I didn't give Illinois much of a chance to beat Minnesota, because the numbers told me so. Going into Saturday's game, FEI rated Minnesota seventh in FBS; Illinois 31st. SP+ rated Minnesota 12th; Illinois 35th. In terms of net yards per play, Minnesota was sixth in the nation, gaining 2.39 yards per play more than it allowed, while Illinois was a respectable but distant 23rd. Net points per drive told a similar story: Minnesota fourth at +2.68; Illinois 23rd at +1.13.
Saturday's game in Champaign appeared, on paper, to be the Big Ten West version of Michigan-Penn State, where a good team met up with a potentially great team.
That ended up being the case, just in the opposite direction.
No. 24 Illinois dominated Minnesota to a level well beyond the 26-14 final score.
Getting quarterback Tommy DeVito back after he left the previous week's Iowa win with an ankle injury, the Illini accepted the ball to open the game and promptly moved 75 yards in nine plays to take an early lead, scoring on a 40-yard toss to Chase Brown.
Illinois took a 13-7 lead to the break, but then fell behind after Minnesota opened the second half with a long kickoff return that set up a 1-play, 4-yard touchdown "drive." The Illini answered that score with a 7-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to reclaim the lead at 20-14, and the game was never in doubt thereafter.
The Gophers touched the ball five more times over the course of the game. Those five touches ended in three punts and two interceptions, and no drive stretched longer than 18 yards.
In all, DeVito completed 25-of-32 passes for 252 yards with the touchdown and no interceptions, while Minnesota's Tanner Morgan was 4-of-12 for 21 yards with an interception before he left the game after taking a blow to the head. His replacement, Athan Kaliakmanis, was 2-of-6 for 17 yards with two interceptions.
Minnesota's Mohamed Ibrahim managed to run for 127 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, but Illinois's Chase Brown bested the Big Ten's leading rusher with a 41-carry, 180-yard day. As a team, Illinois out-rushed Minnesota 220-142.
Illinois committed no turnovers while swiping the three interceptions, allowing the Illini to Quinfecta -- winning all five tracked categories -- against a team that was favored by 6.5 points.
Following the game, Illinois can answer Minnesota's advanced stats with a few stats of its own:
-- Total defense: 1st (221. yards per game)
-- Yards per play: 1st (3.78)
-- Rushing defense: 3rd (77.9)
-- Yards per carry: 4th (2.77)
-- Passing defense: 2nd (143.3)
-- Pass efficiency defense: 1st (75.4)
-- Yards per attempt: t-1st (4.7)
-- Scoring defense: 1st (8.9)
-- Sacks per game: 11th (3.29)
-- Takeaways: t-4th (16)
-- Third downs: 4th (26.5%)
-- Red zone touchdowns: 2nd (27.3%)
Against a defense that still ranks sixth in the nation in yards per play, Illinois hit Minnesota with a season-worst 5.49 average. The Illini's 472 total yards were the most Minnesota has allowed -- by 113.
At 6-1 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play, Illinois is tied for first in the Big Ten West. With games against co-leader Purdue (Nov. 12) and a trip to No. 4 Michigan (Nov. 19) waiting, it's far too early to hand Bret Bielema's team its first B1G West Division title. But we can go ahead and start talking about Ryan Walters for the FootballScoop Defensive Coordinator of the Year.
Here are the numbers from Week 6:
-- Rush for more yards: 41-12
-- Pass for more yards: 29-24
-- Score first: 30-23
-- Lead at halftime: 35-18
-- Win turnovers: 27-19
-- Win all five: 6-0
And the year to date numbers:
-- Rush for more yards: 337-107 (.779)
-- Pass for more yards: 304-178 (.631)
-- Score first: 336-149 (.693)
-- Lead at halftime: 376-84 (.817)
-- Win turnovers: 270-100 (.730)
-- Win all five: 89-0 (1.000)
Some notes:
-- Week 6 was by far our "messiest" week of the year, evidenced by halftime leads converting to victory only 66 percent of the time and turnover advantages leading to victory just 59 percent of the time.
-- Clemson was out-rushed and out-passed in its 34-28 win at Florida State. A Florida State fumble that the Tigers turned into a touchdown was the difference in the game.
-- New Mexico State was out-rushed and out-passed in its 21-9 win over New Mexico, albeit slightly: 160-119 through the air, and 109-106 on the ground.
-- Quinfectas usually lead to 30-point blowouts, but not in two games this past weekend. Purdue won all five categories in their 43-37 win over Nebraska. Miami pulled a Quinfecta over Virginia Tech in a 20-14 victory.
-- Auburn and Ole Miss combined to run the ball 117 times for 749 yards (6.4 a carry) and seven touchdowns in the Rebels' 48-34 victory.
-- Washington and Arizona combined to throw 79 passes for 916 yards (11.6 per attempt) with eight touchdowns and no interceptions in a 49-39 Huskies win.
-- With the ball at the 4-yard line and four seconds remaining in the first half in their game at Liberty, Gardner-Webb opted for a 22-yard field goal. Liberty would go on to win the game, 21-20.