Why the Illini Aren’t Interested in Producing More Comeback Wins

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Exciting isn’t normally sustainable.

This is how Illinois football players feel about these comeback wins that have essentially defined its four-game winning streak.

A 13-point resurgence against Wisconsin and a program-record 25-point comeback at Michigan State two weeks ago have put Lovie Smith’s emphasis on turnovers in the national spotlight but nobody in the Illinois locker room wants to downplay how they got in that unenviable position.

“For a program that values being on time, you’d think we’d start on time during games,” Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters said. “For whatever reason, we’ve started really slow and haven’t come out well at all.”

Illinois (6-4, 4-3 in Big Ten) has been behind in the first half of six of its games this season including training Michigan State 28-3 in the second quarter. The 21-point deficit entering the fourth quarter is tied for the largest fourth-quarter comeback in a Big Ten game in the last 40 seasons (21 points, Michigan State at Northwestern, 2006; 21 points, Michigan at Minnesota, 2003).

<strong>ILLINI FIRST QUARTER/HALF DEFICIT IN 2019 SEASON</strong>	<strong>RESULT OF GAME</strong>
10-0 at UConn	31-23 WIN
23-17 vs. Eastern Michigan	34-31 LOSS
16-10 at Minnesota	40-17 LOSS
28-7 vs. Michigan	42-25 LOSS
13-7 vs. Wisconsin	24-23 WIN
28-10 at Michigan State	37-34 WIN

In the 24-23 win over then-No. 6 Wisconsin on Oct. 19, Illinois trailed by as many as 13 points and faced a deficit of 23-14 with six minutes to play before rallying for a 24-23 victory on James McCourt’s walk-off 39-yard field goal to complete the biggest upset in college football this season.

“That’s not a world we can live in much longer and we know that,” Peters said.

The 27 points Illinois scored in the fourth quarter at Michigan State account for 39 percent of the team’s fourth-quarter production this season - a major likely reason ESPN’s win probability calculator gave the Spartans a 99.6% chance to win entering the game’s final 15 minutes.

“It was awesome to see Coach Smith get that win, because you know how hard he works at it,” NBC Sports Chicago analyst and former Chicago Bears center Olin Kreutz said. “And for his team to do it in a way that’s kind of ‘Lovie Ball’... It’s just what you expect from Coach Smith because that’s what he preaches.”

Connecticut opened up an early 13-0 lead in the Illini’s first road test this season before 24 unanswered points in the second quarter allowed Illinois to take control.

Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith attributed the slow starts to a combination of poor execution and communication of what is trying to be established in early-down and early-game situations for the Illini run, play-action game. This season the Illini rushing numbers are down more than two yards per attempt in the second half of games (5.83 yards per attempt in 2018 to 3.58 ypa in 2019).

“It all comes down to one thing in my opinion, it’s execution (because) when we execute our offense then we get in a rhythm and then what I understand is what our kids understand,” Rod Smith said Monday. “It’s more important to know what our kids understand than what I understand.”

Slow starts have become a disturbing trend for this Illini team this season and one that likely can’t replicate this weekend. Iowa (7-3, 4-3) never lost the lead last weekend as they knocked Minnesota off the list of unbeaten Football Bowl Subdivision programs in a 23-19 victory.

“Probably the two things that impress me the most quite frankly are the way they're winning,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. “Two of those four wins they won in the not only the second half but the fourth quarter, the Wisconsin game and the Michigan State game, so I think that shows you about the attitude of their football team, their belief in each other, their ability to remain competitive regardless of what it may look like.”

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