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Illinois Football: Breakdown of the Win Against Murray State
The Illinois football team started the season off by beating the Murray State Racers 52-3.
I was impressed by the Illinois Fighting Illini in this game on both sides of the ball. Here is a breakdown of the game quarter-by-quarter.
Leading Passer: Wes Lunt – 15/21, 226 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Leading Rusher: Kendrick Foster – 4 carries, 118 yards, 2 TD
Game Ball: Lovie Smith
1st Quarter
The first quarter came to an end and things couldn’t be going better for the Illini.
In my opinion, the Illinois defense was the highlight of the first quarter. They intercepted KD Humphries in his first two drives of the game.
Wes Lunt was also quite impressive. He threw for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first quarter.
The 2 touchdowns that were thrown by Lunt were to Malik Turner. He has 3 catches for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns already.
Ke’Shawn Vaughn has also been impressive. He has carried the ball 7 times for 29 yards.
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The 2 interceptions for the Illini were by Taylor Barton and Julian Hylton.
2nd Quarter
Illinois didn’t do a ton on the offensive side of the ball in the second quarter.
The only player to really bust out in this quarter was backup running back Kendrick Foster.
Foster broke off two huge runs and finished the second quarter with 4 carries for 118 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The defense is what really has impressed me so far. Lovie Smith has this team tuned into what he wants to do.
The Illini defense continues to swarm to the ball and puts a hurting on any player who catches or attempts to catch a ball.
3rd Quarter
In the third quarter, the Illini followed the script of the rest of the game.
The big offensive play of the quarter was a 30 yards touchdown pass from Lunt to Desmond Cain.
This touchdown pass gave the Illini a 42-3 lead over Murray State and signaled the backups into the game.
Once again, I was impressed with the Illinois defense for shutting down the Racers. They were extremely impressive through the first three-quarters.
4th Quarter
The fourth quarter was just an exhibition of what the Illinois backups had in them.
Reggie Corbin started the quarter off with a 1-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the quarter. That was followed up by a field goal at the 8:44 mark left in the game.
It was fun seeing what some of the younger players could do. Illinois fans had the privilege of seeing running back Tre Nation and quarterback Chayce Crouch.
On the defensive side of the ball, Illinois freshmen Tymir Oliver had a chance to play, among other backups.
The backups are fun to watch because this is usually the only time they see any action.
Illinois started this game off well and finished by winning 52-3 over Murray State.
The game ball has to go to Lovie for this game because he has brought such hope and optimism to the Illinois football program that we haven’t seen in years.
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