The Fighting Illini fell to North Carolina 48-23 Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd at Memorial Stadium. Tar Heels quarterback Mitch Trubisky passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 59 yards to lead UNC to the victory. Illinois falls to 1-1 on the season.
TURNING THE TIDE
Quarterback Wes Lunt had one of the roughest games of his Illinois career, completing just 17 of 35 passes (48.6%) for 127 yards. Lunt also had a critical fumble that gave the Tar Heels the ball at the Illinios 19-yard line with under a minute remaining in the first quarter. A 6-yard rush by TJ Logan followed by a facemask penalty on Illini linebacker James Crawford set up a Trubisky touchdown that put the Tar Heels on top to stay, 17-14. Lunt fumbled three times, losing one.
IT WAS OVER WHEN
Illinois had one of many unforced errors on 4th down at the North Carolina 24-yard line with 7:29 remaining in the game. Running back Kendrick Foster was called for illegal motion, and the Tar Heels took over leading 38-23. Two plays later, Elijah Hood rambled 62 yards for another North Carolina score, and the fans began to head for the exits. Illinois was penalized 13 times for 99 yards in the game.
KEY STATS
Illinois converted just 7-18 chances on third down, which one of our keys to the game. One of the issues is the lack of versatility at the quarterback position. Illinois can’t throw multiple options at defenses. On third and long, they can play pass. On third and short, they can load up in the box and play press coverage.
Though North Carolina wasn’t great on 3rd down (5-12), they consistently made plays that extended drives and took the heart out of the Illini defense.
A conservative estimate of UNC starting field position puts them near their own 40 yard line. Consistently giving the Tar Heels a short field proved fatal for the Illini. North Carolina had touchdown drives of 19 yards, 57 yards, 58 yards, and a field goal on a 13-yard drive that started at the Illinois 37-yard line.
ILLINOIS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ke’Shawn Vaughn rushed 15 time for 121 yards, including a 65-yard touchdown run on the Illini’s first possession of the game. Vaughn showed more wiggle this week and better vision. He bounced some runs to the outside and finished his runs off with power.
ILLINOIS DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME
Cornerback Jaylen Dunlap was a bright spot for the Illinois defense. He held the edge against the run, finishing with 6 solo tackles, most of them coming one-on-one in space. Dunlap had 8 tackles total and a tackle for loss. Middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson had double digit tackles again with 11.
