Obviously, 30-28 is a little close for comfort for any opponent, but regardless, the Illini were able to slip out of Memorial stadium with a W over an extremely tough Toledo team. Jason Candle’s squad was as talented as advertised, and gave Illinois all they could handle until, quite literally, the last second of the game.
After a back and fourth battle between the Illini and Rockets, exchanging lead changing blows, Quarterback Luke Altmyer was able to convert a 4th and 4 by completing a perfect 33 yard pass, with pressure in his face, to sure handed Casey Washington. Washington made an incredible contested catch in coverage to keep the drive alive for Illinois. After a nice push by the Offensive Line, Illinois was set to finish the game off. Danville’s very own, and Illini kicker Caleb Griffin booted a 29 yard field goal in the closing seconds of the game to give Illinois the 30-28 go-ahead.
A thrilling end to a game, that was quite a head scratcher for many Illinois fans. But, it really shouldn’t be.
Thoughts
Jason Candles Toledo squad, as discussed in my pre-game preview, is a really talented MAC team, and returned a majority of their talent from a championship team a short season ago. Truthfully, the final score of this game, and the fact that you had to work so hard to win, should surprise no one.
At the beginning of the Bielema era, UTSA came to Champaign and delivered Illinois a 37-30 loss at the hands of Barry Lunny Jr, and quarterback Frank Harris. You were dominated on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and allowed Harris to do whatever he pleased in the pocket, as well as with his legs. UTSA escaped with a win, and sent Illinois fans into a spiral. Obviously, Saturday was a somewhat similar scenario, with a very different outcome. A very talented group of 5 team, with eyes set on conference championship, and the conference favorite to win. As well as an extremely talented QB to lead the way. The difference is, Illinois never found a way to shut Frank Harris down, and didn’t have the talent to keep up. Saturday vs the Rockets, Illinois was able to to re-coop, regain control of momentum, and close.
Many have also made the comparison to the Illini’s gut wrenching loss vs the Indiana Hoosiers in 2022, as the Illini gave up a big loss to a team that Illinois knew they should have beat, and held on to the end. Yet another example of where Illinois prior lack of experience being put in though “Big Game” scenarios has cost them crucial wins in this program.
Not this time.
Illinois has legit talent to dig themselves out of holes that penalties and early season mistakes create in these tough games, and that is critical to the growth of this program. This growth showed in front of us as Illinois snagged a tough win over a good non-conference opponent. However, In no way was Illinois perfect.
The Illinois Defensive line had a tough first game. It seemed Finn was able to do whatever he pleased in the pocket, and was not feeling much pressure. Kudos to Toledo for having a very tough and scrappy OL, but this Illini DL should have dominated. I believe this mostly factors into the very vanilla game plan the Illinois showed for Toledo. Of course, Bielema and his staff are very good at keeping tricks up the sleeve, but they did not put much on the table, at all, in terms of stunts and blitzes to give the ‘Law Firm” 1 0n 1 opportunities.
Penalties were also a concern, and put Illinois in a tough spot to pull off a win. However, I don’t worry that this will be a continued trend as Bielema teams are typically low on penalty count. Early season mistakes happen and the pressure got to some, but not all.
Had Illinois lost this game, the doubts and worries would have some validity. However, Illinois is still a good football team, with all goals still in tact. Kansas will be another Major test for this Illini team on Friday night, and you can expect another close one. You can get caught up and previewed right here at Illini now on NowBN.com!
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