Illini's pursuit of offensive perfection includes better execution in critical moments

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Sep. 30—CHAMPAIGN — Jordan Anderson wasn't just stuffed on a third-and-short run play to start the fourth quarter of this past Saturday's game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Illinois running back was thrown backward for a 2-yard loss. A play later, Katin Houser's pass to Brayden Trimble was swatted away by Ohio State safety Jaylen McClain for an Illini turnover on downs.

A 13-play drive in a two-score game that delivered zero points. On the heels of another 13-play drive that ended with a 44-yard field goal from Ethan Moczulski after three consecutive incompletions from Houser.

Two drives that could have changed the dynamic of Illinois' matchup with the then-No. 7-ranked Buckeyes. Two drives that, instead, kept the Illini's shot at a major upset out of reach.

"I thought we increased our intensity," Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. said. "I thought our execution increased. Those were all the positives. The negatives were we didn't score when we had the opportunity to score. We left several points and point-scoring opportunities on the board through just not executing quite as well as we did in those other moments. There's a fine line between winning and losing, and we were on the other side of that.

"I came away with some confidence in knowing that against a really good defense, when I put our guys in a good spot and we execute really well, good things can happen to us. When we don't, just like any other offense, you're going to struggle."

Lunney's play-by-play review of Saturday's 42-19 loss at Ohio State was revealing. Of the approximate 70 plays Illinois ran against the Buckeyes, the Illini coordinator said all 11 players were in sync on 70 percent of them. Plays that were sometimes stuffed by the Ohio State defense but were also responsible for almost 440 yards of total offense.

The other 30 percent? That's where the execution faltered. In critical moments. A group of 20 plays that generated roughly 20 yards.

"We can go compete with anybody in the country," Houser said. "We know that by playing (Saturday). We just didn't execute in those critical moments. That's what's killing me the most probably because we could have won that game. We just didn't execute when the moment needed it the most.

"It's obviously frustrating. On those third and fourth downs, we have good plays. It's just a little miscue here and there — a missed throw, a missed catch, penalties. You just can't do that stuff."

Illinois' 462 yards of total offense were the most against Ohio State since Oregon had 496 in a 32-31 victory on Oct. 12, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. That was against former coordinator Jim Knowles' defense. The Buckeyes have allowed just 214.5 yards and 9.4 points per game the past 18 games under current defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

The Illini cleared both — easily — but still couldn't pull the upset at the Horseshoe between clear defensive struggles and just enough lapses in execution offensively.

"Having (462) yards on Ohio State is good, but we didn't score any points," Illinois wide receiver Ty Robinson said on Tuesday. The Ball State transfer caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Houser with 6 minutes, 2 seconds to play Saturday, but the touchdown happened with Illinois trailing 35-13 at the time.

"We don't want any of those moral victories," Robinson continued. "We have to finish in the end zone, but what we did see at Ohio State was a really good thing to build on. We have to just keep doing that week after week and just keep holding our standard."

Illinois (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) returns to action this Saturday against Purdue (1-3, 0-1) ranked eighth in the conference and 52nd in scoring offense nationally at 34.0 points per game. The Illini are also 59th in total offense (419.8 yards per game) and 59th in third-down conversions (42.9 percent).

The sticking point has been what happens when Illinois hits the red zone. The Illini currently rank last in the Big Ten and 124th nationally out of 138 FBS teams by scoring on 72.7 percent of its red-zone conversions. That's eight scores — seven touchdowns and one field goal — in 11 opportunities.

Those would be the critical moments where execution has wavered.

"This is going to sound like a coaching answer, but it's fundamentals," Illinois quarterbacks coach Art Sitkowski said on Tuesday. "It's throwing, it's catching, it's blocking, it's footwork (and) it's all those little things that amount to big things. The detail within those little things that amount to big things. Fundamentals win and lose football games."

Lunney doesn't expect his offense to be perfect. That's what every team pursues, but the fifth-year offensive coordinator — the longest tenured in the Big Ten — understands the imperfect nature of the game coached and played by imperfect people.

Getting 70 clean plays out of 70 against Ohio State would have been unrealistic.

"If you just went out there and lined up on air and put trash cans or dummies standing up there, I would hope we could run all 70 of our plays super clean," Lunney said. "But guess what? The other side gets to change what they do and how they look and how they fit and where they blitz from and what fronts they get in and out of and what coverages (they use)."

That doesn't mean, however, that Lunney will stop pushing his offense to reach perfection. Where he doesn't want them to fall short, though, is from mistakes they create.

Getting out-played in certain areas by Ohio State? That's understandable, but helping the Buckeyes through missed assignments or breakdowns in communication isn't.

"There's some complexities that's just part of the give and take of football," Lunney said. "The main message for me is we're always pushing to see how many plays that you get can you execute all 11. If you get 10 out of 11, usually it's not going to go real well. You've got to have 11 doing their job on offense to be fully functioning. It's making sure our guys understand we can't allow those things to happen because of us.

"We did so many good things (Saturday) in that area, but, man, it just wasn't good enough against a good football team because of those breakdowns. I think they see that and understand that now more than ever. We've just got to work forward to try to purge those, especially when we can control those."

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