Illinois Fighting Illini football is 3-0 (having defeated Central Michigan 30-9 on Homecoming), and that puts them halfway towards bowl eligibility. They have a solid passing attack, good overall defense and a stellar, exceptionally opportunistic secondary. That’s all good news. However, their offensive line leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the run game.
This is going to be a major problem as the season rolls on, because you can’t have a one-dimensional offense and expect to continue winning football games.
The running attack has just not been the same for the Illini since Illinois’ Canadian sensation, Chase Brown left. Brown, a London, Ontario native is now with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he is working on establishing himself in the National Football League. Obviously a NFL payday is a lot higher than a CFL salary but Canadian Football League players do pretty well for themselves too.
And the Illini have a good representation in the CFL with Isaiah Gay (formerly of the Montreal Alouettes and later the BC Lions), Hugh Thornton (Calgary Stampeders) and Blake Hayes (Hamilton Tiger-Cats).
Meanwhile Brown carried the ball three times for 11 yards in the season opener for the Bengals, after rushing 44 times for 179 yards during his rookie season. His twin brother, Sydney Brown, had a forced fumble and an interception (to go along with 45 tackles, 32 solo) during his rookie campaign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
So the Illini have a lot of connections to the professional game, on a Canadian level.
But the current team still needs to figure out the rushing attack, post Chase Brown. The offensive line is just not getting enough forward push on the running calls. Plain and simple, they’re getting beaten consistently in this regard. It’s leading to a lot of offensive woes in the red zone, and that means the Illini have often had to settle for field goals, a lot more than they would like to.
Again, this is going to be a major issue once the schedule gets harder. Plus, (time to cue all the Big Ten country weather cliches) once you get to late October and beyond, when the temps cool and the precipitation elements figure in, passing the ball is going to be more challenging.
Illini coach Bret Bielema addressed the concerns in the run game, during his post game press conference: “There’s no doubt in my mind we have to be more efficient on early-down runs.”
He then added: “For us to win games, we have to run the ball effectively to score points. We have to begin to understand that. Pre-snap penalties and post-snap penalties hurt us.”
Overall, the team had solid, if not spectacular, run game statistics against CMU. They rushed 29 times for 137 yards, averaging 4.7 yards per carry. They will just need to improve once we get into the the Big Ten conference season. And hopefully find a true “bell cow” kind of back.
You’re going to need a better running game, so the question is, who is the new Chase Brown type featured back going to be?
Kaden Feagin is the first obvious choice, but he’s been pretty inconsistent, and hasn’t shown as much development in this is sophomore year as most Illini fans would have hoped.
Josh McCray has a lot of talent, but he just can’t stay healthy, and that’s something we’ve seen from him year after year. Ca’Lil Valentine, the exciting freshman?
Well, he a nice 22-yard run from today, on his way to a solid 53 yards rushing performance. Maybe it’s going to be tailback by committee for the Illini? At least until someone finally asserts themself.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Bielema said of the game as a whole.
“I could feel this one coming back to put the Kansas win behind us and focus on Central Michigan. Knew we had our work cut out for us. We made it more difficult than it needed to be. Teachable moments come better after a victory than defeat.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also 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.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.