The Illinois Fighting Illini suffered a beatdown at the hands of the Oregon Ducks 38-9 in Eugene. The top-ranked Ducks outclassed the Fighting Illini and made the game a laugher by halftime. After a huge win at home over Michigan, Illinois got humbled on the road and has to make the most of their trouncing as they look forward to the rest of the season. Even with the loss, the Illinois Fighting Illini stayed in the top 25 and have a path to a double-digit win year if they can right the ship and not let the humiliation linger into the final month of the 2024 season.
With the game getting out of hand so quickly, the lessons that Illinois has to take from this game were very apparent. Their offensive line was exposed and taken advantage of, their linebacking core was overwhelmed by the Oregon passing game, the pass rush was stymied all game long, and the running game was too predictable. Illinois will likely not see an opponent on the level of Oregon for the rest of the year but if they want to avoid any hiccups down the road, they must learn from the blowout loss and improve on these areas of the team.
Illinois Fighting Illini Dominated 38-9
The Illinois Fighting Illini were beaten down by the Oregon Ducks 38-9 Saturday afternoon at Autzen Stadium in a game that was never in doubt after the first quarter. Oregon established an edge early and never let up, dominating the Illinois Fighting Illini in all phases and proving why they are the top-ranked team in the country. The blowout was the first game all season that Illinois was never competitive in, and the lessons they need to learn from this game could help them avoid it from happening again down the line.
With four games left on the schedule, Illinois is favored to win all four and could feasibly head into the postseason ranked with a double-digit win total. There is plenty of chaos from now until then that could prevent that from happening and it could be traced back to weaknesses that Illinois exhibited against Oregon. Fixing these issues is imperative for Bret Bielema and his coaching staff and needs to be addressed before the players take the field again.
Offensive Line Exposed
The Illinois Fighting Illini offensive line got exposed by the Oregon Ducks. Specifically off the edge, the offensive line struggled to do their job and set up playmakers in space. Luke Altmyer rarely had time to go through his progressions from the pocket and he had to scramble, throwing off the timing of the Illinois Fighting Illini offense in the passing game. The communication and blocking scheme from the linemen up front set up the offense for failure. When they weren’t giving Oregon a distinct advantage on the line of scrimmage, they were committing penalties or missing assignments.
The offensive line hadn’t been the strength that Bielema was hoping it would start the season as, or develop into. They preyed on weaker teams but when they face equal or greater competition, they crater and make the offense readjust. There have been question marks on the right side of the offensive line in recent weeks with Brandon Henderson, Melvin Priestly, and Josh Gesky rotating. It will be interesting to see what comes of that rotation in the remaining games on the schedule.
Overwhelmed Linebacking Core
The Illinois linebacking core has been the weakness of Aaron Henry’s defense all year. They are undersized and not as agile as a Big Ten linebacker group needs to be. Oregon’s offense and Dillon Gabriel put that on full display. They couldn’t deal with the route concepts thrown at them and often failed to bring down Jordan James or Noah Whittington in the running game. The next couple of weeks are going to speak volumes about this group as Illinois goes into the final third of its schedule.
The number one team in the nation can expose all of your flaws and create new ones for future opponents to exploit. Late-developing passing concepts and misdirection gave the Illinois Fighting Illini linebackers trouble against Oregon and will be seen and utilized by other teams in the Big Ten. Finding ways to mitigate that will be crucial for the success of this Illinois defense and help them get off the field on third down, limit explosive run plays, and support the other two units on the defense.
Nonexistent Pass Rush
One of those other units had a tough day at Autzen as well. The Illinois defensive line was coming off of one of their best performances of the year against Michigan and looked like it was turning a corner on what had been a very ordinary start to 2024. Gabe Jacas was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and TeRah Edwards and Dennis Briggs Jr. were wreaking havoc on opposing offensive lines. This progress was halted against the Oregon Ducks, specifically in the passing game.
There was no pass rush to speak of for the Illinois defense. Dillon Gabriel had time to spare in the pocket to look downfield and find a target. He was rarely moved off his spot and didn’t have to do a whole lot of scrambling to extend plays. Oregon’s offensive line has matured as the year has gone on and Illinois’ defensive line had been doing the same, but those two units were not in the same weight class. The nonexistent pass rush put extraordinary pressure on the defensive backfield to cover for four seconds, five seconds, or longer. Getting creative in creating pressure could be a must for Aaron Henry.
Predictable Running Game
The Illinois Fighting Illini tried to stay committed to the running game even as they fell further behind the Oregon Ducks. They were decidedly predictable in their strategy to run the ball. Runs were almost exclusively up the middle and between the tackles, with limited success. Josh McCray was bottled up for the first time since he filled in for the injured Kaden Feagin and the offensive line couldn’t get any traction moving the Oregon front.
On the few occasions that Barry Lunney’s offense ran the ball on the perimeter, they found some good running lanes and big play opportunities. Aidan Laughery was the leading rusher on the day and broke the biggest rush of the day on an outside run. The running game has been fairly predictable in recent weeks and if opportunities are presenting themselves on the outside, there could be yards Illinois is leaving on the table. Creating the threat on the outside could also help the interior rushing attack by diverting defenders attention away from the inside zone that Illinois runs.
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