The Champaign Room · Sep 1, 2019
Illinois’ Week 1 win was its best in years
Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports The season opener for Illinois finally — for the first time in several years — did not leave me with a pit in my stomach. It appears that this team (and Lovie) is determined to not barely beat a horrible Kent State team or need a blocked field goal to avoid going to overtime against Ball State.
What did we learn from this game? Quite a bit, but we also need to keep in mind that Illinois played a bad Akron team. This isn’t even the same 4-8 team that managed to beat Northwestern last year. This is a two, maybe three win team. Still, Illini fans certainly saw some encouraging things on the field.
The defense looks (somewhat) improved.