Previewing Cincinnati’s Week 2 Opponent: The Fighting Illini Of Illinois

(Courtesy Times Union)

It’s the second week of the football season, Cincinnati’s second Big Ten opponent, and simultaneously potentially their second straight dominating performance of the year. The Illinois Fighting Illini football program is a shell of itself. In the last decade they’ve completed a season with a winning record just three times. Current head coach Tim Beckman aims to buck that trend but didn’t get off to a strong start in 2012. With a depleted roster, the Illini went 2-10 and threw up a goose egg in Big Ten conference play. Their only wins of the year were over FCS Charleston Southern and Western Michigan from the MAC. In Illinois’ other remaining games, they surrendered an average of 38 points on defense. Wow.

Remember, this is the Big Ten not the Big XII. That ain’t good.

However the 2013 season has started off on an encouraging note with an 8 point win over Southern Illinois. They didn’t exactly run them off the field but after a double-digit losing season the year prior any sign of progress has to be taken with acceptance from the fanbase.

Let’s get to a deeper breakdown of Cincinnati’s next

opponent

victim.

OFFENSE

The Illinois offense begins and ends with senior Nathan Scheelhaase. He’s been the quarterback for the last three seasons and aims to go out with a bang. He took a huge step towards that accomplishing that goal on Saturday by passing for over 400 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Salukis. When Scheelhaase stays upright, he’s as dangerous of a passer as there is in the Big Ten. But the problem is his offensive line is downright terrible. They surrendered five sacks on Saturday and a Big Ten worst 39 in 2012. Clearly they haven’t made the necessarily improvements in the offseason. Scheelhaase can air it out with the best of them but if his offensive line can’t protect him the Illini will be morbid offensively this year.

At runningback Illinois sports a two-headed attack of Josh Ferguson and Donovonn Young. The former is the regular back and the latter the change of pace, short yardage back. Again, though, Ferguson and Young are hindered by an offensive line that struggles to provide them with ample running lanes. Against Southern Illinois the pair rushed for just 55 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. That won’t get the job done. At wide receiver the Fighting Illini boast experience at all key spots in seniors Ryan Lankford, Spencer Harris, and Steve Hull as well as junior Martize Barr. Clearly Nathan Scheelhaase has a wealth of talent with which to distribute the football.

DEFENSE

Illinois’ weakness on the offense is the lineman and their counterparts on the other side of the line of scrimmage are the weakness of the defense. The Fighting Illini’s front four is large and experienced but continue to struggle to get penetration. Illinois didn’t record a sack yesterday and Saluki quarterback Kory Faulkner had ages to throw. It allowed him to air it out for 312 yards and three touchdowns. Fortunately the linebackers are a bright spot on this defense. Jonathan Brown and Mason Monheim provide a strong presence at the second level. The latter even paced the team with 86 tackles as a true freshman in 2012. If the entire front seven can mesh, it could be an area of strength for Illinois.

The secondary was in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten giving up about 193 passing yards per game in 2012, although they allowed quarterbacks to complete 62.5% of their passes and picked off the ball just seven times. It’s still early but giving up over 300 yards and three touchdowns to an FCS quarterback leads me to believe that they’ve regressed from last season to this year. Part of that might be the experience of Faulkner but getting torched like they did on Saturday certainly doesn’t make this secondary look very good.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Illinois boasts a pretty dangerous returner in V’Angelo Bentley who took a kickoff to the house last weekend. Overall the Fighting Illini might struggle on areas of offense and defense but this guy could create a spark for them at anytime this weekend. The punting duties fall on the shoulders of Justin DuVernois who boasts the 42nd highest average in the country. Additionally, Taylor Zalewski is the lone place kicker after Nick Immekus left the program. He made two of three field goals and all four extra points last Saturday against Southern Illinois.

PREDICTION

Illinois appears to be a slightly better version of Purdue. They’re talented at quarterback and linebacker but have major questions along both lines. This along with the fact that Cincinnati will playing on the road makes this a more difficult task for the Bearcats. But at the end of the day the Fighting Illini will experience the same fate as the Boilermakers.

Cincinnati: 39

Illinois: 17