This was a frustrating game. While the final score indicates a game that many outsiders would expect — North Carolina asserts its dominance over an overmatched Illinois squad — and I’m still not sure whether that was the case or not. Illinois jumped out to an early lead putting the sellout crowd into a frenzy, but a mountain of errors allowed the Tar Heels to slowly take control of the game. So while many Illinois fans were talking themselves into an upset victory Saturday night, it wasn’t to be as North Carolina leaves Champaign with a 48-23 victory.
Here are three things we learned from Saturday’s loss.