It is hard to beat the number one team in the country. It is even harder to beat the top team in the country when teams make self-inflicted mistakes.
That was the case for the Fighting Illini today in their
34-16 loss to the No.1 Ohio State Buckeyes. Unable to get out of their own way on multiple occassions only gave way for the Buckeyes to score easy points throughout the contest.
“I tell them all the time, before you can win a football game, you gotta stop from losing,” Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said. “And we lost that game.”
It started on the first offensive drive for Illinois. Quarterback Luke Altmyer, who had not turned the ball over yet in 2025, throws behind his intended receiver, and the ball is deflected for an easy Ohio State interception.
Now the Buckeyes are able to set up shop deep in Illini territory, and it leads to the first touchdown of the game.
That was not the only time Ohio State had favorable starting field position. Entering the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes average starting field position was at their own 49-yard line.
Illinois also had two fumbles in their own territory, one from Ca’Lil Valentine and the other from Altmyer, giving an already hot OSU offense, an easier time putting points up on the board. To make matters even worse the Valentine fumble was on the first play of the drive, and the Altmyer fumble was on the second play. It seemed as if the Illini defense couldn’t stay off the field, as every time they stopped to catch their breath the offensive blunders pushed them back out onto the field.
“It was just too many things that we gave them,” Bielema said. “You can’t spot them opportunities and expect to have success.”
It was not just the offense shooting themselves in the foot, special teams got in on the action too. Long snapper Pat Mahoney, who is filling in for an injured Lane Hansen, snapped a low ball to Keelan Crimmins on a punt, where Crimmins had to bend down and catch the ball with his knee down. That of course means the play is dead, and Ohio State yet again had great field position to work with.
“When I saw we put the knee down on the punt, I’m like, ‘what else can happen?’,” Bielema said. “But if you begin to feel that way and you accept it, you’re never going to get anywhere.”
When the offense was not turning the ball over, they were able to gain a rythym. So much so that they had 3rd and goal from the one-yard line. On the doorstep of cutting into the OSU 20-0 lead, a false start pushed the Illini back to the six, and an incompletion forced Illinois to settle for a field goal. Against the top teams, leaving points on the field is not an option.
Ohio State is the better team, that is for sure. But when the Illini continue to shoot themselves in the foot, it is easy to say “what could have been”.
Some box score watchers may look at the score and see 34 Buckeyes points scored. But the Illinois defense held their own. The one problem: Ohio State scored 24 of their 34 points on drives that started inside the Illinois 40. That is a lot of ask a defense to stop, especially with the plethora of playmakers on the Buckeyes sideline.
The good news? Two things: These problems are all correctable, and the Buckeyes will be the best team the Illini face all year.
“So we fought our ass off to get to this point, right?” Bielema said. “I’m super proud of what we accomplished, but it also is a good indicator that we are nowhere close to where we need to go to get this thing to be more consistent.”
You can imagine Bielema will use the bye week to iron out the miscues and get ready for a formidable Washington team. If you take a look at the remainder of the schedule, the Illini do not have a single ranked opponent left. There is no reason, the Illini can’t run the table with five games left. And if there is one person who can right the Orange and Blue ship, it is Bret Bielema.
“We played really really bad and to lose by that score and play as poorly as we did to the number one team, and I’m not looking for anything other than like, it shows that we can do this, right?” Bielema said. “But we can’t give away freebies.”
