It was an all around excellent game as the Dawgs took care of business, dispatching the Illinois Fighting Illini by a score of 42-25. Let’s get to what we learned!
“Don’t baby me!”
If there was a defining moment from the Huskies’ win, Denzel Boston definitely had a few candidates. His 10 catches, for 153 yards and a touchdown definitely stood out. So too did his 12 yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jonah Coleman at the end of the second quarter. For my money, the moment came with 9:18 left in the fourth. Boston caught a laser from Demond Williams, tiptoed along the sideline for 24 yards and got tackled, sliding out of bounds, holding his knee. Immediately, the trainers swarmed him, but he was defiant, yelling “don’t baby me”! as he got up and limped to the bench. But what struck me was after that moment, the cameras showed a man desperate to get back in the game, as Boston was seen warming up, testing out his ankle on sprints. He even had to be held back by receivers coach Kevin Cummings, before he was allowed to sub back in on Demond’s 4th touchdown pass of the game, a 2 yard strike to Decker Degraaf.
Each of the Big Three (Williams, Coleman and Boston) had bounce back games. Demond looked like his usual, efficient self throwing the ball, going 26-33 for 280 yards and 4 scores, and even trucked a defender on a 3rd and 18 scramble, which he converted! Jonah had 75 yards on 14 carries, finding the end zone on the ground for the 13th time, leading the nation, while also hauling in a touchdown catch. Denzel Boston did what he usually does, catching pretty much everything and even throwing a pretty good ball on the aforementioned double pass. However, I say this all the time in my predictions, those three are going to do what they do, it comes down to who else can step up.
Dezmen Roebuck, take a bow, young man!
3 catches, and the first 2 touchdowns of the game enabled the Huskies to get off to a fast start, and they basically kept that momentum for pretty much the entire game! Even when the penalties were potential killers, on Saturday, these Huskies were resilient, tough and didn’t flinch. I think Denzel Boston’s yelling at the trainers reinforced that! That all adds up to perhaps the best offensive performance of Jedd Fisch’s Husky tenure. I have been critical at times of Jedd’s playcalling, but today, I say: Well done Jedd!
“Always Two, There Are”
The Big Ten Network’s broadcast crew made a big deal about Illinois DC Aaron Henry’s connection to Ryan Walters, the current Husky DC. Henry was the DB coach when Walters was DC, and OC Barry Lunney had one season of overlap with Walters when Walters was at the end of his Illinois tenure. Who would come out on top?
The Huskies took a 21-17 lead into the half, and Illinois looked poised to strike in the third, but the defense stood tall, as ZRS almost had an interception. After another Husky scoring drive, Illinois moved the ball against the Husky defense reasonably well, but that drive was ruined by a Tacario Davis interception on 3rd and long. A late 4th quarter interception by Husky corner Rahshawn Clark slammed the door on any hope the Illini had left!
With 2 timely takeaways and the Husky offense having outgained Illinois 449-337, it was clear that whatever adjustments Walters and company made at the half, they worked! Weather, travel and a hostile crowd could’ve been factors that rattled the Illini, but in this battle between master and apprentice, the apprentice was bested, making this a very good day for Walters’ unit!
“You Can Take the refs out of the PAC…”
When the Big Ten announced they hired some of the old PAC 12 refs, the reaction was one of foreboding anguish, at least from what I can remember. I mean, when you have multiple referees who, when they show up, you say, “oh it’s this guy!“ that’s never a good sign! Francisco Villar is one of those refs. He and his crew assessed 8 penalties on the Huskies, for 89 yards. Probably the most egregious in my opinion was in the second quarter, when Tacario Davis was assessed a phantom pass interference in the end zone which led to a quick Illini touchdown. Or the 30 yard double penalty in the fourth that led to an Illini touchdown, and could have swung momentum.
The key word there is could have. It turned out that Illinois committed a fair amount of penalties of their own, but they weren’t executing on offense quite like the Huskies were. I’d like to say to cut down on the penalties, but the offense was so hot, that it barely mattered in the end. Still, this kind of play isn’t sustainable. These discipline issues need to be corrected, but sometimes you’re playing against the refs. The difference is, it didn’t seem to phase the Huskies quite as much as it had in the past, and they were able to overcome that and put the hammer down, going into a bye week!
Extra Things
- Denzel Boston’s 10 catches set a new career high, while his touchdown pass was the first by a non-QB since Dillon Johnson in the 2023 PAC 12 Championship game, and the first touchdown pass by a Husky receiver since Aaron Fuller in the 2018 Apple Cup.
- This marks the first ranked win by the Huskies since beating #10 Michigan last year.
- Shout out to Zach Henning who, at 6’5” and 310 pounds was pressed into duty at tight end, donning the number 80 as the third tight end in the Huskies’ jumbo packages. I just wish Jedd would’ve thrown it his way at least once!
We have a bye, and then a trek to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison to take on the embattled Wisconsin Badgers! Go Dawgs!