1. Lots of offensive line discussion after the game (warranted). Kreutz had a couple poorly timed and noticeable errors that brought up a lot of negative attention, but the main concern is the guards. Gesky put up a 0.0 pass block rating yesterday: (a) that's really hard to do and (b) incredible after he put up a starting stretch of pass blocking rates of 83.2 - 72.2 - 82.9 - 86.0. Going into last night he was the team's best pass blocker. Was PSU doing something schematically that will spell out future issues with him? Or was this because superior talent was lined up across from him? The other issue is Crisler. I've shared my thoughts on him before so I won't belabor the point so I'll stick to the stats. His PFF grade has regressed every week and it was never in a good spot.
2. Grateful the issues are interior offensive line instead of the tackles, as there are more replacement options. Wigenton played yesterday and performed well (small sample size). Whitenack did okay but didn't do well against Nebraska (again, small sample size). The staff has shown a lot of loyalty to Crisler. He's only put up one game over 2.5 years of starting that is rated 70+ on PFF. If it's me, I'm coming out against Purdue with a starting offensive line of Davis - Gesky - Kreutz - Wigenton - Priestly.
3. 1st down run success has been awful all year. Altmyer & Bryant/Franklin have masked a lot of those issues, which has allowed Illinois to continue "working" on their run game. PSU was a different beast and made Illinois pay for their sins.
4. Altmyer has been excellent and I'm hate to besmirch his improved season. The issue is when he feels pressure, his eyes come down permanently. It's a tough thing to improve in-season, so let's hope next offseason that he can take the mechanical steps to evade the pocket and start re-scanning downfield. I am concerned that teams will start bringing more and more pressure earlier in the game
5. The risk for defenses to bringing more pressure is Bryant and Franklin are deadly and it increases limited coverage on one or both of them. I'm sure teams see the benefit of pressuring Altmyer (galaxy brain take here: pressuring the QB is good!) but the risk has been too much with Illinois providing good pass protection. Now that Illinois' offensive line had their nose bloodied, maybe teams will start to re-consider (hence the importance to re-kindle the week 1-4 magic).
6. Defensive line was finally bullied. First game where it felt like I was begging to borrow the Law Firm for a handful of important snaps. It was bound to happen and I was thoroughly impressed with Penn State's running backs. Those dudes are cannon balls. TeRah rated well, Sledge well in limited snaps. There's still some hope there but it's going to be a sore spot all year.
7. I feel less confident about the Michigan game after this outcome. Michigan is going to follow the same blueprint as PSU in the second half and bully ball it the entire game. Penn State is the superior team because they can do things in the passing game that Michigan can't, but I'm sure UM is satisfied to see their approach was proven as a successful option tonight.
8. That final possession of first half was a soul crusher. Bad snap was inappropriately timed, but it happens. After that, the staff seemed determined to run the ball to make sure Penn State didn't get another crack before halftime instead of optimizing play call to score a TD. I understand the decision-making, and there were other poorly-timed penalties that created the outcome, just not sure I understand the lack of aggressiveness when you're QB has been playing so well all season and there were big warning signs that Penn State was going to start running at will in the second half.
9. Saw some complaints about the lack of athleticism at LB coming home to roost. A couple thoughts about that: (1) we've had a recent history running gag about Illinois being in contention for a 4*, athletic LB late in each recruiting cycle and never, ever landing them. Adeoye, Rolder, Cheeks, Merlin Robertson, now likely Alford, all were recruits that the staffs recruited to the final whistle and lost to other programs. It's been an issues. (2) That said, I don't think it's the biggest issue because moving Bailey down into the box provides an (athletic) solution, and it's something we'll likely see more often to alleviate the run defense concerns.
10. Glad to repeat this one: Illinois has been relatively healthy this year, especially in-season. I'm sure some guys are nursing injuries, so the bye week will provide some relief in other ways.
