Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular

September 22, 2025

The Illinois Fighting Illini football team still hasn’t been able to put together a complete game of solid execution to this point in the season. And against Indiana on Saturday night, the Illini offensive line play (or lack thereof) and defensive backfield depth keyed the worst Illini loss since the 63-0 loss at home against Iowa on November 17, 2018.

Unlike fans, who have time to dwell on the past and rerun scenarios in their heads, the team is forced to evaluate what happened, make tactical changes in how things are done, get in repetitions in practice, and then try to move forward as best they can.

There are two factors that are key for the Illini.

1. The medical status of the injured – we don’t know the outcome of numerous injuries, particularly in the defensive backfield.
2. Strategic and tactical adjustments – current strategies and tactics the Illini are employing with the offensive line has not equaled the results one would expect of an offensive line featuring all returning starters. A new strategy needs to be devised, and a new set of tactics need to be implemented – and they need to achieve elevated results.

Both factors must be improved upon. Players must heal or their replacements be ready to play, and some players must learn new tricks.

The real issue is time. Can the Illini get healthy enough to win and figure out effective new blocking schemes in 6 days?

Hail Mary #1 – Cignetti’s Post Game Comments

Cignetti had two post-game comments that concerned me.

He said:

1. “I felt very confident in this game based on what I saw on film”
2. “…that’s what I saw on tape, too. I thought our defensive line could whip their offensive line and we did.”

This tells me that in Illini game film, there are tactics the Illini are doing (or aren't doing) that are clear weaknesses for opponents to exploit. A lesser coach might not see it, or a coach with a less team may not have the players to exploit it, but Curt Cignetti had the vision and the team to cut the Illini offensive line to shreds. Apparently, it jumped out on film to the extent that Cignetti came into the game extremely confident of victory.

This underscores the reality one may be able to get away with flaws when playing teams with lesser coaching staffs and lesser players, but in the B1G, you will pay for these flaws.

The Illini must find solutions to their offensive line issues. These solutions must be executed in 6 days and executed against a team that is steadily proving itself and moving up the rankings in the form of the USC Trojans. If the Illini can’t solve the issue that Cignetti noticed, this will keep happening.

Oh yes, and the Illini may need a faith healer to get their defensive backfield ready for a lethal USC offense. Or young untested players will have to step up and shock the world.

It won’t be easy for the Illini on Saturday. It is made harder when one considers the team has been forced to eat a nasty and unappealing “shit sandwich” courtesy of the Indiana Hoosiers. Will they be mentally ready to play another tough team so quickly? The answer is the Illini must be ready. The game time isn’t moving.

Hail Mary #2 – Offensive Line Schemes – Short Term and Long-Term Solutions

Whatever is going on with the Illini offensive line, game film provided the roadmap for Indiana to blow out the Illini. The way the Illini are deploying to defend against the pass rush and create holes for Illini running backs must be torn down and rebuilt – and Illinois has 6 days to do it before USC and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff land in Champaign.

Indiana has essentially diagramed a “how to beat Illinois” in their game film. They have created a template for success for all to see.

There are a few teams in the B1G who have similar levels of talent, but few play as hard as Indiana does and few will be as unified in purpose – but hoping for lesser opponents is not a strategy. A new offensive line strategy and tactics to execute this strategy are needed.

The short-term objective is to try to avoid having the Indiana, USC, Purdue, Ohio State and Washington stretch of the Illini schedule end in disaster. It won’t be easy, and this will push the limits of the football knowledge of the Illini football coaching staff and the intellect of the Illini offensive linemen, but devising and implementing a new strategy with accompanying tactics is an imperative.

In the long term, Bret Bielema needs to decide if the play of the offensive line is up to his standards. There are three components to this decision:

1. the overall quality of the play
2. if the percentage of the players overall talent developed is equal to the player potential
3. if the talent of the players on the line as a group is good enough to win in the B1G

If these numbers are lacking, then Coach Bielema needs to decide if he needs a new offensive line coach and/or does he need to be more aggressive in leveraging NIL funds when recruiting linemen.

My view as stated on the “I on the Illini” podcast #505 is when building a team, one prioritizes the offensive and defensive lines first. The rest of the team will be more successful than their rankings might indicate due to the effectiveness of the offensive and defensive lines.

This decision to focus line play and line recruiting can be a key to how high the team’s potential is in any given season and helps a team maximize its results. Offensive line performance needs to be reviewed in the off season. Budgets may need to be adjusted, and funds need to be raised. Best to get started now.

 Hail Mary #3 – What We Know

The Illini were destroyed by Indiana 65-10 in what has become the worst loss ever for a team ranked in the top 10. If anyone wants to know why Illini fans are fatalistic at heart, this would be the best way to illustrate this phenomenon to a non-believer.

We also know that the sun came up on Sunday morning. The college football season is moving forward. USC’s staff is working on their own plan to knock the Illini out of the Top 25 and they hope to do it on Fox’s signature game at 11 am central with the nation watching.

How the Illini staff and players respond now will tell us volumes about them as individuals.

There’s a part of me that says the injuries to the secondary and the results on their play could pose a bigger risk to the team than the play of the offensive line. It doesn't really matter. Either way, improvements must be made.

The Illini failed the first test of the season. Now, they have a total of 6 days to get ready for the second test and divert a disaster from happening.

How will they respond?

We will see in 6 days.