Illini Corral the Cowboys on Opening Night, 38-6

By Jeff Mayfield

[August 29, 2022] 

The Illinois Fighting Illini opened the 2nd year of the Brett Bielema Show on Kirby Avenue with an impressive 38-6 victory over the Wyoming Cowboys. The Illini are 2-0 in openers under Bielema. Transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito looked sharp in his debut going 27-for-37 on pass attempts for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

The Illini offense looked crisp under the direction of new producer-director, offensive coordinator Barry Lunney, Jr. The running backs set the stage with Chase Brown as the leading man with character actors Josh McCray, Hayden Chase, and Reggie Love III all developing the plot and playing their roles in sync with the theme.

Not to be denied their time in the spotlight saw the Illini receivers dazzle in their opening acts as well. Twelve different players caught passes. Chase Brown wanted to play multiple characters and had many roles in this production as he also hauled in a touchdown reception on the game’s first possession! Pat Bryant caught 3 passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. And a host of others caught one or more receptions too.

On the defensive side of the line of scrimmage, technical skills were evident as Illinois appeared to tackle well, pursue the football in a solid way, and were disruptive and frustrating to Wyoming all game long. In fact, the Illini defense limited the Cowboys to 150 total rushing yards and held them to only two field goals for the contest. The defense did not allow any touchdowns, only gave up 212 yards of total offense including only 30 passing yards and forced Wyoming into a terrible 1-12 3rd down conversion rate! [the ‘Pokes as they are known out West, also were 0-for-1 on 4th down conversions as well].

Special teams also had applaudable moments and some that did not go over well with the near 40,000 patrons in the seats [actual announced attendance was 37,832]. One bright spot was the opening cue and kick-off returned by Peyton Vining 43 yards that allowed the Illini to set-up their production with outstanding field position to start their show. Two plays later they were in the endzone as they culminated their opening act on a 14-yard pass from DeVito to running back Chase Brown, after his 38-yard run on the previous play, on a nifty wheel route. And the plot of this one began to be unveiled. Although Brown was flagged and the Illini were penalized when Brown spiked the ball for excessive celebration-am I the only one that’s not going to complain too much IF our performances are more like this throughout our season’s run? I don’t think so.

Brown finished his polished monologues and soliloquies by rumbling for 156 yards and two touchdowns on only 19 carries. For you math majors and you theatre majors, that’s a whopping 7.9 yards per carry! Josh McCray ran for 33 yards before banging up his knee and Reggie Love came on late to scamper for 46 yards and an amazing touchdown all because he played to the whistle! You young players out there-ALWAYS play to the whistle-Love & the Illini were rewarded because he did!

In addition, the Illini committed no turnovers! That is NOT a misprint nor is it homer reporting from the director’s couch or chair. It is an incredible stat for an opening game. What it does tell you is that Illinois spent a lot of quality time on the practice fields and that both auditions and rehearsals did go quite well leading to the curtain rising on the 2022-23 season [yes, I’m already dreaming of a bowl game and a decent one at that…”Somewhere over the rainbow,” right?]
 

In act two, the Illini offense bogged down a little bit and the momentum began slipping off the stage. But Illinois’ defense held strong relegating the Cowboys to trying a long field goal which were the last points Wyoming put up on the board.

Illini fans were so jubilant for an opening night victory that they were still whooping and hollering for a fine epilogue. What they really wanted was an encore and a curtain call, but QB Art Sitkowski, who was 3 for 3 in his passes for 23 yards, brought the curtain and the house down by lining the team up in victory formation and the Illini made their ’22 debut a successful one.

All this reporter can add to what you’ve already heard and read about this one is BRAVO and let’s have more of this as we go along this show’s run!...I-N-I [I do this because Coach Bielema always starts and ends with I-L-L and just in case he’s listening or reading I want him to hear the I-N-I].

Next up for the Illini is a road date with the Indiana Hoosiers Friday night in Bloomington, IN.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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