Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer had hardly dropped back before his field of vision was filled with crimson.
The game was still very much in play here in the closing minutes of the first quarter. The Fighting Illini just put together a scoring drive with a long touchdown pass thanks to a blown coverage in the Indiana secondary. Scoring was clearly possible, so this game felt almost winnable.
Then Indiana’s defensive front parted the Illinois line like a revolving door and Hoosier linebacker Isaiah
Jones was in Altmyer’s face before his receivers could cut. Jones wrapped up Altmyer by the waist and spun him into the turf and got up swinging, throwing a fist to the air in triumph as the crowd roared in Memorial Stadium.
Indiana’s defensive front treated the Illinois offensive line like a sieve all night, sacking the quarterback seven times and adding ten tackles for loss to boot.
Asked about this performance postgame, Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti was anything but surprised. He’d reviewed the film from Illinois’ road win over Duke and identified that weakness.
“I mean, put the Duke game on,” Cignetti said. “The same thing happened. The difference in that game was Duke turned it over five times. They got to them right off the bat beginning of the game four or five times. And I thought we could too.”
Duke lost that game 45-19, letting up a handful of leverage plays in the process that Illinois was more than happy to capitalize on. But the Blue Devils got four sacks on the day with ten of their own tackles for loss. If they could do that, surely the Hoosiers could to.
Fitted with a reloaded defensive front and a wall of Hoosier fans on every side, Indiana laid a four-quarter beatdown on Illinois that saw Altmyer face constant pressure and plugged any gaps before the Illini halfbacks could take advantage.
Illinois finished the game with just two rushing yards. That can be attributed to Indiana’s success getting to Altmyer and the pass becoming all but the only option for a comeback. Six different Hoosiers ended the game with at least a share of a sack. Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino led the way with two apiece.
“I thought our defensive line could whip their offensive line, and we did,” Cignetti said. “They came out and played with tempo early. And give him time to throw he’s going to get the ball where it’s gotta go. But I think the sacks were huge, the blocked punt got us going. And then they couldn’t stop us. They couldn’t match up on the perimeter. And then we broke their will and just pounded them.”
