On the positive side first:
1. Hull was obviously the star of the show. Strong running, broke through tackles, and showed good straight line speed on the long run. Not the most nimble RB but he does the rest of it well. Not sure he'd be able to run away from B1G DBs like that but I'll take it.
2. OL did a pretty good job run blocking against stacked boxes.
3. I thought the secondary did a good job in coverage. 2 picks and it felt like it could have been more. Like to see BJo get on the board, even if it is on a bit of an easy bounce it still counts. Most of the passes were short stuff in front of the zone coverage, and a lot of it was over the middle (preview for below, but where our LBs were responsible). Their QBs combined had 5.2 ypa on 32 attempts (190 total yards), with 0 TD / 2 Int.
The negatives:
1. Man it looks to my non-expert eyes that our LBs are struggling. Bad at tackling, bad at taking angles. And really bad in coverage. It's like in zone they just stand there stationary and don't really pay attention to the crossing WRs until after the ball has been thrown. I know someone said it's the secondary's fault for poor run support, but I watched closely today and I'm firmly on the side of our LBs are not good right now. At this point I'm guessing if there was someone else to slot in then Fitz would try it, but I wouldn't mind new faces back there, 32 and 40 are not getting the job done and I thought even Bergin had a bad day today.
2. OL pass blocking was very disappointing. We continue to struggle with picking up blitzes, poor job of communication and passing defenders off.
3. A bit hard to see on TV, but looked generally like there wasn't much of separation from our WRs today. Granted we didn't try to pass much after the first few drives (except in obvious passing situations), but would be nice if our players could get open against Ohio U DBs.
4. Hilinski was not exactly impressive. He didn't lose the game for us, I'll say that, and the game plan hamstrung him to some extent. Also see above to #3, which makes his job harder. But we will likely need to be able to throw the ball to beat almost any non-Illinois B1G opponent. Personally I'm hoping Marty was hurt today and might be available next week because he seemed to show more spark.
5. Outside of Adebawore, I don't see anyone else getting much of a pass rush. This is a concern. I basically just watch him in the throwing situations, the other guys only get pressure when the QB rolls into them it seems.
6. That last play... just annoying.
Coaching-
1. I realize it's Fitz being Fitz and it is what it is, but would have been nice to get Hilinski some more reps throwing in live game action. When we only throw on 3rd and obvious it doesn't give him a chance to get into a rhythm and feel good against B1G competition when we will need him to (if Marty isn't available). Why not try to find out what we've got with him? Doubt this would have made a difference, but maybe if we'd have given Hunter more "real" reps against IL St he would've had more had more confidence and not have collapsed so sharply against Duke.
2. The Wildcat is a nice touch. It works well against opponents that are outmatched at the point of attack. At some point though we have to throw in a wrinkle out of that set. Like if you don't trust Tyus to throw, then maybe hand the ball off once or try some jet motion? Lining up and doing the same thing every time out of that formation isn't going to work against the B1G West (again maybe excluding Illinois).
3. On D, our scheme looks similar to last year. I think it's the execution that is poor. Hopefully it can improve...
More negatives than positive, even if it was a 35-6 win.
Go Cats!
1. Hull was obviously the star of the show. Strong running, broke through tackles, and showed good straight line speed on the long run. Not the most nimble RB but he does the rest of it well. Not sure he'd be able to run away from B1G DBs like that but I'll take it.
2. OL did a pretty good job run blocking against stacked boxes.
3. I thought the secondary did a good job in coverage. 2 picks and it felt like it could have been more. Like to see BJo get on the board, even if it is on a bit of an easy bounce it still counts. Most of the passes were short stuff in front of the zone coverage, and a lot of it was over the middle (preview for below, but where our LBs were responsible). Their QBs combined had 5.2 ypa on 32 attempts (190 total yards), with 0 TD / 2 Int.
The negatives:
1. Man it looks to my non-expert eyes that our LBs are struggling. Bad at tackling, bad at taking angles. And really bad in coverage. It's like in zone they just stand there stationary and don't really pay attention to the crossing WRs until after the ball has been thrown. I know someone said it's the secondary's fault for poor run support, but I watched closely today and I'm firmly on the side of our LBs are not good right now. At this point I'm guessing if there was someone else to slot in then Fitz would try it, but I wouldn't mind new faces back there, 32 and 40 are not getting the job done and I thought even Bergin had a bad day today.
2. OL pass blocking was very disappointing. We continue to struggle with picking up blitzes, poor job of communication and passing defenders off.
3. A bit hard to see on TV, but looked generally like there wasn't much of separation from our WRs today. Granted we didn't try to pass much after the first few drives (except in obvious passing situations), but would be nice if our players could get open against Ohio U DBs.
4. Hilinski was not exactly impressive. He didn't lose the game for us, I'll say that, and the game plan hamstrung him to some extent. Also see above to #3, which makes his job harder. But we will likely need to be able to throw the ball to beat almost any non-Illinois B1G opponent. Personally I'm hoping Marty was hurt today and might be available next week because he seemed to show more spark.
5. Outside of Adebawore, I don't see anyone else getting much of a pass rush. This is a concern. I basically just watch him in the throwing situations, the other guys only get pressure when the QB rolls into them it seems.
6. That last play... just annoying.
Coaching-
1. I realize it's Fitz being Fitz and it is what it is, but would have been nice to get Hilinski some more reps throwing in live game action. When we only throw on 3rd and obvious it doesn't give him a chance to get into a rhythm and feel good against B1G competition when we will need him to (if Marty isn't available). Why not try to find out what we've got with him? Doubt this would have made a difference, but maybe if we'd have given Hunter more "real" reps against IL St he would've had more had more confidence and not have collapsed so sharply against Duke.
2. The Wildcat is a nice touch. It works well against opponents that are outmatched at the point of attack. At some point though we have to throw in a wrinkle out of that set. Like if you don't trust Tyus to throw, then maybe hand the ball off once or try some jet motion? Lining up and doing the same thing every time out of that formation isn't going to work against the B1G West (again maybe excluding Illinois).
3. On D, our scheme looks similar to last year. I think it's the execution that is poor. Hopefully it can improve...
More negatives than positive, even if it was a 35-6 win.
Go Cats!
