Illini game notes; Gaudin, Butt, Pizzo for BTN

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• Illinois national ranks:
1st in scoring defense (8.0),
1st in touchdowns allowed (3),
1st in passing efficiency defense (80.7),
2nd in red zone defense (55.6%),
3rd in total defense (227.8),
3rd in rushing defense (67.2),
4th in fourth down defense (12.5%),
6th in first downs allowed (74),
6th in takeaways (14),
6th in third down defense (26.4%),
7th in interceptions (9),
9th in passing defense (160.7)

• Illinois is the only school in the nation that has yet to allow a touchdown at home this season.
• Illinois has allowed 221 rushing yards over 142 rushes in the last five games (1.6 yards/rush).
• Illinois has allowed only three touchdowns on 79 opponent drives and only one in the last 53 drives. The Illini lead the nation in fewest touchdowns allowed. Indiana is the only opponent to score points on back-to-back drives against Illinois this season.
• Illinois has at least one interception in all six games this season and has an interception in nine straight games dating back to last season. Six different Illini have an interception this season.
• Illinois has held four straight opponents to less than 100 rush yards and 0 rush TDs.
In the playoff era, only four teams have had longer streaks: 2016 Alabama (6), 2021 San Diego State (5), 2016 Michigan (5), and 2015 Michigan (5).
• During Illinois’ five wins, opponents have a third down conversion rate of 19.4% (14-72).
• 11 different Illini have a sack this season, tied for the third-most in the nation.
• Illinois has allowed only 10 second half points and only seven points in fourth quarters.
The Illini are outscoring opponents 64-10 in the second half.
 

GEORGE MCDONALD ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/WIDE RECEIVERS George McDonald enters his second season at Illinois in 2022. McDonald returns to his alma mater following six seasons at N.C. State and with experience in three Power-5 conferences and the NFL. McDonald began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ball State before earning his first full-time position at Northern Illinois from 2001-03.

While in DeKalb, he coached First-Team All-MAC receiver, and current Minnesota head coach, P.J. Fleck, second-team All-American Dan Sheldon, and All-American Darrell “The Thrill” Hill.

McDonald was a four-year letterwinner at receiver for the Fighting Illini and completed his Illinois football career with 57 receptions for 589 yards and four touchdowns. He led the Big Ten in kickoff return yardage in 1996 (736) while returning 57 kickoffs for 1,276 yards (22.4 avg.) during his career. McDonald also ran track his freshman and senior years, earning All-Big Ten honors his senior year when he set an Illinois record with a time of 6.74 in the 60 meters, a mark that still ranks seventh on the Illini top times list, to win the 1999 Big Ten Indoor Championships 60m title. He earned his bachelor’s degree in health planning and administration from Illinois in 1999. He and his wife, the former Heather Anderson, have two sons, Roman and Maverick.

BART MILLER OFFENSIVE LINE Bart Miller enters his second season at Illinois in 2022, after joining Bret Bielema’s coaching staff for the second time. He comes to Champaign-Urbana after two successful seasons as offensive line coach and offensive run-game coordinator at Wyoming. Miller’s first full-time coaching position came as the offensive line coach at Wisconsin under Bielema in 2012. He took over the offensive line unit in September of 2012 after serving as a graduate assistant coach the previous season at Wisconsin. The Badgers ranked No. 13 in the nation in rushing offense in 2012, averaging 236.36 rushing yards per game. Wisconsin won its third straight Big Ten Championship that season, defeating Nebraska 70-31 in the Big Ten Championship Game, and played in a third consecutive Rose Bowl. At Wisconsin, Miller coached First Team All-Big Ten selections Travis Frederick (center) and Rick Wagner (left tackle) in 2012. Miller played football and graduated from Elk Grove High School in the Chicago area prior to completing his bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from New Mexico in 2007. He obtained a master’s degree in education from New Mexico State in 2011. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Miller and his wife, Amy, have two sons, Barrett and Gunner.
 

Last year's game:
Category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ILLINOIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . MINNESOTA
First Downs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Rushes-Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-185. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-89
Passing Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Comp-Att-Int. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-10-0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-30-2
Total Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Punts-Avg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-43.7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-44.8
Kickoff Returns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Penalties-Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-72. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-35
Fumbles-Lost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0
Sacks By. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Third-down Conv.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 of 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 of 13
Time of Possession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30:20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29:40
 

• Illinois chancellor Robert J. Jones had a 34-year career at the University of Minnesota, where he began as a plant physiologist in the department of agronomy and plant genetics and rose through a series of academic administrative appointments, serving as senior vice president for academic administration at the University of Minnesota System from 2004 to 2013.
 


3rd down vs WI: 3-13
3rd down vs IA: 4-16

4th down vs WI: 1-2
4th down vs IA: 3-3
 

ALL-TIME SERIES vs. MINNESOTA Series: Illinois trails, 31-40-3

• Illinois associate head coach/outside linebackers coach Kevin Kane is the only assistant coach in the booth during games (of the 10 full-time assistants).
 
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swingman said:
GEORGE MCDONALD ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/WIDE RECEIVERS George McDonald enters his second season at Illinois in 2022. McDonald returns to his alma mater following six seasons at N.C. State and with experience in three Power-5 conferences and the NFL. McDonald began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ball State before earning his first full-time position at Northern Illinois from 2001-03.

While in DeKalb, he coached First-Team All-MAC receiver, and current Minnesota head coach, P.J. Fleck, second-team All-American Dan Sheldon, and All-American Darrell “The Thrill” Hill.

McDonald was a four-year letterwinner at receiver for the Fighting Illini and completed his Illinois football career with 57 receptions for 589 yards and four touchdowns. He led the Big Ten in kickoff return yardage in 1996 (736) while returning 57 kickoffs for 1,276 yards (22.4 avg.) during his career. McDonald also ran track his freshman and senior years, earning All-Big Ten honors his senior year when he set an Illinois record with a time of 6.74 in the 60 meters, a mark that still ranks seventh on the Illini top times list, to win the 1999 Big Ten Indoor Championships 60m title. He earned his bachelor’s degree in health planning and administration from Illinois in 1999. He and his wife, the former Heather Anderson, have two sons, Roman and Maverick.

BART MILLER OFFENSIVE LINE Bart Miller enters his second season at Illinois in 2022, after joining Bret Bielema’s coaching staff for the second time. He comes to Champaign-Urbana after two successful seasons as offensive line coach and offensive run-game coordinator at Wyoming. Miller’s first full-time coaching position came as the offensive line coach at Wisconsin under Bielema in 2012. He took over the offensive line unit in September of 2012 after serving as a graduate assistant coach the previous season at Wisconsin. The Badgers ranked No. 13 in the nation in rushing offense in 2012, averaging 236.36 rushing yards per game. Wisconsin won its third straight Big Ten Championship that season, defeating Nebraska 70-31 in the Big Ten Championship Game, and played in a third consecutive Rose Bowl. At Wisconsin, Miller coached First Team All-Big Ten selections Travis Frederick (center) and Rick Wagner (left tackle) in 2012. Miller played football and graduated from Elk Grove High School in the Chicago area prior to completing his bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from New Mexico in 2007. He obtained a master’s degree in education from New Mexico State in 2011. Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Miller and his wife, Amy, have two sons, Barrett and Gunner.
Click to expand...
I wonder why Bart Miller's resume doesn't show Minnesota in 2016?
 

swingman said:
Last year's game:
Category. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ILLINOIS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . MINNESOTA
First Downs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Rushes-Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48-185. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35-89
Passing Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Comp-Att-Int. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-10-0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-30-2
Total Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Punts-Avg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-43.7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-44.8
Kickoff Returns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Penalties-Yards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-72. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-35
Fumbles-Lost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0
Sacks By. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-31. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Third-down Conv.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 of 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 of 13
Time of Possession. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30:20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29:40
Click to expand...
Morgan flat out cannot turn the ball over. Illinois is not going to let Mo run wild on them. They will do everything they can to stop the run as they know most likely if you make Morgan throw 25-30 times, he will let you have a couple picks.
 



Among the truly impressive defensive game notes is that Illinois basically doesn’t allow rushing touchdowns. Also, Illinois is allowing only 1.6 rushing yards per opponent attempts. Moreover, Illinois has allowed only 10 points total in second halves this year, while scoring 64.

Gophers haven’t won in the past 30 games in which they were down at some point by 10 points. Gophers’ record is abnormally abysmal in games in which they trail at halftime. Gophers record under Tanner is great when he attempts fewer than 30 passes, not so great when he attempts more than 30. We just aren’t much of a comeback team in recent years. Our plodding, clock strangling pace is great when we’re ahead but problematic when playing from behind.

Illinois strategy will probably be the same as last year: score early and thwart the Gophers’ run game. Force the Gophers to (1) come from behind (2) relying on the passing game—our least effective mode.

Our defense has to be good from Illinois’ first drive. No easy, early TDs. Don’t give Illinois an early two-score lead. That plays right into BB’s game plan. If our Offense can establish the run, and then the RPO, keeping the blitz crazy Illini defense off balance, we could undo some of Illinois’ gaudy defensive statistics.

This could be one hell of a game, so long as we don’t fall too far behind early. No “it’s only 3 points” freebies in this game, PJ, please.
 

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