CHAMPAIGN, IL—After all the chaos that was last week’s loss to the Duke Blue Devils, fingers were being pointed in all directions.
The main culprit at hand? The defense. More specifically, the tackling – or lack thereof.
But it isn’t just me saying it; head coach Bret Bielema looked in the mirror and was open and honest about the issue in his post-game presser.
So, the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-1) had to take care of business as they boasted an impressive 57 tackles with six tackles for loss, which accumulated to –26 yards for SIU (2-2) en route to a 48-10 win for the Illini at Gies Memorial Stadium.
And while they may not be your average B1G offense, SIU isn’t a slouch by any means.
In their last three games, the Salukis have gone off for 1,196 total offensive yards. That comes out to an average of nearly 400 total yards of offense. Yet against the Fighting Illini, they could only muster up 257.
And for a team averaging 198 rushing yards a game, only letting up 29 yards on their defense speaks to the quick improvements Bobby Hauck and this 335 defense have made.
Bobby Hauck and Co had themselves a day, but they weren’t the only ones making an example out of the Salukis.
Offensive Obliteration
As if they were feeding off the energy the defense had set, Barry Lunney Jr’s offensive unit came out swinging, with their first drive ending in a one-yard rushing touchdown by 5th year running back Jordan Anderson.
After SIU answered back with a touchdown of their own, the offense lit up and had three touchdown-scoring drives, including an absolute dime of a 45-yard pass from Gies Memorial Stadium favorite tandem duo, Katin Houser and Colin Dixon.
This duo has been grabbing headlines all season long, but for Dixon, today was about breaking records as he tied and then went on to break the single-season record for most touchdowns scored in Gies Memorial Stadium with 7.
And what better way to make history than in front of the 83rd sellout crowd.
Dixon may have been leading the receiving core with touchdowns, but Houser was quite generous when it came to dishing the rock out to the rest of the receivers. Including hitting Hudson Clement five times for a total of 69 yards and Brayden Trimble five times for a total of 57 yards.
Getting a bounce-back win of any capacity is always nice, but to blow out an opponent at home and have both sides of the ball play at such high-level showcases that there is still so much more football to play and that one loss isn’t the end-all-be-all.
Check this out
A game with such a drastic score difference means a whole lot of highlights we’ll be rewatching for quite a while.
The record-breaking 27-yard touchdown that brought Dixon up to eight touchdowns on the season
As slippery as butter on a piping hot skillet. Folks, take a good look at the longest run from an Illini since 2021!
Having Bailey on the field is like playing against 13 players instead of 11
Stat stuffers
Houser: 23/29, 305 Yards, 2 Passing Touchdowns, 1 Interception
Laughery: 4 Carries, 93 Yards, 1 Rushing Touchdown
Clark: 7 Total Tackles, 5 Solo Tackles, 2 Pass Breakups
Next on the agenda
With non-conference play done and over for the Illini, they travel to Athens to take on #6 Ohio State at Ohio Stadium next Saturday and will be shown on FOX as part of Big Noon Kickoff.
