By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

November 5, 2024

Illinois is a good team.  They probably deserve to be ranked this year and their several big wins this year were earned.  However, many Illini observers might have lost track of Minnesota's resurgence this year and not realized that Minnesota was a very worthy competition for the Illini this year, even at Memorial Stadium.  So, when Minnesota out-schemed and out-executed the Illini on Saturday, the Gophers came away with the well-deserved win.  I'm going to start this week's article with the clips of Illinois' offense on the day and since I'm a "good news first" kind of guy I'll show you clips of Josh McCray's two big runs.  I'm so happy to see that Josh McCray has finally gotten healthy and is producing like we all know he could, especially because he provides an element to the running game that Illinois sorely needs.

On this first play, Illinois runs a classic counter play out of an extended line of scrimmage with three tight ends on the play side.  Some might think that McCray ran to daylight here after making a decision on his own, but I'm sure that this play was drawn up just as it was run, with the entire line and Illinois' two best blocking tight ends all using leverage angle blocks to the right while McCray takes a step to the right and pauses in order to set up the blocks and then runs into the planned hole on the left.  McCray's action in starting to the right means that Illinois doesn't need to block Minnesota's middle linebacker, ironically also number six Maverick Baranowski.  I chose this rear version clip so you can see just how well this hole opens up and how Baranowski is in an impossible situation because if he takes two steps toward what he thinks is the play side, he has no way to get through that mass of humanity and make a play on his opposite number.  Really, the only player who has a good opportunity to stop this play is outside linebacker #45 Corey Lindenberg.  However, he puts himself in position for Tanner Arkin to wash him out of the hole and Josh McCray has a huge gain that is more about the play call than his ability.

However, the opposite is true of this next play.  This is all about Josh McCray's ability and toughness.  Tanner Arkin is coming across the formation to kick out the defensive end but he misses about as badly as a player could ever miss.  However, McCray steps through that tackle and simply overpowers the outside linebacker before stepping out of the safety's attempt and finding nothing in front of him but green turf.  Note that Arkin does a great job finding work by blocking the outside linebacker on his side after missing his first assignment.  It takes some maturity and intelligence to continue attempting to help the play as best you can rather than stopping or trying to make an out of position block that will get called a penalty.

The bad news on the day is that Illinois had real problems pass blocking despite the fact that Minnesota doesn't have a robust pass rush and didn't even bring extra rushers on most plays.  Melvin Priestly had just been beaten the play before and was very lucky not to get called for holding, and then he gives up the most important sack of the game.  You can see Priestly lose his balance just a bit as he's making his pass rush set, but he also gets his hands and feet out of synch and allows his man to control the action.  The result is awfully predictable.  I've covered this ad nauseum, but Altmyer's extended throwing motion creates a huge problem too.  Really, he should just take a deeper set-up on every play rather take shorter sets and run this risk.  Plays like this are bound to continue to happen.

The offense generally played winning football on Saturday though, but I can't say the same for the defense.  That's not a knock on the players, it was more about the coaching.  I just wanted to highlight this one briefly because I wrote so much about gap control and setting the edge last week, yet Gabe Jacas fails to do that early in the game.  Darius Taylor did a nice job employing patience and vision on this one to allow Jacas to take himself out of position so he can gain the edge.  This is just bad defense by Jacas as he gets over-focused on the lineman opposite him rather than worrying about his assignments first.  Note that James Kreutz just fires into the line as well without diagnosing the play at all.  Unlike Jacas, he breaks off his block and adjusts but its too late.

This was two plays later, and unfortunately it was the ugliest rep of the day for the run defense, as Taylor actually has two enormous holes to choose from, and Kreutz ends up flat on his back.  This is blocked up well, but its primarily about the play call.  Illinois lines Ryan Meed up on the outside together with Seth Coleman, but of course that leaves the middle wide open and Minnesota play caller Greg Harbaugh Jr.  (no relation) anticipated that with this power run up the middle.  Once again Darius Taylor's patience was a factor too as the half second that he pauses allows the orange sea to part before him.

I would be remiss if I didn't include a highlight about what I thought was the biggest factor on Saturday: Minnesota's efficient passing game.  Illinois has a great secondary and they played well on Saturday, but even without gaudy numbers, Minnesota's passing offense was really impressive in its timing and route combinations, especially in the middle of the field where Max Brosmer had easy options for big gains.  Brosmer is limited physically, but he executes so well that it doesn't matter.  Illinois brings five rushers on this play including the delayed blitz and they are making good progress.  However, Brosmer counts the defenders and knows exactly where to go.  Plays like this seemed to be constant on Saturday, and I thought it was the difference in the game.  Minnesota just called a better game, and their players executed better.  It happens.

Illinois gets a much needed week off before facing Michigan State in the last home game of the year, so I'll see you in two weeks.  Thanks for reading!