We look at how Illinois’s interior run game has been planned against through three weeks and what offensive coaches, specifically Illini offensive line coach Bart Miller, have elected to try as a counter.

Matt Stevens, IlliniGuys Staff Writer

September 16, 2024

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Through three games into the 2024 season, Illinois currently sits 14th in an 18-team Big Ten Conference and tied for 73rd among 134 Football Bowl Subdivision programs in rushing offense.

If, according to fourth-year head coach Bret Bielema believes the first thing good football teams do is run the ball, Illinois (3-0) has survived three straight victories to start this campaign not meeting the overall standard of the leaders of the program.

The obvious question is why. We’re going to use the start of this film review of the Illini’s 30-9 victory over Central Michigan on Saturday to determine exactly the problem and how easily the solution can be as the No. 24 Illini embark on a showdown in Lincoln, Nebraska between two ranked teams in the Big Ten opener at No. 22 Nebraska.

According to Pro Football Focus data, Illinois has attempted 99 called run attempts in its three games (quarterback scrambles and sacks do not factor in this but do factor in rushing statistics in college football). Of those 99 designed runs, 54 of them have resulted in what PFF refers to as “stops” or failures of the offense. This signals a direct correlation to an idea that defenses have philosophically decided to actively take something away from the Illini playbook and force them to have success with something completely different. What is being taken away is the inside zone runs in the ‘A’ gap between the center and either guard position.

After having no success running directly behind center Josh Kreutz through the first two victories against Eastern Illinois and Kansas, Illinois simply ditched much of any concerned attempt at inside zone carries against Central Michigan. According to Pro Football Focus data, Illinois attempted just eight of its 26 rushes between the left guard and right guard on Saturday producing a grand total of eight yards.

We look at how Illinois’s interior run game has been planned against through three weeks and what offensive coaches, specifically Illini offensive line coach Bart Miller, have elected to try as a counter.

On this 3rd and 1 play above to Kaden Feagin that barely goes for the first down, you can see that Illinois gets no push and no opportunity at a double-team block on a Central Michigan defensive lineman because there’s too many defenders in the middle to account for by Illini offensive lineman. Kreutz and Hunter Whitenack (at right guard) and Josh Gesky (at left guard) are stood up at the line-of-scrimmage and Gesky is even pushed back by half of a yard on the play.

In the eight interior runs that Illinois attempted, Central Michigan put at least four defenders in the ‘A’ gap on each of those attempts. The common argument is Kreutz is the one getting blown off the field, but the 290-pound fourth-year offensive lineman is actually stood up on every one of those eight interior run attempts (which is not good) in a one-on-one matchup. The specific problem with that is not that Kreutz didn’t get a one to two-yard push (which would be nice) but because Bart Miller has instituted a zone blocking scheme on most of the run attempts, Kreutz is actually designed to help with a double-team situation after the snap to create a hole or crease for the running back to hit but because there’s too many defenders in the ‘A’ gap, the double-team is impossible and the running back can’t do find that initial crease to get to the second level of the defense.

Gesky had a very ineffective game on Saturday as the offensive lineman who looked the most dominant in preseason camp was being consistently dog-walked one or two yards into the backfield by one of the defensive tackles in Central Michigan’s four or five-man front. Gesky also had issues getting to the perimeter fast enough to make the counters and pin/pull action as effective as it needed to be as he was consistently beat to the spot or missed his spot of the crack block that allows the tailback to turn the corner and get north and south on these runs. Hunter Whitenack’s three snaps of run blocking weren’t as impressive as the third-year player would like and Zy Crisler was probably the most effective in moving or at least turning (without holding) his defender in a one-on-one situation, the Mississippi native is not able to have the conditioning to finish his block with effectiveness as the game gets further in the second half.

In the Kansas game, it was felt that the tailbacks (Feagin and McCray) weren’t hitting the hole created fast enough and that’s why Illinois turned to freshman Ca'Lil Valentine in its four-minute situation to get the margin to six points in their final offensive drive.

In the Central Michigan game, Illinois elected to attempt to get out on the perimeter with its run game with more counters and pin/pull action with the guards and center than you’ve seen out of Illinois since Bielema’s first season in 2021.

On Saturday, Illinois totaled 112 yards on 15 carries targeted toward or around the right end and most of that was the pin/pull variety of getting a guard and sometimes even a tackle (mostly Melvin Priestly in that instance) swinging from side to side searching for a defensive end trying to set the edge and a linebacker moving laterally from the middle of the defense to clean up the counter play or off tackle run. The tailback that was the most effective on Saturday in these longer developing run attacks was Josh McCray and this shouldn’t come as a surprise as the counter game dating back to 2021 was always more effective for the 235-pound running back from Enterprise, Ala., who was Bielema’s first ever high school signee to the Illini program.

McCray, who finished with 54 yards on eight carries, got 51 of those yards and two runs of 10 yards or more on play calls designed to go outside of the right tackle or left tackle.

Illinois finished Saturday with all six of their big runs (of 10 yards or more) outside of the tackle box and were able to create six missed tackles on those perimeter runs because Central Michigan was forced to move laterally with its second and third level of defense - something the Chippewas were not as effective with instead of moving north and south downhill with its middle linebacker and free safety in run fits).

Nebraska, which after three games against University of Texas at El Paso, Colorado and Northern Iowa is 17th among FBS programs in stopping the run at allowing just 70.33 rushing yards per game, has a choice with its defensive front. Either continue to mockup what EIU, Kansas and Central Michigan are doing and force Illinois to find perimeter alleys to have success in the run game or try to widen their rushing box and believe their interior defensive tackles can handle the Illini guard rotation and Kreutz’s physicality on their own in the middle.

It’ll be interesting how Illinois offensive line coach Bart Miller, who grew up in Omaha with parents who regularly attended Nebraska home games during his youth, will anticipate what Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White will do because the 2023 Illini offensive line wasn’t as experienced and athletic to handle scheme changes in a short week of preparation or in-game adjustment like this 2024 offensive line was sold at doing.

Lunney + Altmyer Stuck with Intermedia Throws Saturday After Showing Deep Ball vs. Kansas

The one problem CMU found, especially in the first Illini drives of either half, in stuffing the ‘A’ gap like they did on Saturday was the RPO action of Luke Altmyer to the outside receivers (Pat Bryant or Zakhari Franklin) on a simple 4 to 5-yard slant route.

After we documented last week that Illinois was very proficient in its deep ball accuracy with Altmyer and the outside receivers, CMU had its corners and deep safety playing with more cushion than normal on Saturday. The cornerbacks were typically lining up two to three yards deeper than Illinois had seen all season and there was a reason you never saw the field safety (or strong safety) in the television window pre-snap. Therefore, Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. elected to continue having Altmyer in the shotgun or pistol looks for most of the game (which is interesting because I do wonder if Illinois will have its quarterback under center more against Nebraska to help the run game on dive plays and even toss plays - which is something they did show in preseason camp) but had most of its effective play game come after RPO actions and quick throws by Altmyer.

In pass protection, Illinois’ tackle combination of Priestly and J.C. Davis weren’t having their best performance on Saturday, so quick throws were the only way to make sure Illinois had an effective play-action pass attack.

Altmyer was 10 of 13 for 153 yards in the center of the field from 1-10 yards out on Saturday suggesting the idea (especially coming out of halftime) was to call quick hitters to Bryant and Franklin and allow them to break tackles for extra yards after the catch. This plan also alleviated the CMU blitz calls as both of Altmyer’s touchdown passes to Pat Bryant came as a result of Illinois effectively picking up the blitz or Altmyer identifying the unblocked man and delivering the football effectively.

Alec Bryant Shines Without Getting Highlight Reel Statistics

The defensive gameplan for Illinois was actually very simple Saturday. The pass rush needed to come from three specific situations. First, TeRah Edwards did an excellent job getting vertical up the field even against a double-team block causing the CMU pocket blister and Chippewas quarterback Joe Labas to roll right or left. Second, and this is where Illinois caused most of its damage Saturday, was on the outside edge rushers being effective in allowing the quarterback to roll into them instead of sometimes in 2023 when they would break containment on their rushes and allow the quarterback a lane to scramble or a view downfield to throw.

Yes, Seth Coleman and Gabe Jacas both had very effective games on the outside, but third-year edge rusher Alec Bryant emerged in this game with the ability to showcase pass rush skills. The former transfer from Virginia Tech, who was Bielema’s first addition from the transfer portal since his arrival in Champaign, finished Saturday with four quarterback hurries and won his matchup in eight of his 13 pass rush snaps scenarios. Bryant being effective in this role allows Jacas to move inside with his hand in the ground and also allows for in future games to not have to rely on Coleman and Jacas to play every defensive snap of a game.

What Bryant’s emergence also does is allow for Illinois to not have to blitz as much but still be effective in its four or five-man bear front. Labas was just 6 of 12 for 66 yards with two sacks when Illinois didn’t send any extra rushers at the quarterback on Saturday.

Illini Offensive & Defensive Snap Counts vs. Kansas (via Pro Football Focus)

Offense - 60 total snaps

QB - Altmyer - 60

RB - Feagin - 33

RB - McCray - 19

RB - Valentine - 10

RB - Anderson - 1

WR - Bryant - 49

WR - Franklin - 44

WR - Dixon - 19

WR - Beatty - 12

WR - Elzy - 11

WR - Hollins - 11

WR - Wilcher - 10

WR - Capka-Jones - 9

TE - Arkin - 49

TE - Boyer - 13

TE - Jake Furtney - 4

OL - Priestly - 60

OL - Kreutz - 60

OL - Gesky - 60

OL - Davis - 60

OL - Crisler - 51

OL - Whitenack - 9

OL - Henderson - 8 (all of these snaps were in the barge package with him as the extra OL)

Defense - 65 total snaps

DL - Briggs Jr. - 46

DL - Bray - 28

DL - Farrell - 23

DL - Warren - 17 (also played some NT)

DL - Holmes - 11 (also played nose NT)

NT - Edwards - 42

NT - Sledge - 5

NT - Angelo McCollum - 2

LB - Rosiek - 39

LB - Kreutz - 22

LB - Meed - 21

LB - Kenenna Odeluga - 9

LB - Luke Zardzin - 4

OLB - Coleman - 55

OLB - Jacas - 52 (Also played at DL)

OLB - Bryant - 20

OLB - Barna - 10

OLB - JoJo Hayden - 7

CB - Patterson - 38

CB - Terrance Brooks - 25

CB - Cox Jr. - 23 (Also played at Nickel)

CB - Jaheim Clarke - 7

Nickel - Xavier Scott - 58 (Also played outside CB)

Nickel - Tyler Strain - 16

Safety - Miles Scott - 58

Safety - Bailey - 58

Safety - Resetich - 7

Safety - Saboor Karriem - 7

Safety - Tyson Rooks - 5