Following Ohio State’s 34-16 victory over Illinois in Champaign, Illini Saturday head coach Bret Bielema claimed that he had figured out Ohio State’s defense, although he didn’t do so until too late.
Bielema said that Illinois’ tempo attack gave Ohio State’s defense trouble, and that he felt if he went to the faster-paced attack earlier it may have been a different game.
“I actually wanted to go tempo the whole freaking game, because they couldn’t do s— with it, it seemed like when we went tempo that things really began to work our way, we just needed to go to it sooner.”
However, the Buckeyes did not agree with that sentiment.
Senior defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. refuted Bielema’s statement that Illinois’ tempo offense was effective against Ohio State.
“They did go tempo for a little bit, but I mean, it quickly got shut down,” Jackson said. “So whatever he said, tempo was working, I don’t know.”
Jackson had a solid performance against the Illini racking up two tackles, half a tackle-for-loss, and one-and-a-half sacks.
There is some truth to Bielema’s claims as the Illini outgained Ohio State 295 to 272, while recording 22 first downs to the Buckeyes 17. Quarterback Luke Atlmyer also passed for 248, besting Sayin’s 166 yards through the air.
However, with 120 of those total yards coming in the fourth quarter after Ohio State had likely already sealed the game — combined with a series of costly mistakes and turnovers — Illinois ultimately let the contest slip away.
