Iowa Football vs Illinois Fighting Illini: Four Players to Watch
Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Four players to watch when Iowa and Illinois play this weekend
It’s almost been a week and Iowa football‘s win over Michigan last Saturday still doesn’t feel real. Still, Iowa needs to refocus and be ready for Illinois on Saturday. There are two winnable games left on Iowa’s schedule, which would give the Hawkeyes a chance to finish the season with nine wins. This week, Iowa sets their eyes on the struggling 3-7 Illinois Fighting Illini.
Everything about this week screams let-down game. The Hawkeyes are coming off their biggest win in years, the game starts at 11 a.m. and they’re on the road against a three-win team when almost all the students are home for Thanksgiving break. Iowa can’t let-up this week, though, because Illinois has taken advantage of teams who overlook them.
This is more than a winnable game for Iowa, although they can’t go in overconfident after taking down the third ranked team in the country. Besides, as poor as Illinois has played this year, they have shown flashes of solid play and glimmers of hope. The Illini might not have the star power that Michigan or Iowa does, but they do have playmakers on each side of the ball that can impact the game and sway the momentum in favor of Illinois.
Here’s a look at four players who have a chance to impact the game the most this week when Iowa and Illinois take the field.
Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
QB, Wes Lunt
58.4 CP%, 862 Passing Yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT
After missing four weeks, Wes Lunt threw eight passes in a blowout loss to Wisconsin a week ago and will to start against Iowa on Saturday. In a season that has gone completely wrong for Lovie Smith‘s team, one thing that remained constant is injuries to his quarterbacks. Chayce Crouch and Jeff George Jr each started during Lunt’s absence, yet none offered the same passing attack.
Despite only playing four whole games and parts of two, Lunt still leads Illinois in pass attempts by 43 over George. When considering how often Illinois has been down this year, it’s telling of how little Illinois trusted George and Crouch. Lunt doesn’t offer the same mobility as Crouch, but he is clearly their best option at quarterback, nonetheless.
Lunt has completed 58.4 percent of passes this season, including at least 59 percent against Western Michigan and Nebraska before getting hurt. Iowa has to game plan a lot differently with Lunt under center, to say the least.
It’s not to say that Illinois’ 112th ranked scoring offense will turn into even a top-50 offense, or that Lunt will tear apart Iowa’s defense, but the passing game becomes more prevalent with Lunt under center.
Besides, even though Iowa held Wilton Speight in check a week ago, Trace McSorley had his way with Iowa’s defense the week before. Therefore, there is a chance Lunt, who steps up against good defenses, gives Illinois life on offense.
Either way, Illinois is much more pass-heavy with Lunt under center, and that should continue on Saturday if Iowa takes an early lead. With a banged up secondary and a defensive line that handled Michigan’s run game a week ago, look for Illinois to air it out with Wes Lunt.
Mandatory Credit: Mike Granse-USA TODAY Sports
DL/LB, Carroll Phillips
49 Tackles, 16 Tackles For Loss, 8 Sacks
Iowa’s offensive line didn’t let Michigan get to C.J. Beathard too often last week. Although consistent play hasn’t been Iowa’s strong suit this season. If Illinois pulls the mini-upset in a potential let-down game for Iowa, Carroll Phillips will play a major role in it.
Phillips ranks fifth on the team in tackles and leads the team in tackles for loss and sacks. In fact, he’s the only player on Illinois with four or more sacks, and Dawuane Smoot is the only other player with double-digit tackles for loss. After handling the multiple elite pass rushers on Michigan, Iowa will hone in on Phillips this week.
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Not to mention Phillips is coming into the game with a sack in each of his last four games. Plus, he has at least one tackle for loss in eight of Illinois’ 10 games, and at least two in five games. Simply put, Carroll makes his mark on every game and steps up against better teams.
Here’s a look at Carroll’s stats during Illinois’ five games against teams who have been ranked in the AP Poll for at least one week this season:
61.2 percent of his tackles, 52.9 percent of his tackles for loss and 62.5 percent of his sacks have come against quality teams, which only make up 50 percent of Illinois’ schedule. Good players step up in big games, and that’s exactly what Phillips does.
Iowa found success running the ball and protected Beathard enough so he could throw downfield last week. They have a chance to do the same this week if they contain Carroll Phillips.
Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
CB, Manny Rugamba
11 Tackles, 2 Interceptions
Many will remember Manny Rugamba for his clutch interception late in the fourth quarter against Michigan last week. However, the freshman cornerback played as well as anyone could have hoped for the whole game. With Greg Mabin expected to miss the rest of the season, the true freshman will have a significantly bigger role.
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With Mabin and Desmond King both seniors, Rugamba gets valuable playing time before being the team’s top cornerback option next year. Surprisingly, he leads the team in interceptions with two, but its his ball skills that are most impressive.
Wilton Speight simply had no answer for Rugamba. It was clear that Michigan didn’t want to test King and wanted to pick on Rugamba instead. Taking the challenge head on, Rugamba recorded a career-high four tackles, his second interception and his first tackle for loss. Plus, he held Jehu Chesson to a measly two catches for 30 yards.
He will have an easier task this week with King likely lining up against Malik Turner for most of the game — Illinois’ only receiver with 20-plus receptions in 2016. Still, Rugamba is a freshman with not a lot of experience under his belt. As disappointing as it is that Mabin will likely end his Iowa career injured, it does give an integral part of Iowa’s 2017 defense valuable snaps for the last four weeks of the season.
Rugamba played fantastic against Michigan, but he now needs to show that he can consistently be a contributor week in and week out for Iowa. Look at Rugamba’s production and play this week, and for the rest of the season.
Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
RB, Akrum Wadley
779 Rushing Yards, 272 Receiving Yards, 10 Total TDs
A week after looking unstoppable against the best scoring defense in the nation, Illinois will look to hone in on Akrum Wadley. Lovie Smith already singled out Wadley earlier this week, making him a point of emphasis for the Illini’s defense. That could lead to Kirk Ferentz throwing a curveball at Illinois and giving LeShun Daniels Jr more snaps, but Wadley will be a big part of Iowa’s offense either way.
If Wadley leading the team in rushing yards and ranking fifth in receiving yards — 17 yards away from tying George Kittle for second on the team — doesn’t show his versatility, then last week surely does.
A week ago, Wadley touched the ball on 28-of-36 snaps he played — 77.8 percent. That’s an insane amount that not even Christian McCaffrey reaches. It’s also telling of how good Wadley was on the ground and through the air.
This week, Iowa faces a defense that allows 4.4 yards per carry and who will be looking to stop Wadley. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Daniels take on a bigger role, but the offense goes as Wadley does. He’s one of the most underrated offensive weapons in the conference and is a spark plug for Iowa’s offense.
Illinois shouldn’t have an answer for Iowa’s offense, but no one expected Rutgers and Minnesota to hold Iowa to a mere 14 points. If it becomes a similar type of game, Iowa will try to continuously chip away at Illinois’ defense before Wadley or Daniels breaks a long touchdown run.
That being said, this is the first week that a coach has singled out Wadley. Maybe Illinois will have an answer for him, or maybe they’ll overcommit and forget about Jerminic Smith and Riley McCarron. Either way, Iowa’s offense runs through Akrum Wadley.
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