As I have said before, this team, win or lose, is always exciting to watch. Saturday's game against Minnesota was, of course, no exception. It had everything from INTs for TDs, blocked punts for TDs, missed field goals, injured quarterbacks, freshman heroics and an onside kick for good measure. Illini season tickets should come with a free case of TUMS.
The first half could not have gone better for the Illini (scoring-wise at least) The Illini take an early lead with an 80 yard TD drive and a pick 6 from everyone's new favorite player Terry Hawthorne. Then there is the injury to Juice, making way for the other freshman savior du jour to come in and lead the Illini to a half time lead of 28 to 7.

Jacob Charest looked really good yesterday, and for good reason. He is a very different type of QB than Juice, he is almost 0% likely to keep the ball on an end read and there is no way he will be as good as Juice in the option game. Passing however, is a different story. He showed yesterday the exact sort of poise that the offense has been lacking all year, specifically getting off an accurate pass in the face of a blitz. It was the formula that for  most of the season has undone both Juice and Eddie, and made our offense look anemic. Charest found the open man in key blitzing situations (third  and long) and made the Gophers pay for leaving a receiver open, to the tune of several first downs. With Eddie playing receiver (a very good receiver) or possibly at best a wildcat like position, I think its clear that Charest will be the favorite coming into next year's Camp.

If the impressive if slightly inconsistent performance by Charest didn't make you ever so slightly more confident in the offense, then the running of Jason Ford is sure to have. A week after fellow sophomore RB Mikel Leshoure had his break out game, seemingly solidifying his role as the main running threat Jason Ford responded with a team leading 82 yards on a day that was otherwise quiet on the ground. Add into the mix another TD from the very fast Justin Green and the running offense seems to be pretty solid for the next one or two years. Of course like everything else with this team there is a distinct chance that every thing could fall apart tomorrow and we are all left dumbfounded.

Speaking of, the previous liability of the defensive line has once again transformed itself into a strength for the defense, which is something that preseason projections had suggested all along. Of particular good news is the play of defensive end Clay Nurse, who once again is making the case for being the best player on the defensive line, yes, even more than the also impressive Liuget.

The big question is now how to keep that "momentum" going. Momentum and the like are occasionally the lazy sort of  reporting devices used to explain the flow of a game, but if there ever was a team to which these sports cliches applied it would be the Illini.  They seem to have some momentum now, with two straight wins, but  the ending of this game should give us pause, especially as we face Northwestern who they themselves have a considerable amount of momentum going now. *cough Iowa cough*