Illinois Football: Opening Thoughts Against North Carolina
The Illinois football team moves on to week two after a blowout win against Murray State.
While Murray State had a few good players, the Illinois Fighting Illini are going to be in for a little tougher matchup in week two.
This week the Illini welcome in the North Carolina Tar Heels.
North Carolina is a pretty good football team that fell to an even better Georgia team this past week 33-24.
New starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky didn’t have a good game only throwing for 156 yards and no touchdowns.
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The running game was the main thing that kept the Tar Heels in the game against the Bulldogs.
Backup running back TJ Logan led the way for North Carolina with 80 yards on 6 carries. He also added a touchdown as well.
Starting running back Elijah Hood still had a solid game as well. He rushed 10 times for 72 yards but failed to find the end zone.
Even though Illinois played well against the Racers they still have to watch out for North Carolina’s running game. This is what killed the Illini in this matchup last season.
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Hood ran all over Illinois in 2015 when the Tar Heels won 48-14. He rushed the ball 16 times for 129 yards and a touchdown.
Illinois also had to deal with their quarterback Marquise Williams who ran for 105 yards on 9 carries.
The one thing I am thankful for is that Williams graduated. But, Trubisky did rush for a touchdown against Georgia so the Illini have to be cognizant about him running as well.
North Carolina has a ton of weapons on the offensive side of the ball. Trubisky has the running game and he also has a stable of wide receivers.
Ryan Switzer, Austin Proehl, and Bug Howard all returned from 2015. These guys could be dangerous this weekend.
The Tar Heels had a pretty good defense last year too. They only gave up 14 points to the Illini, but I think it is clear what Illinois needs to do this time around.
Georgia’s Nick Chubb ran for 222 yards on 32 carries and he also added 2 touchdowns last week against North Carolina.
Their backup running back, Brian Herrien, had 7 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown.
What does this all mean? It means the Illini need to feed the rock to Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Kendrick Foster.
These two running backs are going to be the workhorses on Saturday. The offense runs through them, pun completely intended.
Running the ball will also keep the football out of the hands of the North Carolina offense. This will help control the game for the Illini.
I think it is pretty clear what the Illini need to do to win this game. Keep the North Carolina offense off the field and run the ball down the Tar Heels throats.
This is a pretty simple game plan and if they execute it then success should follow.
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