It’s Sunday morning, the Illinois football team is up 2-0 and has a top 20 win on its schedule. Crazy.
Going into the 2024 season, I didn’t expect the Illini to win this game. In my preseason predictions, while I expected Illinois to lose the game against Kansas, I still expected us to win eight games this season.
You know what that means? The sky’s the limit for this program. The game was a rollercoaster. Illinois’ defense looked great, but our offense struggled to move the ball most of the game.
Despite some offensive struggles, both of the Illini’s special teams and defense kept us in the game. Illinois finally got some offensive momentum going and we ended up winning the game 23-17.
The 2022 Illinois football team was so memorable for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons was the tenacity of the defense.
This team had some incredible defensive backs that scurried around and caused chaos. I didn’t see that style of play from the Illini last season as most of those defensive backs left the team. On Saturday night I finally got to see that style of defense resurface.
Illinois’ defense looked great against Kansas, led by cornerback Xavier Scott, who delivered a game for the ages.
Scott finished the game with eight tackles, all of which were solo. That’s incredible considering he had at least eight one-on-one situations and won them. The next best on the team was three solo tackles.
Scott’s dominance wasn’t limited to tackling, however. He could be found all over the field.
Kansas dominated the first series of the game. As they reached the halfway line, Scott intercepted a pass from Jalon Daniels. This helped change the momentum.
Daniels tried to get to Scott several times throughout the game, and I’m pretty sure the only catch that bothered him was the little touchdown catch in the red zone.
And then, just before halftime, Scott makes a great interception that leads to a touchdown. It was a masterpiece by Scott. Illinois wouldn’t have won without him. It was one of the best games I’ve seen from an Illinois player in my life.
