Bret Bielema’s squad finds themselves at 1-1 after a brutal loss in Lawrence, KS to Jalon Daniels and the electric Jayhawks offense. Kansas ended the day with 539 yards of total offense, and frankly, looked like the much better team for the first 2 1/2 quarters of Friday nights meltdown. The final score does not really reflect the painful 34-7 hole that Illinois dug for themselves with poor trench play, sloppy penalties, and linebacker play that was picked apart against the Lance Leipold Offense.
So far, Illinois toughest opponent has been themselves, and if the Illini want the chance for a huge momentum flip, and a season changing win at home in week 3, Illinois is going to have to get out of their own way.
Illinois is heavily preparing themselves for what, yet again, will be another tough battle for the Fighting Illini. James Franklin, and the Penn State Nittany Lions. Of course, as drama always finds its way across the college football universe, it happens to have found itself in Champaign prior to this Saturdays kickoff. Which, originally was slated for FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff.” The Live pregame was set to air from Illinois campus in Champaign, however, FOX has decided to keep the pregame show in Boulder for Colorado’s week 3 matchup vs Colorado State. ALONG with ESPN’s College Gameday, who will also be covering the Rocky Mountain showdown.
Lets hope this is taken as tough motivation for this Illinois team, who has found themselves with much to be desired for the 2023 season.
Illinois will kickoff at 11 am vs the Nittany Lions on FOX, and the Illini faithful can only hope for a better showing, in what will surely be a packed Memorial Stadium on Saturday morning. Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt are still slated to call Saturdays game for the in-game portion of “Big Noon Kickoff.”
OFFENSE
James Franklins High Powered Offense is led by one of the nations top overall Quarterbacks, Drew Allar. Through 2 games, Allar is 43 for 55 through the air, with 529 passing yards, 5 passing touchdowns, and zero interceptions. West Virginia surrendered a big loss 38-15 to the Nittany Lions in College Park, week 1 of the 2023 season. Allar went 21 for 29 and had 3 TD’s vs the Mountaineers, and got Penn State off to a hot start to their season. Then on to week 2, where Penn State blew the doors off of a bad Delaware team 63-7, and put up 541 yards of total offense to pair with 8 touchdowns. Allar Led the way going 22/26 and getting 204 yards through the air. Of course, he didn’t have to keep himself in the game long, and Franklin took advantage, and got his 2nd and 3rd stringers in the game. The kid is really good, and unless Illinois can find a better way to apply pressure on Allar, he is going to make his presence felt in Champaign. Allar has thrown the ball into double and triple coverage at times, and given the Nittany Lions a scare, but made the plays happen. Illinois would hope to capitalize on that.
The Nittany Lions talented Running Back room is led by a trio of highly talented backs, in Kaytron Allen, Nicholas Singleton and Trey Potts. The 3 backs combined for 4 touchdowns on Saturdays blowout of Delaware, with Singleton claiming 3 for his own. Potts, who received the least amount of touches in the rotation, still averaged 8.4 yards per carry on 7 attempts, including a tough 20 yard rush. A start studded room, that will be a tough task on the struggling Illini front 7. If Illinois Linebackers and DL can provide any answer for this PSU run game, young Drew Allar, who isn’t afraid to throw into scary spots, could pressure himself into turnovers. Which, could be a pivotal key to Illinois having any chance in this game.
The Offensive Line for Penn State bas been a bright spot of this powerful offense, and the rushing rotation for PSU has seen good results of the big men’s work. Offensive Tackle Olu Fashanu and Center Hunter Nourzad are the leaders of this Penn State brick wall, and have been a dominant force in early season action. Despite a small sample size vs pretty bad defensive lines, this group is good, and the “Law Firm” better be on their A game. Gabe Jacas and Seth Coleman have to take that next step as players, and this is going to be a tough one for that to happen.
DEFENSE
Manny Diaz’s Front 7 is headed by star defensive end Chop Robinson. Robinson was an honorable mention All Big Ten player in 2022, and finished the season with 5.5 sacks. Adisa Isaac also had himself a heck of a 2022 as well with 4 sacks, and combined with Robinson for 21 TFL’s in 22′. Hakeem Beamon is the big run stuffer in the middle, and will give Illinois young interior OL fits. Kreutz and Gesky will have some help of course, but the young Illini OL is in for a long day if they get off to the same slow start seen in the prior 2 weeks.
Manny Diaz has a monster of a DB in Kalen King. He is one of the top NFL DB’s prospects in college football, and may be the best Corner in the Big Ten. Kalen is a physical corner, who is going to be tested with the speed and athleticism of Illini WR Isaiah Williams. Johnny Dixon is also a stud of a secondary player, and will be a problem for the Illini passing game as well. Luke Altmyer is going to have his hands full, but the Illini WR room is one of the brighter spots of this team at the moment, and will be heavily tested on Saturday,
PREDICTION
Penn State is the 2nd best team in the Big Ten, and this team is completely stacked. Illinois is still a good team in my opinion, that possesses just the right concoction of young players and inexperience to have not quite fully hit their stride. I think Illinois will show a step forward in this game, and give a good team a tough run, but in the end, Penn State will finish on top
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