Each week during the college football season, Orange and Blue News will break down the top performers for the Illini in each game according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).
PFF is a website that focuses on thorough analysis of the NFL and NCAA Division-I football.
PFF produces 0-100 Player Grades and a range of advanced statistics for teams and players by watching, charting and grading every player on every play in every game both at the NFL and FBS level.
TOP PERFORMERS
BRANDON PETERS, QUARTERBACK (86.1). This is a season-high score for Peters, who's previous high grade from PFF was 66.5 against Charlotte. He was at his best on the intermediate routes (10-19 yards) with a 91.0. The throw to TE Daniel Barker down the seas and the deep ball to Isaiah Williams over the top were probably his best throws of the season.
RODERICK PERRY, DEFENSIVE TACKLE (76.1). Perry didn't have big numbers with 5 total tackles, but he was disruptive and won the majority of his one-on-one battles. This was his highest graded game since a 78.3 against Maryland. He continues to be a solid tackler, with just 4 missed tackles the entire season. Against Rutgers, he was credited with 3 quarterback hurries.
VEDERIAN LOWE, TACKLE (75.7). Lowe should get some All-Big Ten consideration. He had a couple of average games in the middle of the season against Purdue and Maryland, but has other wise been stellar. All four of his sacks allowed on the season were in those two games. On Saturday, he allowed zero sacks and 1 quarterback hurry.
JULIAN PEARL, TACKLE (74.9). Pearl's 84.9 pass blocking grade led Illinois. The shift of Alex Palczewski to guard and starting Pearl at right tackle has worked out well. Pearl's length and lateral movement are a better fit on the outside. On Saturday, he allowed zero sacks or quarterback hurries. Pearl is a candidate for most improved Illini of the season, and that bodes well for next year.
DEVON WITHERSPOON, CORNERBACK (72.9). Witherspoon did an excellent job against talented Rutgers receiver Bo Melton. All of Melton's 5 catches came on the other side of the field or on short routes against linebackers. Rutgers threw away for Witherspoon. His man was targeted just 3 times and had zero receptions. His 71.8 PFF in pass coverage was a season high. We want to see DC Ryan Walters blitz Witherspoon more. He's a great pass rusher (91.2).
ISAIAH WILLIAMS, WIDE RECEIVER (70.4). Williams finally got a deep ball thrown his way, and the result was a 52 yard touchdown on a strike from Peters. It's hard to understand why he was targeted just 4 times in the game. No defensive player who tried to check Williams had a PFF over 60.7. Two were under 50. Which means Williams was open a lot but didn't get the ball thrown his way. According to PFF, this was his best game since catching 8 passes for 101 yards against UTSA.
Not yet a premium member? Sign up now and get a 30-day FREE trial. Click on the promo below to get started. Enter promo code ILLINI30.
WHAT WE LEARNED
* Taking the game out of the hands of Brandon Peters only makes sense if he was hampered by the injured throwing hand. He banged it on the helmet of a teammate and there was a small cut. If he was okay to throw, then the play-calling snafu is all on the Illini coaching staff.
When Peters has protection, he has the arm talent to make throws down the field. On 20 drop-backs, he had a clean pocket 12 times and completed 10 of 11 passes for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns. He made a few plays under pressure as well, but he's a totally different quarterback with a clean pocket.
* Rough day for the running backs. Watching the game then reviewing the film, we felt the running backs missed a lot of cut-back lanes. The PFF scores bare that out. Chase Brown (54.5) and a banged up Josh McCray (49.4) both had subpar outings. Brown was coming off of spectacular game against Penn State (90.3).
Of course, the Rutgers defense had something to do with that. The Rutgers front got penetration up the middle and bottled things up. Illinois center Doug Kramer had a 55.3 run blocking grade, his second lowest of the season (47.6 vs. Wisconsin). The issues up front freed up linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi to make plays, and he led Rutgers with 8 tackles.
It was a perfect storm: a good game plan by Rutgers, an off day for the Illini backs, and subpar performance by the offensive line in the running game.
* Rutgers QB / RB duo of Noah Vedra and Isaih Pacherco gave the blueprint for beating Illinois on the ground. Vedral is crafty with the football, and the read option and bend plays froze the Illinois linebackers. It's not an easy running game to read and react against. Dual-threat QB's have been a thorn in the Illini's side over the last several seasons, and Vedral averaged 9.2 yards on the ground.
This game was a setback for Inside backers Khalan Tolson (52.3) and Tarique Barnes (59.7), who had both stepped up their play in recent weeks. Barnes did lead Illinois with 11 tackles, but many of those stops were after a significant gain. One positive is that Illinois had just 5 missed tackles, but the ILB's combined for 3 of those.
