
EDITORIAL: How Aaron Henry’s Illini Defense Hasn’t Been As Bad As It May Seem
Whether we’re talking yards given up, points given up or pretty much any statistical category, Illinois isn’t that far off its 2024 pace after facing some of the nation’s best offenses.
By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst
October 10, 2025
(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The defense being played by the football team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign isn’t nearly as poor as you may think.
One note before we go any further. If you’re reading and have reached the mental and emotional stage of ‘Aaron Henry should be terminated as soon as possible and nothing else will satisfy me’ then please stop reading this piece right now. If you’re at that point, no editorial piece is going to change your mind and IlliniGuys.com recognizes that, in this instance, we simply are not the audience for your needs.
For the rest of you, this in-depth is going to mostly be statistical in nature so let’s start with the idea that the statistic of total defense (yards a defense surrenders per game)