Since the 1980 arrival of Mike White with passers Dave Wilson and Tony Eason, Illinois has customarily sought to compensate for a lack of football power with aerial artistry.
If you can’t go through ’em, go over ’em.
That was true when John Mackovic had strong-armed Jeff George and when Ron Turner could lean on Kurt Kittner. And it was equally true when in-full-charge coordinators Greg Landry, Paul Petrino and Bill Cubit operated for defense-oriented head coaches.
But in the final analysis, the most successful operations came about when passing was supported by a strong ground attack.