Illini romp on SIU 35 - 3, show improvement.

The sky is not falling, the Illini are not on the bullet train to self immolation (that honor goes to Tim Brewster and the Gophers) and took care of the FCS directional school portion of their schedule with a very effective effort.

Offensively, with the exception of the Eddie McGee series, the Illini were efficient and relatively mistake free. The Illini had two interceptions, both by McGee and one muffed punt lost by Jack Ramsey; given the three interception, one fumble performance Scheelhaase had against Missouri, this is a good thing.

In addition to being free of the big mistakes, Scheel was also very effective passing in general going 14-18 for 229 yards, 114 of which came from the Illini's new most effective receiver A.J. Jenkins. Jenkins and Scheel have a pretty good report it seems and given the inexperience of our QB, this is a very good thing.

Mikel LeShoure went over a hundred yards for the second straight week, and had a beefy 7.7 yards per carry average to go with two TDs. The Illini ran nearly twice as often as they passed, a ratio that was made possible by LeShoure and the other running backs' effectiveness. I absolutely prefer having the bulk of the offense coming from the experienced LeShoure rather than the passing game. This was probably what allowed Scheelhaase to have such a better showing, as the offense was not forced to throw as often to keep up, and no where near as easy to predict by the defense.

Vic Koenning's defense made its Champaign debut, and despite still playing short handed in the secondary, the defense turned in a very quality effort. SIU was held to only 3 total points and 230 yards. Better still, the Salukis only converted on 3 of 16 third downs. The defensive line was very effective against the comparatively undersized SIU OL and Clay Nurse and Whitney Mercilus made hay with their advantage.

Martez Wilson seems to have bounced back from his injury pretty well, he isn't the explosive force we may want from the MLB spot, not yet. But given the injuries he has suffered the last couple years, I will take an effective and workman like performance if I can get it week in week out. The explosive presence department seems to be well manned by Ian Thomas anyway.

Following the trend from last week, the Illini defense hit. hard.  The Illini were hitting soundly and wrapping up only just about every play last night, a definite improvement from last year, and a trend I absolutely want to see continue.

Fact is of course, this was all supposed to happen, no matter what  many some people may have predicted.  There is some talent on this Illini team and it even seems to be well coached (gasp!) I am not saying the Illini will start winning gobs of games, but at the very least there seems to be actual signs of hope for what might have been (and to be fair, might still be) a very scary season. Winning against SIU is at least a first step.