vederian Lowe.
The OL is good and this is a Bielema squad, so you know they’ll be able to run the ball consistently and effectively. But how will the air attack go? Well, it’s a question mark for sure, but it is led by a guy in his 217th season of college football in Brandon Peters.
Okay he hasn’t been around that long exactly, but you get the idea.
While 2020 wasn’t really a true college football season, certainly not to any Big Ten team, and we can’t take what happened last year as serious as we normally would, Illinois badly needs the offense to step up its level significantly from just 349 yards and 20 points per game.
Biggest Weakness
Of all that didn’t work out with the Lovie Smith era, and there was indeed a lot about it that flopped, the biggest headscratcher was the defensive ineptitude. Defense is that man’s brand. Full Stop. But he never came even remotely close to leading a dominant D.
The best they ever did was have some good stretches of causing enough turnovers to cover up the severe problems.
Illinois finished dead last in the conference in rush yards allowed per game, giving up a crazy 230.1 yards on the ground.
Not be outdone by the ground defense, the air defense also finished dead last in pass efficiency defense.
They also allowed 34.9 points per game, 97th in the nation. That was supplemented by their 114th overall ranking in total yards allowed. Yikes.
Still there is a decent amount of talented playmakers on that side of the ball, with linebacker Jake Hansen leading the way. Owen Carney is not far behind him, and the LBs will need to lead the way as the best position group amongst the defenders.
Key Games
Hitting the ground running, with a week zero contest against Nebraska (which also sees the 20 year reunion of the 2001 Big Ten title team) is critical. It could send a message about who is farther along in their rebuild, Bielema or Scott Frost.
Obviously, the Homecoming date against Wisconsin, the Bielema Bowl, is going to be massive. In order to have a realistic shot at contending for a bowl game, the Illini must take at least one, but most likely both from their annual meetings with Minnesota and Purdue.
Key Player: QB turned WR Isaiah Williams
“Isaiah switched to wide receiver after the conclusion of spring ball. It’s been a great asset for us,” said Bielema.
“Not only is he a good football player, I think he’s an exceptional person, great leadership qualities. He’s lightning in a bottle, just a very, very active, natural receiver.
“So I think that simple transition right there made us better at the wide receiver position by transition from the quarterback.” (More on him here)
Bottom Line
At least they won’t be boring, both on and off the field. Bielema is a huge upgrade in the press conference game over Smith, and he’ll provide a product with more entertainment value, but it’s still hard to see this team hitting .500 or better.
Five wins, while doable given the schedule, would have to be considered a hugely successful season given the overall prospectus. But remember this, Bielema’s supposed “failed” regime at Arkansas wasn’t actually that bad.
He went to three bowl games, and no Illini coach has made three bowl appearances since Ron Zook, and two of those were in 6-6 seasons. He also had three straight seven plus win seasons, and the last Illini coach to do that was Mike White.
You zoomers and millenials reading this weren’t even born when that happened.
2021 Team Season Preview Series: Northwestern Notre Dame Illinois
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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