Full Preview and Prediction for MSU's Homecoming Game vs. Illinois

And let's start now with Michigan State's offense against Illinois' defense.

Um, this has been the common joke that I've made.

I don't know if I made it on this show, but I- I get-- I went on a, an Illinois podcast earlier this week.

But it is very much a stoppable force against a very movable object, um, in this one, because Michigan State's offense is the worst in the Power Four in terms of total yardage right now.

Illinois' defense is the tenth worst, uh, in the Power Four, and they rank 15th out of 18, uh, in the Big Ten.

They fired, uh, their defensive coordinator, Bobby Hauck, uh, two weeks ago after the, after they lost to Ohio State, and it was like 49 points, uh, for OSU in this one.

Uh, you're probably not going to see a drastic change in the scheme for Illinois in this one, uh, because they, their interim DC, uh, he's by the name of Roger Cooper.

He was the in-- He was previously the, just the inside linebackers coach for them.

He followed, uh, Bobby Hauck, the- the fired defensive coordinator from Montana, uh, this past off-season.

So it's-- Yeah, you're probably gonna see a pretty similar system for Illinois, probably not seeing a real, a real large amount of changes here in this one.

And the system here is part of the interesting part of this game.

It might be the most interesting part, uh, of this game because Illinois runs a three-three-five.

Um, if you do not know, a three-three-five is three defensive linemen, three linebackers, and then five defensive backs pretty much every snap.

Sometimes they'll go to a four, you know, a four-man defensive front.

But, like, that is a little unusual to see a team kind of ex- run that type of system on a snap-by-snap basis, and this is the first year, and probably the only year, that Illinois is doing this.

Uh, Bret Bielema, their head coach, kind of explicitly said in the off-season, I, I think it might have been during Big Ten media days, that it was simply because he couldn't afford enough defensive linemen.

They, like he-- I think he said they'd used a bunch of their NIL dollars on keeping their offensive line together or getting offensive linemen.

Uh, and you know, it was budget constraints for them, which, you know, you don't often see a coach just openly say that kind of thing.

But that, that is why.

That is part of the reason why they went to a three-three-five.

And I guess you could say it really hasn't worked, 'cause, you know, the defensive coordinator has been let go already.

Uh, and there's a bunch of, you know, [chuckles] there's changes going on right now.

But as for where Illinois ranks, uh- Uh, uh, defensively, they're fine against the run.

Uh, 128, 6.8 yards per game on the ground allowed, that is 12th in the Big Ten.

3.62 yards per carry allowed, that ranks 11th in the Big Ten.