Illini Take Out Hoosiers, Stay Undefeated, Are Bowl Eligible

As we talked about in the game preview, if the Illini were playing anyone other than Indiana, this would have screamed trap game. Early in the first quarter, I could have sworn the Illini had fallen for the trap anyway. With the 99 yard kick return to open the game, and a field goal on the ensuing drive, Indiana looked like they were the more poised and prepared team in Bloomington, thankfully outside of the first ten minutes of the game, the talent differential made itself known.

After falling behind 10-0, Illinois would go on a 34-3 run that would all but smother Indiana by midway through the third quarter. For the second week in a row, a Big Ten team has had no answer for A.J. Jenkins, who was responsible for turning the tide early and crushing Hoosier hopes late in the game. Jenkins finished the day with six catches, 182 yards and two touchdowns, which came on 77 and 67 yard catches. In the past two weeks, Jenkins has totaled 450 yards and 5 TDs. Petrino and Jenkins might be picking on weak secondaries to get these gaudy numbers, but that is okay by me, because it is good to finally see an offense that can identify an advantage and exploit it completely. Rejus Benn never had the sort of opportunities to shine that AJ is having right now.

The other big reason why the Hoosiers never really threatened Illinois beyond the opening minutes was the defense, who played lights out for most of the game. Two players in particular were an absolute menace to the Hoosiers. Whitney Mercilus is leading the Big Ten in sacks, and added three to his belt Saturday, including a first quarter smash that caused a fumble, a fumble that was scooped up and ran back for a touchdown by Tavon Wilson. Tavon would finish his day with some gaudy numbers as well: 9 solo tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss, including a sack for himself. The defense's performance is all the more impressive considering the position that the special teams and offense put them in at times. At one point the offense fumbled at their own 2 yard line, but the Illinois goal line D produced two stone wall stops and one tackle for a big loss, forcing the Hoosiers to kick. Guys like Steve Hull and Suppo Sanni had one of their better games for the often criticized secondary, as they combined for 12 solo tackles, 2 broken up passes and an interception.

In fact until late in the fourth quarter, the defense had not allowed a single offensive touchdown. They were bigger, stronger and more experienced than Indiana, and they showed it. The defense held IU to a crushing 2 yards per carry rushing and 6 yards per pass.

The rushing game for Illinois was also important in the second half, as Troy Pollard Donovonn Young and Jason Ford combined for a solid outing of 220 rush yards between the three of them, and Scheelhaase's own 88 yards certainly didn't hurt. With a large lead, the Illini were able to bleed out the Hoosiers by getting first down after first down and not giving up the ball without points.

Of course when games start like this, there are still clearly problems to work out. For one, the special teams is a major liability. Derek Dimke aside, there are deficiencies  everywhere. The kick coverage cost the team an early touchdown, and the punting game, with the exception of one excellent pooch, routinely gave IU pretty good field position. On offense there seems to be a pattern of self inflicted injury. Donovonn Young is still the most exciting running back on the team, but he fumbled again which means he is not ready to really take over as the No.1 back. And Scheelhaase too is still showing a bit of youth, as he made a retread of last year, holding onto the ball for too long, taking a sac and fumbling right up against his own end zone.

For once at least though, Illinois was sub 50 yards for penalties. 

The offense is still a little frustrating to me. The team looks great routinely when it runs the pro-style offense, with a tight end or a full back and one running back. This approach has led to the best down hill running for Jason Ford, and has allowed the most time for Scheelhaase to set up up Jenkins in the deep patterns. What bothers me is the return of the end read option and other shades of the earlier spread attack. I understand that the coaching staff likes having Nathan run the ball as many times as he does (he had 18 carries for 88 yards and one beautiful TD run) but it seems that most of the mistakes have come from the option and end read plays for this unit, and there might be better ways than that for him to get his carries.

The Illini stand this week at 6-0, undefeated, ranked in the top 15 in the nation and bowl eligible. Still to come is an Ohio State team that will likely be starting Joe Bauserman, a Purdue team that lost to Rice, and a Minnesota team that was blown out by those same Boilermakers. I'm not getting ahead of myself when I say that right now, eight wins is the absolute minimum for this team going forward. The three game stretch of at Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan will tell us all we need to know about the Leaders division and where the Illini fit inside it. But right now we can at least take a moment to enjoy the fact that Illinois is bowl eligible again, the second year in a row, a feat not seen since 1991 and 1992.