I was very worried about the offensive line heading in this season, for two reasons: (1) They were very young and (2) they lacked depth.
The depth issue wasn’t a problem as Illinois didn’t have any major injuries to the starting five to cause them to miss any games. Illinois was very lucky in that department.
The young issue was a problem to start. Illinois lost the battle at the line of scrimmage in its first two games against Kent State and Western Illinois. They were a Big Ten offensive line that was being manhandled by MAC and FCS schools.