Here’s the thing about the TOP today: I actually think it helped us. Wisconsin’s offense is very methodical in the way it runs. Taking a LOT of time before snapping the ball, time developing plays, lining up, etc... Their time of possession was huge, but they only ran 75 plays.
For comparison, here are the number of plays Illinois’ opponents ran in the first six games:
Akron ran 66 plays in 31:37 averaging
28.74 seconds per play
UConn ran 60 plays in 30:45 averaging
30.75 seconds per play
EMU ran 76 plays in 31:47 averaging
25.09 seconds per play
Nebraska ran 98(!!!!) plays in 37:04 averaging
22.69 seconds per play
Minnesota ran 69 plays in 35:44 averaging
31.07 seconds per play (in my opinion, this game is the worst the team looked all year)
Michigan ran 70 plays in 29:47 averaging
25.53 seconds per play
Wisconsin ran 75 plays in 40:49 averaging
32.65 seconds per play
While I have argued numerous times that TOP is killing our defense, HOW that time of possession is developed is another factor that I think can't be overlooked. Our defense does much better when the game is slower (Minnesota excluded). Wisconsin held on to the ball a LONG time, but it wasn't the "tiring the defense out" long time. That benefitted us tremendously. The offense scored when it mattered, and they had a couple penalties that negated other scores. This helped too. But to me, Wisconsin's offense is the best match up to our defense we have or will face all season.
But I'm a numbers/stats guy. I am by no means a football expert.
I'm the sabermetrics guy that old school baseball people hate