As I've taken some time to digest, I'm so frustrated because this team looks considerably better in nearly every aspect from last year...except O-line. Again, we're one game in so we have a very small sample size for this team, but the D-line looked like they could actually generate pressure, the secondary looked very strong, albeit against a pretty mediocre QB and as a whole the defense seemed to play with much more of an edge than last year(not blaming last year's defense considering what the offense looked like).
Camper was a delightful surprise and Idk about y'all, but I can see why DJ Matthews was a top 60 recruit coming out of HS. Bazelak also looked really solid in his first start, able to make most throws accurately but more importantly, didn't panic and throw the ball at the first target he sees when under pressure(only interception bounced off the wide receiver's hands). There were some questionable calls from Bell, I hated the read option call on 3rd and 7 in the 4th quarter with an O-line that's been dominated the entire game and a pocket passer at the helm. But overall, I thought the offensive looked far more creative and cohesive than they did all of last year and that is a really well coached Illinois defense.
Now the elephant in the room, the O-line. At best, the pass protection was mediocre and the run blocking was just pathetic. I said Illinois has a solid defense and I meant it, but they don't have a talented enough front seven for it to be acceptable to average 1.67 yards per carry(not including Bazelak's runs/sacks). That's not losing the line of scrimmage, that is simply being dismantled to a lower tier conference opponent. Almost everyone on this board said it at the end of last year, and even casuals are asking, WTF is wrong with this O-line.
It's really a bummer because I think every change Allen made looked like it panned out in week one, but what felt like the most obviously needed change(outside of getting rid of Sheridan) didn't happen and there was no improvement year over year. When I say this team is an O-line away, I don't mean that we would be playoff or B1G title contenders, but I could absolutely see an 8-4 or 7-5 season with a few surprise upsets. As it is, I still feel like we'd be lucky to make a bowl game. I keep saying we'll see, but we all know Allen would've been well within his rights to fire Hiller after last season. If Ryan Day or Nick Saban were our HC, Hiller would've been gone the night of the Purdue game. Such a strange hill for Allen to die on, but here we are nine months later, shaking our heads and thinking the same thing, how could Hiller be brought back?!?!
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