Coordinator corner 'They make you work for everything'
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 10—Illinois offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. provides perspective from his side of the ball before the Illini try tobget back on track against Michigan State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., via beat writer Scott Richey:
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How would you evaluate the offense's performance against Purdue?
"Not very good. We took a step backward. That was the disappointing thing is we took a step backward from the previous couple weeks in a very inopportune time — conference game, rivalry game. Obviously, we didn't get it done in any way, shape or form. It was one of the poorer performances I've been a part of since I've been here. There were obviously some really good things within that — some good plays, some good performances — but just holistically from the top down, starting with me, it was a disappointing day."
What led to those struggles in last Saturday's loss?
"You always try to evaluate that. It didn't take a genius to get up here and declare that it wasn't very good. We all know that. It's our job as a staff to dig into that — my job as the coordinator to dig into that — and figure out why. There were multiple factors in what happened. I thought Purdue played a really good game. They had a good plan and played really well. The first drive of the game, I put us in a bad position with a play call, and the defense didn't respond the way I thought the defense would respond. We're sniffing out a chance to go score on the first drive of the game, and we go backward 8 yards and end up getting no points off of it. That started off the day, and we just never got in a rhythm beyond that."
Was there anything in particular that led to Katin Houser's uncharacteristic inaccuracy?
"It's always tied to their lower body. That got disrupted a little bit partly due to us getting in a predicament from a passing standpoint. We didn't do a great job from a consistency standpoint of setting the pocket for him. We got beat a little too often. I think that always affects a guy. On the flip side of that, he made some incredible throws that were really on the money, but there was some meat left on the bone, so to speak. Some balls through the seam he's more than capable of and has consistently completed those. Everybody's involved in that — the protection, the route spacing, the detail of the route. It was just a sloppy performance overall in a lot of facets."
What does Houser's scrambling ability add to the offense?
"If our quarterback can create two first downs a game through just stepping up in the pocket through scramble opportunities and people being covered, that's going to be a good thing for our football team. He did that a couple times (against Purdue) and has a good feel for that, and he runs really strongly. As we get deeper into the season and more into Big Ten play, you'll see more designed runs for him in regard to critical moments and critical opportunities.
"He's a strong runner. He's got good vision, and he's hard to tackle. I don't mean that like he's super elusive, but he's strong. He can run through some arm tackles that reach out and grab him. We want to protect him the best we can, but, inevitably, there's good pass rushers and good schemers in this league. That puts a lot of pressure on your offensive line when everyone in the stadium knows you're throwing the ball. His response to those is pretty organic, and he does a nice job of stepping up and running."
How will you work Jayshon Platt in at wide receiver?"There's not much of a process. When he gets fully cleared, he's going to be integrated in there pretty quickly. I think the guys who have had opportunities with him being out for an extended period of time have really benefited from that, and they've done well in those roles. That's no slight to those other guys, but when Jayshon is healthy and ready to roll, he'll bring a dynamic to us that's very unique to this football team. We'll be excited to have him back, whether that's this week or next or the week after. I know it's been a long wait for him. It's tough."
What challenge does the Michigan State defense present on Saturday?"It's a very similar scheme to what we just played last week. There's a lot of continuity from what they've done in the previous couple years. (Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi) has a scheme he believes in that he's been running for a long time, and his players know that scheme and know it very well. They're very buttoned up and have a lot of talent on defense. It's what you expect in the Big Ten from a guy who's been in the league a long time. There's not really many surprises about where they're going to be or what they're going to be doing, but it's the scheme within the scheme. They do such a good job of their fits and their angles. They make you work for everything."