Your Illini Nation Pregame Show: Illinois vs. Kansas

e e welcome into the your Ali Nation pregame show we got a good one for you today the Ali hosting 19th ranked Kansas a rematch of course from a year ago but also a sellout crowd today it has all the makings of being an exciting game for a matchup that you would probably usually think basketball but it's an exciting one of the football two programs that are kind of hoping to be on the come up certainly Kansas has displayed it with the bowl games the last couple years but this is a big game for Illinois it's a huge game for Illinois the crowd has bought into it this the first out since 2016 against North Carolina they're in they're ready to see this program take the step and Illinois can take that step tonight with the they can get a win over Kansas and kind of show that it is year four this program has gone forward it's just such a good comparison from where it was a year ago Glenn where they leave Lawrence after really just playing a bad game of football and now you have a lot of the same faces back obviously every year there's new faces in the mix you have a lot of those same faces back and you can show progress year over year I think that's a big selling point to people who want to see that progress taken I suppose I should introduce ourselves we should have started Glen Kinley WCA three Sports director Joey Wagner with 20 247 Sports in the atline inquire were you surprised that this game was a sellout I knew people would be into it but I didn't know if they'd get in it this quickly week two yeah that's where I was too I I thought there was going to be a sellout Illinois would have needed to come out get three you know three and0 maybe four and0 if they can go to Lincoln and get one but it tells me that fans want to be on board they they see it's a six o00 game it's a ranked team it's a team that beat Illinois a year ago they want to jump on board but look it's it's hard for some fans that Cannon will get you the test the Cannon's good to go for whatever the line I get on the board here you were wondering it's hard for some fans to jump on board because they they've done this before right they've done this they've been at this game and then Illinois's lost so I think they're so ready to see this just take that step forward with year forward Brett and a sellout shows that what did it take to get that so early in the year is it something about this team specifically is it something about this coaching staff is it maybe a certain player's returning quarterback certainly doesn't hurt to get some involvement for some fans who maybe would have an excuse to to not be involved right away because they got hurt a year ago yeah I think that helps I think seeing Luke Alm come back seeing kayen fan come back you have continuity your quarterback your coordinator spots your head coach I think it's a ranked team at six o'clock right it's a beautiful day it sets up why would you want to be that's right it sets up really really well for for moment to happen aro's got to take that moment but if this an 11 o' game is it a sellout I don't know right but seeing 19 Kansas knowing what happened a year ago perfect timing it's there for the taking it's an important one for a number of reasons the ran win would be big it certainly uh would would give you some momentum give you some confidence you win your first rematch game of the year which be has talked about quite a bit they play a bunch of rematch games this year all the teams they play this year that they played last year they didn't beat last year so it's a bunch of redemption opportunities it's the first of that also it's a sellout crowd so getting the I think this is an important game for keeping the fans engaged to make sure that they're here next week and to make sure that if you do drop it in link and you don't lose them for the Year this is one to me it's not a conference game but it's one that if you win it the fan base will sold out today they're going to be even more locked in for future weeks that's right they again they want to be here they they they've done this before and even if look a win absolutely right they'll come back if you lose by five points if you if you just show that I be excited about you might have a few people drop off and I understand that but I still think a large amount of people would say okay it's you can see it you can see this team especially defensively we have to be honest about it defensively people want to see that step forward now last year in Lincoln it was offense and defense that was a problem but I think defensively they're ready to see Illinois move on where in that defense is the spot that you're looking at most closely within the Ali defense for today specifically against the Kansas offense that they have to be good yeah I think it's the secondary and a lot of it's how they aligned last or last week Tyler strain was out we thought he was going to start in that star that nickel position I still think that but then that would move Xavier Scott back outside and then is Terence Brooks are we going to see more of Terence Brooks today he was a huge offseason acquisition you didn't see him until the fourth quarter they talk about consistency with him so kind of how that all shuffles out and then Matthew Bailey's back and Matthew Bailey did not play in Lawrence last year he came back for pen State the following week played 22 snaps was hurt again he's a Difference Maker out there you can feel it you can see it when he's on the field there's a lot of Sydney Brown Vibes I with Sydney earlier this week to talk about that he just he's kind of that linebacker that was attacked in space last year but he's also I what that safety position is right it's effectively a linebacker spot his presence I think could really be meaningful for Illinois yeah of course the line are looking to get pressure on the quarterback Jaylen Daniels is a guy who's been really really good when he's healthy he hasn't been healthy enough and last week was his first game back in what was it eight or 10 months because he missed most of the season last year almost after the Illinois game he played Illinois he's healthy for Illinois again but he wasn't healthy most of that year so he got in there against lywood but he still only played I think a half of football he has not played much football in the last eight months and Illinois is going to have to look to put some pressure on put him in situations that he hasn't been in maybe since the Illinois game a year ago yeah they need to get pressure on him he's a Difference Maker you've seen it Glenn we we've all seen it when he's healthy the combination of his arms and his legs some of the throws if you go back and watch this game last year some of the throws best throws we've seen from Jaylen was against Illinois when he scrambled out and found Luke incredible throw he he can change game then you pair him with their running back Squad led by Devon Neil it's a really scary offense so this defense has to take a step forward I don't know where you start you start with Deon Neil do you start with Jaylen Daniels I don't know like those are two problems for the Illinois defense when you look at the Illinois defensive line obviously lost a couple really good players from last year but ku's offensive line lost a couple really good players from last year uh the battle in the trenches give me your thoughts there and who might it be uh on the Illinois D line I'm not I'm not uh saying who's going to have three sacks but who could at least wreak some Havoc there well they need Seth Coleman to be that guy off the edge that's that's what he came back for to be that consistent disruptor off the edge and Gabe back has had his hand in the ground last week and that was a huge development something a lot of people have wanted to see for a while because he is a massive human being so that and let's be honest we were concerned about the Illinois defensive line so to see Gabe have his hand down there and then you have an Alec Bryan and a Joe Barner a freshman out kind of where he used to be that's where you can create more pressure and Brett belma talked about that spot that Gabe's playing in the defense it's kind of hard to double that spot and if you don't double him that's a struggle for opposing offensive line so I think him and Seth Coleman that's going to be the story from here to the end of the season is those two being disruptive on that defensive front I want to talk about the Eli ey receivers because I don't know about you I thought they looked really good a week ago uh obviously Pat Bryant was great but I thought the Catch of the Day was one that was not called complete zakari Franklin in the end zone had that been really complete completion he might have led Sports Center that night that was a heck of a play uh they got a tough test tonight though we'll dig into the j-hawks here in a few minutes I covered KU for a couple years when I was out in Kansas so we can talk about them plenty but I'll I'll start with this their secondaries really good two preseason all Big 12 quarterbacks a couple safeties that they like a lot it's a test for the Illinois receivers you look good against eiu can you do it against a ranked opponent it's a test for their receivers it's a test for Luke alme Luke Alm is probably gonna come down to him and Jaylen Daniels having to outd duel each other in this one right and those receivers I was encouraged with what I saw with them last year I think we kind or last week excuse me we knew what Pat Bryant was going to do Pat Bryant's a very consistent player at this point I'm wondering if we see more zakari Franklin in the slot that's been kind of the storyline I pitched my wagon to with the receiver group and I think they didn't want to show it against Eastern Illinois because why would you if you don't have to can they put him in the slot and then Malik Elie showed you know that that very nice touchdown grab he had he had a catch and run where he broke a few tackles the combination of Pat Bryant M Kel zakari Franklin if you can work all three of them on end involved after that that's right the running backs the two running back sets I thought was a major your story to come out of last week I like the number of receivers they have I don't think you're going to see as many receivers against Eastern Illinois as you are against Kansas but how do they deploy to zakari Franklin tonight yeah will be a big factor going down the list of of things to know for Kansas we talked about Jaylen DS a little bit we talked about Devon Neil they got another really good running back Daniel haaw as a weapon out of that backfield and they will use him a lot I think some of our line fans or viewers who might be watching this are are focus on Devon Neil and then they're gonna see another guy get the ball and run a couple guys over and who the heck is this guy we I thought we we stopped Deon Neil on second down and now they got this guy on third down Daniel highw certainly a guy to look out for and they have a a trio of 50 or senior wide receivers who are about as experienced as anybody in the Big 12 who have been really good for him they certainly have a really good connection with Jaylen Daniels because they've all been there a long time they're going to test the Illinois defense I think this is a game we're going to find out a lot about the Illinois defense specifically because this is a high power Kansas offense the other test that or or challenge that Illinois is facing is how different is the Kansas offense with a new offensive coordinator Andy C he now in the Big 10 with Penn State and so they have a new offensive coordinator who was at Baylor last year Jeff Grimes and I think he might put his own twist on things but I think he also knows that the Kansas offense was really good and he's not going to change he's not gonna he's not gonna fix what's not broken no that seems to be the vibe is that Kansas is still going to do what Kansas does offensively and then you bring in Grimes and his philosophy how does all that merge is it is it good for Illinois to see that in week two is they're still working on that I don't know I mean you can but Andy kcki was a really good offensive coordinator he's going to be a head coach I think we all know that the way his career is going yeah this this Kansas office is incredibly high powerered and that's where some of the concerns for Illinois is can you stop the run can your defense take a step forward I don't know how many stops you're G to get yeah I know you need the offense to make it so you you you're gonna have to go it's GNA be a back and forth here but yeah that that Kansas offense is incredibly High powerered you saw it last year in Lawrence that final score is 3423 it was not that close it it was not that close that that Kansas ran away with it early they scored at the end of half that's something to really watch that's something brettm has hammered home a lot his end of half end of game possessions and Kansas got him on that last last year so that would be something to monitor that offense has got a lot of weapons I think a hot start in this game would be huge for Illinois not just because of obviously you'd love to start playing with the lead uh but get the crowd involved if you have a sellout crowd give them something to get excited for so when you get to that third down near the end of the first half the people are jacked up the people are are involved and you want to go into that second half keep people here feel like you're at least in the game and feel ready to go it's a Kansas team that I I think the the biggest emphasis and we touched on it is just getting Jaylen Daniels uncomfortable make him feel a hit that he hasn't felt in a while and make him roll out of the pocket we didn't see him run much last week in the past he's been a quarterback who can run but we don't know then he had a back injury that kept him out for eight weeks can he still run the coaches have kind of hinted that that they wanted to be able to but we didn't see it much last week so make him run and and then if you find out that he's not going to then you learn that the challenge that both teams are faced with with which shows that they had good week ones is that Kansas didn't show much in week one against Lindenwood they got their starters out of there in a hurry they didn't run anything crazy and give anything away and all Illinois kept things pretty simple on both sides of the ball against Eastern Illinois so coaches I'm sure are navigating what all are they going to do because we didn't see much in week one we didn't but Illinois threw some stuff out there that I remember thinking why is it they you're doing this in this game gay back is on the defensive line the Aiden laughrey Kaden Fagen two back sets where Kaden Fagan's a lead blocker they're putting that out there I would assum so Kansas prepared for it so what's the counter to the counter right that's kind that now that you're prepared for this we're going to do this instead that's right so that what they showed was obviously intentional last week against Eastern Illinois but how does that play now and I think that's such a fascinating underlying storyline in this is how does Barry Loney build off that what what are his pivots there I thought he was really creative last week we saw the quarterback get under Center Glenn that is a rarity that not having much last year and you saw Luke Alm do that and get more comfortable so there's just little wrinkles that you wonder how that's going to look tonight let's talk more about Luke alme I think he was I think you'd agree he was really good last week he didn't make any plays that were maybe wowing the one in the end zone to Elly was good um and a couple of bat Bryan throws were good but he didn't you you didn't leave and say we have the greatest quarterback in the country I think belma in the PO press conference said yeah he played good I don't think he's the front runner for the Heisman just yet uh maybe that's what he needs to do though is just make the plays that are given to him and not try to be too special I mean if he can make them great but don't force the spect acular play that's going to be a highlight reel for years to come rather take the six-yard game when it's given to you and sometimes take the two yard loss when it's given to you rather than the six or eight yard loss or the fumble or whatever it is yeah Luke alm's grow I thought he did show a lot of growth last week against Eastern Illinois I thought the pass to Pat Bryant in the end zone was incredible he had some plays where like wow and he didn't put the ball In Harm's Way maybe one or two times in that far in zone like oh I don't know why you're throwing that right but I think you're going to see more of him with his legs tonight because he had he had that big long run for a touchdown against Kansas a year ago you're not going to run against e Illinois you don't really need to right that is an aspect of his game that I think can really take this offense up a notch I think you'll see that tonight but I think he's also he has to be luke Alm I think he's a top half of the Big 10 quarterback you can figure out where that fits in somewhere in that six to eight range would probably makes sense he needs to be a dude tonight he needs to take that step if that makes sense to be a dude right an outd duel a quarterback who is a dude who could lead this team to a big 12 Championship Game appearance I think he's got it in I think you you've heard that emotional growth for him over the last couple months now it's time to it's a big one right it's a big one it's time to take that step certainly the Kansas defense is going to try to force him to make plays that maybe he hasn't made in a while that he's not quite comfortable making and we're going to find out if he can make those correct me if you think I'm wrong I think maybe the Ali might have to we talk about establish the Run they might have to establish the pass a little bit and and figure out can you beat these really good corners and safeties uh and then once you do that okay you back them off a little bit now you get Kaden Fagan the ball I'm not not saying they're going to throw the ball a bunch of times on the first drive what I'm saying is uh and I'll say this about covering Kansas they have a couple really good quarterbacks Kobe Bryant specifically is fantastic but he's gotten burned a few times he's kind of a guy that makes a ton of incredible plays and Melo doson has the program record for pick sixes he ends up in the end zone as many as much as some receivers but those are guys that have also gotten beat sometimes they're really really good 95% of the time the other 5% that sometimes they get cooked and so tonight it's going to be a question of can Illinois just beat him a couple times and force that defense to play honest and once they have to back off then give Kaden Fegan the ball over and over and over it's going to be based off Barry loney's RPO game that's Barry loney's calling card he likes the RPO so which way do they go do they start passing it do they start running it and play the RPO off of that kayen Fagan hadn't yet broken through at this point a year ago he got in L had a five yard carry he's a lot different than he was then and I thought there you know 16 carries against Eastern that's fine I would expect him and Aiden laughrey to get a lot of opportunity tonight and Kaden Fagan if you've listened Brett belma Thad Ward barani have kind of started to they've started to put the gas on that fire a little bit that it he's starting to get closer and closer to what they think he could be he's one of the most talented players on the roster I expect them to try to let him get established tonight then play off the RPO and hit those quick passes that Barry Ling at UTSA came in here and beat Illinois with back in 2021 that RPO can be really effective and if you can get the Run game going on top of that those two will work really well hand in hand if you're just now joining us this is the wcia 3 your line a pregame show Illinois 19th ranked Kansas go tonight at 6m we're about an hour and 15 minutes from kickoff we'll be here with you for about 15 more minutes let's talk more about Kaden Fagen where have you seen him grow in the last year and I want to hear more about what you've heard from the coach because I am relatively new here but I know that when you're here every day and you listen to them they might complement a player but when you talk to that coach twice a week you you hear differences in how they talk about certain players and I think Kaden Fagan's a guy who they talk about him and it's not just uh they're never going to say anything bad about their starting r back right but when they talk about him they really hype him up they do I asked that Ward right his training camp was winding down I said what was important for him this training camp he said take that next step last year he had 500 yards to the Freshman his season was cut short due to injury that next step is to be one of those Brett belma running back I think Brett belma I'm looking for the quote now that he had on Thursday when he he said hey you know we kind of keep trying to gas Kaden Fagan up a little bit here that you can do this you can take that step I'm paraphrasing Bretta a little bit yeah but it's they're build main guy now that's not Chase Brown in22 carries he doesn't have to be though he doesn't because you have other options to the running back room Luke Alm is again a top half of the Big 10 quarterback but they want to run the ball they're not going to be stubborn about running the ball I think there's a key difference there a lot of people when they think of dma offenses they think three yards three yards run the ball when it doesn't make sense to correct they want to throw it around his team's been balanced but I you can just kind of feel feel a little bit more that they're they're either seeing that Kaden fan is ready to take that step or he has taken that we just haven't seen it yet because it was Eastern Illinois I think a big factor and you mentioned it but I want to Circle back to it is both quarterbacks and and their running ability uh I think in a way candas is going to be ready for almeer to run because of what he did last year but he didn't run much in week one and and again we talked about kind of establishing the pass which sounds silly to say but if he can almost lull that defense into into a sleep and hit him for a six-yard gain and give it to Fagan for a first down and hit him for a tight end for a three yard gain and and get it to laof fre for nine yards and then all of a sudden it's like oh shoot and then he can run you know uh it can't be maybe the goto maybe you do break off a big a big play an explosive play on the quarterback run when you get him to sleep but if you can establish it with your other guys let that defense be so worried about covering you know uh zakari Franklin or whoever it is that they they almost turn their back to to Luke Alm and he can take off he's got to be ready to do it but he can't be too relying on it that's right I thought he did a good job of that for the most part last last year college stat rushing stats are just it's ridiculous how they do it his stats don't look 125 yard because of sads that's right but he was a really effective like dual threat quarterback I I don't know that I would say as dual threat as a Jaylen Daniels quarterbacks you've seen come through here like an AJ Bush who more one threat but he he can be really effective on the ground and you're right if if you can make your your six-yard those RPO passes to to your wide receivers and let them get some yards after the catch you can get it to Fagan and wrey and let them kind of go then you add that wrinkle on though that's a lot to prepare for like we have talked about the Kansas offense being high powerered it is I'm really bullish on the Illinois offense I think they've got a lot of weapons they've got a good coordinator I think they're maybe being slept on a little bit because it's the Illinois offense and historically that's not always been a great thing but I think they've got pieces in place there to really make things difficult for this Kansas defense I know you guys are covering recruiting closely as closely as anybody for the univ of Illinois Alana inquire 247 Sports uh there's a lot of guys here for this game uh recruits prospects some that are highly touted does that make this game even bigger than it already was for uh the fact that it's ranked and it's a sellout but now also you got a lot of recruits that maybe would like to see an Alana win yeah I think win Help win help right to show that again that you've taken that step as a program I think this being sold out and that's got to help for those recruits to come here and see that this is a place that cares about more than just basketball that's right that's exactly right it's got help in that regard I don't think a lot of recruits base their decisions on one but to see kind of what this can be here I think that's been the thing with Illinois for so long is it can be this it can be that you've seen flashes you know there's this stretch in 2022 where it's like oh they're realizing kind of everything here yeah but I think just to have those recruits in the in the crowd JC Davis Mount Zion stud tight end one of the hired four-star kid in the class of 2026 he'll be here he's a huge Target for them right so to get him on campus he's been Florida State and Auburn in the last eight days right he's all over the place but kind of credit to Illinois for putting their chips in and saying we feel good about who we are come to this game we we'll deliver and what we think we can do here and we don't care how many top ranked prospects are here and fear of a loss or this like you can kind of see them betting on it a little bit and thinking like bring them here for this we can deliver can you give me I don't want to spoil everything behind the payall on your site can you give me another another one or two guys that maybe uh are are here today that you know either we might see in in the orange and blue someday or that would be big pickups for Illinois yeah uh Casey thomman from only another big offensive lineman three star kid he's a guy who's been here a number of times he'll be here today absolutely massive offensive lineman which has been the standard yeah here at Illinois with re be a big guy block yeah yeah and then they'll have some other commits on on hand too Carson Boyd the quarterback he and Cardinal Ritter were just in Rochester last night for a win over a really really good Rockets program th those I mean those are the highlighters really the Jas Anderson's a big one he's a national recruit Illinois has been on him for more than a year now they've done a good job with his recruitment we'll cyle few a couple more things we got about 10 more minutes here uh let's talk about we talked about this before we got on air here the trenches and uh specifically I think we talked about the L the KU o line the Illinois D line but on the other side uh KU lost a couple really good defensive linemen the Austin Booker from KU was now with the Bayers so now they like him now that he's not going after the Illinois quarterback but uh they also lost Gage keys he transferred to Auburn uh who who is it that needs to be good and needs to become not a starter on that offensive line but a staple on that offensive line where you almost say the type of guy where you say if he's blocking him we're good you know yeah that's JC Davis the left tackle they brought him here as a transfer from New Mexico to do that thought he was solid he's a pass Pro guy he probably could have flirted with the NFL draft in all honesty this past off season came to Illinois they have really high hopes for him and they should he's an incredibly talented left tackle really a recruiting win for them to get a left tackle it's a premier position to get a left tackle out of the portal I was really impressed with Melvin Priestley another transfer tackle from Grambling last week he had some blocks that he just moved people five six yards pancake and Melvin K I'm wrong because you've been you've been with him all fall Camp he seemed like he settled in I wouldn't have known from talking to him that he just got here uh this offseason no he's he's really settled in and to be honest he was kind of an under the radar transfer Edition when they got him they they get kept wigington who started games in Michigan State and they get JC Davis you think okay plug those two guys in and then Melvin Priestley gets here in the spring and just builds himself to be that starting right tackle and it wasn't really a question through had the back into spring and into fall Camp credit to him very powerful very physical quick I thought he was really good there's some stuff to tune up still a little bit raw the right side of the offensive line is zy chryler I I didn't think he had his best game last week and and we kind of heard you know maybe they'll see more offensive lineman out a hunter white neck is out Brandon Henderson today Brandon Henderson's a guy with an incredibly high ceiling a sophomore from St Louis I'd be curious to see if you see more of those two rotate in today I Josh gesy I thought was fine Josh Cruz I thought was fine but it what what happens at Right Guard I always think the old line is an interesting spot because it's great to have depth it's great to be able to play eight or nine or 10 guys but yet you also do kind of love when you have one guy where you say no we need him on the field every time when he's good enough to where you're like yeah we have dep but we're not going to use him let's get a uh uniform matchup for our viewers tonight Illinois in the all orange tonight Kansas will wear the blue pants it looks like white tops and the blue helmet what are your thoughts on the the all orange and I like the helmets a lot yeah that's a good helmet that's a good combination those helmets are really cool I know they're not for everybody Jeremy worner not a helmet guy not that helmet guy it's good I mean it's the orange out they're going all into it right I think it's going to look really good I think you obviously see an orange all over not a lot of Blue tonight by Design in the stands yeah that's a good combo and I like that Kansas combo too to be honest with you they did the blackout last year right in Lawrence that's not how I Envision the University of Kansas it's not K yeah this is a really this is a good uni the student section's already filling up I think they're currently heckling the Kansas kickers they've been really supportive of Brett be they have shown up here that has not always shout them out just on Thursday talked about how they were even for the Eastern game that place that that section and a couple others were packed that's not always been the case we've seen student sections over the years that have been very very slightly attended so they they bought into this there's excitement on campus I know people we've talked to so they can feel it the students are buying in I want to ask you because this is a matchup if you look at Illinois Kansas and you say sell out you think okay that's gonna be a great basketball game uh with this one give me a player on Illinois's basketball Ross for this year that you think if he had to switch Sports he could be a a good football player the answer was Terence Shannon last year he can play about any sport that he wants right uh Ty Rogers okay I think Ty Rogers could be like an edge Rush would leadership too I think I think belma would tight end would they could be could sneak Ty Rogers across Kirby and let him come play tight end I think that would be good yeah yeah certainly uh lots of excitement for Al women's basketball Al men's basketball certainly Al football you got it all on your site Al inquire 247 Sports where can the be find you and what what should they be looking out for I know you're doing a podcast probably right after this or tomorrow morning yep podcast right after live podcast on our YouTube channel right after the game I'm on Twitter Mr Wagner 25 we've got we'll have recruiting updates for days they've got a lot of visitors here today we'll have a postgame podcast reaction Stories We women's basketball got a huge commitment over the course of this week with festar Destiny Jackson we've had the top and you were up there for that one Jeremy went okay J Jeremy went he he got he had a great story on her we followed up with kind of what that means so Derek Piper's always on top of basketball news and stories and Analysis so we we try to keep it pretty busy Absolutely I'll ask you this as we are in football season but we we talk about a couple other sports how much uh in the time that you've been covering Illinois how much can to set the tone for the athletic year if you get the fans engaged and you get people coming from all over the state and you get people fired up for football I I could be wrong people are also fired up for Illinois basketball but I think for any sport whether that's women's basketball or even the volleyball season they're off to a hot start when when you get people involved in football they're going to be fired up and and just be locked in on Illinois sports I think yeah they are football's a driver right I mean it's it's such a sense of community with the tailgate Lots were packed today Glenn as we came up here it does it kind of drives everything I know other programs will bring recruits here when have them on campus they bring them to football games and kind of show them the atmosphere and what it is so it's it's huge and Josh Whitman's been really really open about that that and obviously there's a lot of financial implications for football to be good right it drives everything in the athletic department they need football to take the step that's why this is so important to keep those those tickets coming in people excited it just it helps everything trickle down the F Department we're just over an hour from kickoff getting ready to sign off here before we do that do you have a key to the game or uh one big thing that you're looking at you got to stop the run I just keep coming back that it's my biggest question about Illinois coming into the season was how does going up against a really good running back they are two of them as you mentioned that's right and a really good quarterback who can run so can you stop the run can you contain j Jaylen Daniels that's huge for me if they show they can do that Gabe backis makes you feel a little bit better that they can do that because he's so talented but if they can't stop Devin Neil and then you still got to worry about Jaylen Daniels that could be a long night for this defense I'll give you my key and I'll just say I think getting your wide receivers involved in the past game beating a couple really good Corners a couple really good safeties on that Kansas defense and doing that maybe early setting that tone and and letting the defense know that you have a passing threat and whether that's Luke almeer making a sensational play or just beating him you know uh death by paper cuts a four yard five yard two yard gain here and there I think uh setting that tone early could be important it's Illinois it's Kansas the 19th ranked jhonks Illinois seeking of course his first ranked win of the year it will be played in front of the first sellout crowd here at Memorial Stadium since 2016 neither of us were covering the at then this will be our first taste of of a packed house and certainly the first under Brett belma so exciting stuff we will of course we have the postgame show for you right back here on our digital channels wcia 3 Sports when Brett belma comes to the podium or the table or the microphone wherever he's talking uh we'll have it live for you and of course we'll have coverage in our newscast in the coming days as Illinois looks to improve to two and 0 thanks for joining us for the your Alana Nation pregame [Music] show e