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With Lovie Smith at the helm, a new era of Illinois football kicks off Saturday at Memorial Stadium when the Illini host Murray State from the Ohio Valley Conference. Kickoff is set for 2:42pm CT, with the game televised on BTN.

In the latest edition of the 3-2-1, OrangeandBlueNews.com breaks down three things we learned in the preseason, two questions, and one prediction as the Lovie Smith era begins in Champaign.

1. The offensive scheme is a 180 degree change from what we saw at Illinois over the past several years. While Bill Cubit was from the spread-them-out-horizontally school of offensive play-calling, new OC Garrick McGee is all about execution and creating mismatches. I don’t know if I would call it a “ball control” offense per se, but it’s definitely more Big Ten-ish than anything employed at Illinois in a long time. Other Illini coaches talked about utilizing the tight end position; McGee will do it, and he will use a full back extensively – both as a blocker and runner / pass catcher. The first things casual fans will notice Saturday afternoon is that the Illini huddle between plays and the base set has the quarterback under center. The staff doesn’t have all of the pieces they need to make it work consistently yet. It’s a work in progress, with recruiting looming large. The biggest improvement needs to be in red zone efficiency, an area where Illinois was dead last in the Big Ten a season ago.

2. Lovie values speed and quickness over experience. Case in point is sophomore Julian Hylton getting a surprise start at strong safety. The position battle early in fall camp seemed to favor either senior Caleb Day or junior Darwyn Kelly, who both got most of the first team reps in the practices that we observed. Hylton may make a few read mistakes – hopefully none that result in getting burned over the top – but he has the catch-up speed to self-correct those mistakes. Look for a rotation of several guys at outside linebacker, and they can all run. Tre Watson and James Crawford will get the start. Justice Williams and Julian Jones should also see action. The emphasis on athleticism is also evident on the recruiting trail. The theme of the 2017 recruiting class so far is that each commit should be able to compete against Power 5 athletes. We don’t see any reaches in the class.

3. Illinois should be able to get to the quarterback rushing four. The talk of the defense going all the way back to spring ball was the deep and talented group of veterans up front, and for good reason. Illinois will bring a bull rush on the inside from Rob Bain, Chunky Clements, and first man off the bench Jamal Milan. They should be able to collapse the pocket against an FCS opponent this week. On the outside, there aren’t many teams that have two speed rushers like Dawuane Smoot and Carroll Phillips. Both could be play on Sundays, and Smoot projects in the early rounds of the NFL Draft. The idea in the Tampa-2 is to apply pressure without throwing all-out blitzes at the offense. Lovie and DC Hardy Nickerson want their linebackers and secondary locking up receivers and not being outnumbered. If they can get to the QB rushing four, that alleviates a lot of pressure from a largely inexperienced back 7.

1. Does Illinois have enough playmakers on offense? In our game preview, we wrote that week 1 is a big one for Illinois, even with the favorable matchup against an FCS opponent. We want to see the wide receives getting separation, and the running backs beating linebackers to the edge. If they do, it’s a good omen. If not? Then McGee is going to have to get creative for this team to score points against Big Ten opponents. Malik Turner and Justin Hardee both have good straight ahead speed, but they aren’t always explosive in and out of their cuts. We like talented sophomore running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn as Mr. Inside between the tackles. He’s a one-cut workhorse type of running back. Vaughn isn’t slow by any measure – he can bounce runs outside. But who replaces Josh Ferguson as Mr. Outside – a guy who can make Power 5 defenders miss in space on a consistent basis? Kendrick Foster had a good camp, but he also does his best work on the quick hitters inside. Reggie Corbin is a bit more shifty. Freshman Tre Nation is a straight ahead power back.

2. Can Illinois absorb injuries at key positions? The most catastrophic loss would be to quarterback Wes Lunt, who has a history of missing games (although he started all 12 contests in 2015). The silver lining is that the new scheme doesn’t emphasize the QB position quite as much as Bill Cubit’s pass-happy spread. Still, McGee has said many times that he doesn’t want to find out if they can win with either Chayce Crouch or Jeff George Jr. under center this season. The other concern is along the offensive line. The Illini are breaking in new starters at guard in Nick Allegretti and Gabe Megginson. But ironically, its lack of depth at tackle that could bite them. If anything happens to Christian DiLauro or Austin Schmidt, O-line coach Luke Butkus will likely have to shuffle the deck and find a group that works, which could mean moving Megginson to the outside and back-filling him with reliable Connor Brennan.

Illini go bowling. OrangeandBlueNews.com previously predicted that the Illini will finish 6-6 on the season, and go to a bowl game. We will let that prediction ride. And it’s not a fanboy pick, though some will characterize it that way. While there isn’t a great depth of talent on Lovie’s first squad at Illinois, we feel this staff will put players in a position to succeed. Coaching is the X-factor that many of the preseason prognosticators are overlooking. We expect a more disciplined football team to take the field for the Illini this season. Lovie Smith and several of his assistants have coached at the highest level of their profession, and it should show in their preparation and in-game decision making. There are several paths to 6-6, but we will go with wins over Murray State, Western Michigan, Purdue, Rutgers, Minnesota, and Northwestern.