Awful Illini

We lost to Indiana. At home.

Pitiful.

But wait. We had 80 more offensive yards. We had more time of possession. How did we lose by 14?

Short answer: We had more penalties and turnovers.

This was the first Illinois game I got to watch this year, so here's the long answer:

1. Up 7-0, personal foul on our defense. Instead of 3rd and 5 from the ILL 41, it's 1st down at our 26. Hoosier touchdown four plays later.

2. Up 14-7, personal foul on our defense. Instead of 4th and 6 at the IND 31, its 1st down near midfield. Hoosier touchdown three plays later.

3. THIS WAS THE FUCKING WORST. At 14-14, Illinois defense forces a punt. Illinois muffs at it the Illini 22, Indiana recovers. Our defense doesn't let them get a first down on three plays. On 4th and 1, Indiana lines up to go for it, except everyone in Memorial Stadium knows they're just trying to draw us offsides. And what do we do. We jump offsides. Give them a first down. Hoosier touchdown on the next play.

This doesn't deserve a bullet point, but down 14-21, with 40 seconds to go until halftime, Illinois faces a 4th and 11 at the Indiana 36. I know it's 4th and long, but there's so little time left that if you give them the ball at their own 36, what can they do with it? Not anything more than we could do with it at their 36. What do we do? Punt. Touchback. Gain of 16 yards. And the kneel to halftime.

4. Down 14-21, we fumble at the ILL 22. Defense holds again, and they only get a field goal.

Down 14-24, we have first and goal at their 7. Rush to the 6. Rush to the 1. Rush to the 3. Field goal. Cut  the deficit to 7. We had two more chances to get a touchdown but couldn't move the ball. Our defense finally bends too far and allows another Hoosier touchdown.

Except for the penalties, our defense played well enough for us to win.
Our turnovers basically gave them ten points and our offense was not good enough to overcome that.

Awful.