OSU looks to avenge the loss last year in Columbus. Illinois ran down the clock, and at the time crushed OSU's dreams of making the National Championship game. However, as we all found out, last year was a strange year, with two loss LSU making it to the Championship game, and the Heisman winner not even getting his team to the conference championship game.
This year, Illinois is not surprising anyone, and key losses at RB and LB have exposed weaknesses on this team. Juice leads the Big Ten in yards thrown, but he also has fourteen interceptions. The running game is missing first round pick Mendenhall, which allowed Illinois to create some open passes, as teams would load up the box. The defense has really brought down this team, and it is clear the graduation of LB Lehman has made a big impact on this unit. Illinois may score 31.4 points/game, but they also give up 26.2 points/game, so there is not a lot of room for error.
Illinois tends to play well against OSU, most recently the loss by #1 OSU last year, the squeaker by OSU two years ago, and the overtime victory of Ohio State at Champagne during the 2002-2003 National Championship season. Despite the scoreboard last week, the OSU offense is still not running on all cylinders. The O-line does a good impression of swiss cheese, and the team is scoring only because Pryor and Beanie can evade defensive players. Hopefully another week of practice will allow the O-line to work together. Look for Pryor to have big day, throwing over 200 yards and getting 50 on the ground. Beanie will get 130-160 yards on the ground. Illinois will likely lose by 2-3 touchdowns, unless they can bring back some of the magic from previous OSU-IL matches.
No comments:
Post a Comment