Bringing Back The I-Option (NCAA 11)

[jct32]

Illinois wins a 2 OT thriller

Illinois fans greeting their football team as they trotted onto the field for the first time at home this year. The Illni have moved towards an offense that is an old-school methodical ball control offense, and it allowed for them to almost upset Missouri in Columbia. The University of Akron would come to visit Illinois looking for an upset and a key win for their program.

Illinois won the toss and elected to receive. Illinois established the run game early, with Mikel LeShoure picking up 20 yards on the first drive, but the Illini couldn’t get much more going and was forced to punt the ball. With Akron taking over on offense, they looked toward Sophomore Patrick Nicely to be a leader for them. However just like with Illinois, Akron picked up a couple of short completions before having to punt the ball again. Penalties would hinder the next drive for Illinois and the would be forced to punt after 3 downs. Nicely would get the Zips offense rolling and with some help of the runningbacks, would get field position to allow Rogovic to punch in a 25 yard field goal.

Illinois would close out the first quarter by running the ball and then pick up where they were at by continuing to run, setting up for a 48 yard field goal by Derek Dimke. Nicely would come out on the next drive and prove his team belonged in this game. Marching them down the field and finishing it himself with a 23 yard touchdown pass to L. Morefield. Miles Osei, not wanting to get showed up, lead Illinois for a touchdown by passing from 12 yards to Mikel LeShoure, with a key triple option pass to Jack Ramsey for 24 yards early in the drive on third down. Akron would run out the clock to close out the half.

The third quarter was rather uneventful with both teams being forced to punt on every drive. The only key moment was when Miles Osei came out early in the third with a strained shoulder. Coach Zook opted to keep Osei in the game as he is the backbone of the offense. After a couple of punts exchanged by both teams, Nicely decided to turn on the jets again and started hitting receivers left and right, concluding with a 7 yard touchdown pass to Sconiers. Mikel LeShoure would follow the touchdown by Akron with a 34 yard of his own. LeShoure gained 50 yards on the drive to setup a 11 yard touchdown run by Miles Osei. Nicely would make a couple of big passes to put Akron in position to win the game left, but Rogovic would miss the game-winning 27 yard field goal, wide left.

Akron would lose the coin toss in over time and Illinois would elect to be on defense first. The Illini defense would hold the Zips offense to a 3 and out. Rogovic would march onto the field again and make a 40 yard field goal to give Akron a chance. Miles Osei would make a couple of rushes, keeping the option for himself. However, in what would look like to be a scoring drive, Illinois would be forced to keep the field goal to tie the game. In the next overtime, Illinois would handoff the ball to LeShoure and allow him to get them down to the 2 before he had to come out for a play. Jason Ford would step up and score a touchdown from 2 yards out on the next play to give Illinois the chance of winning. After two incomplete passes, Nicely would line up the offense for a pivotal third down play. An Akron receiver would break open on a corner route, however a slightly under thrown ball would allow Tavon Wilson to recover and knock down the ball forcing 4th down. On 4th down Nicely would be hit as he throws and the ball would fall harmlessly to the ground to secure the Illinois win in the 2nd overtime.

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Key Players

Akron
QB Patrick Nicely: 23/40, 317 Yards, 2 TD, 1 Int
HB Broderick Alexander: 16 Car, 99 Yards
WR Jeremy LaFrance: 5 Rec, 80 Yards
FB Levon Morefield: 2 Rec, 45 Yards, 1 TD

FS Josh Richmond: 7 Tkls, 1 Atk
DT Christopher Henderson: 7 Tkls, 1 Atk, 4 TFL, 3 Sacks
LOLB Will Fleming: 3 Tkls, 2 Atk, 2 TFL, 1 PD
DB Jalil Carter: 7 Tkls, 1 Atk, 1 TFL, 1 Sack, 1 PD

Illinois
QB Miles Osei: 3/9, 49 Yards, 1 TD, 20 Car, 54 Yards, 1 Rush TD
HB Mikel LeShoure: 17 Car, 143 Yards, 1 Rec, 12 Yards, 1 Rec TD
HB Jason Ford: 1 Car, 2 Yards, 1 TD
WR Jack Ramsey: 2 Rec, 37 Yards

LOLB Martez Wilson: 7 Tkls, 1 Atk, 1 TFL
CB Tavon Wilson: 3 Tkls, 1 Atk, 1 INT, 1 PD
MLB Nate Bussey: 6 Tkls, 2 Atk, 1 TFL, 1 Sack,
ROLB Evan Frierson: 6 Tkls, 1 Atk, 1 TFL, 1 PD


Miles Osei scores from 11 yards to tie the game in the 4th quarter.


Mikel LeShoure makes a strong run in overtime to move the ball forward


Jason Ford says a prayer after scoring the game winning touchdown.

[hoopla32]

What kind of success are you having with the option?

I remember running the option out of the 'I' used to be deadly on NCAA.