Gameplan

Welcome back to The Call Sheet!

Week 4 of the college football season was jam-packed: six ranked teams lost, and six games went to OT (one of which involved ranked teams). Rather than looking at the losses, we’ll dive into how #24 Illinois dominated the overtime period in their win over #22 Nebraska on Friday night. TLDR:

• Cover 1

  • Illinois Executes In OT

Cover 1

Illinois Executes In OT

A new trend might have started last week as we look at yet another Friday night showdown between ranked teams.

24th-ranked Illinois went on the road to face 22nd-ranked Nebraska in what turned out to be a back-and-forth affair. Regulation ended with both teams knotted at 24, but the game quickly turned in Illinois’ favor once overtime began.

Nebraska won the coin toss and elected to go on defense first, which is typically seen as an advantage since they would know precisely how many points they would need to tie or win the game. However, what ensued is likely not what they envisioned.

Illinois Offense

The Illini were unphased by the fact they would trot out their offense first in overtime. Illinois, needing just two plays to score a touchdown, pushed the pressure back onto Nebraska.

On 1st & 10 from Nebraska’s 25-yard line, Illinois ran a very simple drive opener by calling inside zone to the weak side (away from the tight end). Kaden Feagin took the handoff from Luke Altmyer and cut off the tight end’s back side to gain twenty-one yards, putting the Illini on the 4. He was sprung free primarily because Nebraska only had five defenders near the line of scrimmage. Additionally, Feagin found green grass to the offense’s left because Nebraska did not have an edge defender on that side of the formation. The initial three-high look from Nebraska was weak against the run. It appears the Cornhuskers were anticipating an intermediate to deep passing play with the version of Cover 4 they ran.

Illinois’ head coach, Bret Bielema, is known for running a smash-mouth style of offense. He used his reputation to his advantage on 1st & Goal from the 4-yard line. The Illini had 12-personnel on the field, which kept Nebraska in their base defense. But Illinois broke the huddle and lined up in a 22-personnel formation that put a safety in the middle of the field in man-coverage against the X receiver lined up as a full back. The Illini called a play-action power pass that allowed Pat Bryant to run free into the flat for his second touchdown reception of the night. He found himself wide open thanks to the Z receiver running into the safety responsible for covering Bryant, cutting him off from making a play on the ball.

Illinois Defense

In most instances, Nebraska would still hold the advantage of knowing how many points it needed to tie or win the game in overtime. Aaron Henry, Illinois’ defensive coordinator, thought otherwise.

Nebraska shot itself in the foot to open the drive. The Cornhuskers committed a false start penalty and then followed it up by giving up a 9-yard sack. Illinois didn’t do anything special: ran cover 3 with a simple stunt by two defensive linemen. The T/E stunt was effective, though, as the defensive tackle occupied both the guard and tackle, allowing the end to curl underneath to tackle Dylan Raiola in the backfield.

On 2nd & 24, the Illini would sack Raiola again! This time around, Henry dialed up some heat by calling a cover 1 five-man pressure. With every receiver locked up in man-to-man coverage, Raiola had nowhere to go with the ball, and with the pocket collapsing, he found himself running backward for a massive loss.

After gaining a few yards back on 3rd down, Nebraska faced 4th & 29 from Illinois’ 44-yard line. Knowing the Cornhuskers needed to gain a mile to convert essentially, Henry dialed up a 6-man pressure paired with a prevent version of cover 1. Nebraska had enough players to block the Illini defenders, but the running back missed his assignment as he focused on the boundary end. The will linebacker raced through the A-gap and immediately sacked Raiola, ending the game.

Although Illinois dictated the final sequence while they were on defense in overtime, Nebraska’s true freshman star quarterback, Dylan Raiola, can learn from this struggle. On 1st down, he could have quickly checked the ball down to his running back to gain a few yards. On 2nd down, he could have avoided a sack by throwing the ball away. Lastly, on 4th down, he could have ensured he’s protected by telling the running back exactly who he is responsible for in pass protection.

Expect Raiola to be better in high-pressure situations moving forward and recognize that Illinois is for real. The Illini now have two ranked wins and will be looking to secure a third next week against Penn State.

If you’re new, you can catch up on previous posts here. Thank you all for spending a little bit of your day with me. See you next week!