It's tough to draw a narrative from watching ostensibly the same game a second time. Sure, there was a sharp contrast between the returning prowess of V'Angelo Bentley in each game, and the Illini offense came out with some different looks from what we saw against Kent State.

But just like against the Golden Flashes, the Fighting Illini defense destroyed everything Western Illinois tried to do. And now we get to talk about what it means.

DEFENSE

1.8

A little over a week ago, the venerable Bill Connelly, SB Nation's college football stats and analysis guy, dove deep into the importance of returning starters and experience in CFB.