Stats don’t lie: Paddock, Newton shine in Illinois’ win

It was the number 4s. On both sides of the ball.

Nobody even knew that John Paddock came on the field, even on his first pass, the announcers thought it was Luke Altmyer still under center.

(start at 4:05)

With all the talk of sneaky replacements last week, Illinois executed this to perfection. Lunney snuck Paddock right into the game and Paddock delivered.

With the season this offense has had, it had to click at some point.

I think it took 539 minutes for it to click, but when it finally did on 4th and 11 on our own 15, boy, did that offense look beautiful.

And that’s really what I have been saying all season. This offense is good.

Let me explain using the chart below.

At no point did Illinois have a meteoric rise in cumulative PPA. Last season, this team was creating negative plays every play. This season the Altmyer effect reared its head and…