Illinois has to start getting its wide receivers open

If one thing is lacking in Illinois’ offense, it is the inability to get the ball into open space. This is an issue in the run game and a big, big, big issue in the passing game.

In the run game, open lanes are created when the RB has the vision to find the lanes or when the offensive line can manhandle the defense and create that open space in the middle and get to the second level. This is incredibly difficult to run with a young running back room and a young offensive line.

That is why you see most of the big runs come on broken plays when Luke Altmyer makes a play with his feet. But this, unfortunately, isn’t sustainable.

Against a run-first team like Illinois, opposing defenses crowd the box, making this even more difficult. They stay close to the line of scrimmages, limiting the opportunity to break it to the outside.

But despite its youth, Illinois is fairly successful at generating positive plays — see the predicted points chart below: