Illini defeat NIU, a game they would have lost last year.

Even though it means a week off from the glory that is college football tailgating, I am happy to have the bye week coming up. As Ohio State approaches, and Penn State and Michigan State loom, this may very well be the last time the Illini are over .500 this season, so we might as well enjoy it for two weeks. But the coming of Terl Pryor, and his pale horse should not cause us to overlook the very real reasons to be pleased with this team and even optimistic about its ability to  perhaps even make a bowl this season.

NIU deserves quite a bit of credit for how they handled themselves in this game, despite the fact that their first two touchdowns only ended up being worth six points, they still led the Illini for the majority of the first half. They showed just about every single type of fake one could to move the ball on the Illini, and for the most part were successful, QB designed runs inside and outside, a halfback pass, a WR end around, and multiple passes to a lineman sized "tight end." The Huskies  were able to capitalize on the fact that 365 days ago, four players on the defense were not playing D for the Illini, and three of them are still learning on the job. I hope it serves as a learning experience for the Illini defense, and not a harbinger of future doom, because a pump fake by NIU's QB was often enough to get several people out of position.

I hope that this is more suggestive of desperation on the Huskies part, that trick plays and misdirection were necessary to keep offensive drives going, because for the most part, the Illini defense would have over matched them. And it is worth nothing that on traditional formations and plays, the Illini defense was once again sound. the tackling is still solid, the D line is penetrating and the linebackers are plugging their holes. NIU QB Chad Harnish ran for over a hundred yards, (47 of which were on one broken play though) but all other carriers for the Huskies totaled out to less than 50, that is a good sign for most games. (With the obvious exception of Denard Robinson, who now looks like he will routinely double and triple the rushing yards of his RB's.)

Martez Wilson "did not play his best game" according to Zook in the post game presser, but lets face it, the fact that he is ambulatory and on the field is an improvement from last year, and even Martez playing 85% of his potential is an improvement over the second line. If Martez and the rest of the D continue to play at least sound fundamental football under coach VC, I think I can live without gigantic momentum turning plays.

On offense, the Illini basically rode Mikel LeShoure to victory, which is as it should be. His 24 carries for 180 yards are the reason the Illini didn't go down to NIU like they did to Fresno last year. In fact this game was eerily similar to the Fresno game, LeShoure had an obscene yards per carry average, the Illini carried a rather slim lead into the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and only needed to eat up clock and make first downs to seal a victory. Last year however, Jason Ford was given the ball on a key series and ended up giving the Illini a three and out, and the opportunity to Fresno to come back and win. This year, in largely the same situation, Mikel LeShoure, who has now been firmly established as "the guy" was given the ball in a 4th and short situation and got the Illini the first down. Not only that, he delivered a 29 yard long run that sealed the victory with a bullet.

As for Scheelhaase, 70 yards of passing and 115 yards of rushing seems to me like a regression to what we saw against Missouri. He was 8-16 on his attempts, and seemed to only check one open receiver before taking off on a run straight ahead, which worked sometimes better than others. I will say that in an open field, Scheelhaase is an exciting player, something his five yard leap into the endzone in the first quarter proves. The Illini need Nathan to be more balanced though, in order for this offense to be really effective against Big Ten defenses, because OSU stacking the box is something even Mikel may not be able to overcome.

All of that said, there is one passing statistic that is very encouraging, zero interceptions thrown by the Illini. While in week one Scheelhaase was responsible for four turnovers, and in week two Eddie McGee threw 2 very ill advised INTs of his own, this week the offense did not give any freebies to the opposition, a trend that will be needed to continue as we move into the conference schedule.

The last issue that needs to be highlighted is the penalty problem, which probably had a great deal of influence on how close the score was at the end. 8 penalties for 85 yards makes a big difference, and cannot be allowed to continue. Were it not for facemask and roughing the passer penalties at key moments, two drives by NIU would have stalled at midfield. Both of those penalties could have gone either way, (and Zook clearly thought they should have) but incidental or intentional, this area must be cleared up to improve on the victory number from last year.