The Fighting Illini were able to take care of business on Saturday afternoon in a 38-6 win against the Wyoming Cowboys, to start themselves at 1-0 on the 2022 season, and 2-0 all time in week zero matchups.
New Offensive Coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. put on an impressive show on Zuppke Field, running up around 475 yards of total offense. In comparison, during the 2021 season, Illinois averaged 330 yards per game in total offense.
The passing game was seemingly very solid under starting Quarterback Tommy DeVito, which has been a struggle in the Illinois football program for quite some time. DeVito completed 27 passes on 37 attempts, a 73 % completion percentage, and 2 touchdowns in the air, to both RB Chayse Brown, and WR Pat Bryant.
The Illini’s overall passing attack was able to distribute the ball to 12 different receivers, 6 of which with multiple completions. This included some nice breakout moments for receivers like Brian Hightower and Pat Bryant, who both made multiple receptions for the Illini. Pat Bryant even found his way in the end-zone for a receiving score, and lead the team with 42 total receiving yards.
The star of the offense on Saturday however, happened to be Old Reliable for the fighting Illini. Star Running Back Chayse Brown totaled 3 of the Illini’s 5 touchdowns on 165 yards rushing. Brown looked dominant and healthy Saturday after multiple scores from broken tackles, and a receiving touchdown as well.
Ryan Walters’ Defense shined Saturday, and was able to take advantage of a highly inexperienced quarterback. Utah State Transfer Andrew Peasley completed only 5 of his 25 total passing attempts and no touchdowns in Saturday’s matchup for the Cowboys. He also finished the game with an eye opening 27.6 QBR. This of course is partial to the youthfulness on Peasleys experience playing quarterback, but also is a massive credit to Ryan Walters defense who did not give Peasley much room to breathe up front, or in the passing game.
RB Titus Swen created the best offensive production for the Cowboys, with 17 carries and 98 total rushing yards, to help Wyoming scratch to their way to 222 total yards of offense. Though he did have some solid rushes, the running game was never able to fully establish for the cowboys. This is a big credit to Illinois front 7, as Swen is predicted to be a stud for the Cowboys in 2022, and the star of their Offense.
The Illini were lucky to escape with very few Injuries, with Star WR Isaiah Williams leaving the field after being down after a while was announced by Coach Bielema to be “Just Cramping” and was considered to be plugged back into the game, but at that point in time the game was too far out of hand for it to make sense. Running back Josh McCray was injured to a more serious extent on Saturday where he appeared to have suffered a lower extremity injury to his leg, and is awaiting further word, however coach Bielema expressed in his post game press conference the injury appears to be “Nothing Catastrophic.”
Although it’s still very early to tell too much, Overall, the Illini impressed in their Week Zero thrashing of this 2021 Bowl Win team. “On offense, Defense, and special teams, to come out of the game the way we did, I’m excited.” Says Head Coach Bret Bielema.
The Illini will look to stretch a winning streak to 2-0 next week against Big Ten and border state Rival, the Indiana Hoosiers. This will be Game 2 for the Illini as, the Orange and Blue will look to take advantage of what will be Game 1 rustiness for the Hoosiers in a Friday night 7pm matchup. You’ll find us talking about that and more here on our Pre-Game write up exclusively on NowBN.com/Illini to get you ready for Fridays matchup. We will provide a full breakdown and prediction of Fridays game, so if you want to get caught up to date with the Illini quickly, get to the Illini Now!
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