Illini Hoping To Improve Pass Protection Moving Forward

Ella Walker | Sep 30, 2024

Penn State's Zane Durant (28) sacks Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer in the fourth quarter of a Big Ten football Illinois, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in State College, Pa. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Illlini quarterback Luke Altmyer was sacked six times on Saturday's game against the Nittany Lions.

Compared to his last meeting with Penn State, where he was only sacked once, the big question is what changed?

"He was under pressure quite a bit," Bielema said. "I knew coming into this game, that's kind of been their MO. Up front, we thought this would be a group that brought a lot of pressure."  

That pressure was prevelent in the match up between the two ranked teams.

Altmyer lost 28 yards which is by far his worst performance of the season, rushing wise.

Despite the loss of yards and the game, Altmyer was 16 for 25 and had 185 yards total. This was an improvement from his 163 yard game last year.

"But we also got to get rid of the ball, too," Bielema said. "I think that's a very big point that we'll make sure to take a look at critically. Obviously, protections and schemes and calls, that's on us as coaches." 

Altmyer had his first interception of the season on Saturday, which was one of a few turnovers for the Illini.

Along with that, his completion rate against the Penn State was one of his lowest this season.

The Illini have a bye week to regroup and figure out what went wrong before taking on Purdue on Oct. 12.

Ella Walker is a contributor to Illinois Fighting Illini On SI. She can be reached at ewalker1463@gmail.com.

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