We gave them the ball at our 30.

We gave them the ball at our 39.

We gave them the ball at our 45.

And so we lost.

I’m so tired of writing stuff like this.  I’m tired of looking up these statistics.  I’m tired of perusing box scores looking for bad stuff.  But here we are again.  And this box score doesn’t need much perusing.  The whole game can be explained on the drive chart:

Wisconsin had 7 drives start in their own territory.  Those drives started at the 20, the 5, the 29, the 36, the 29, the 31, and the 19.  From those drives, Wisconsin scored zero points.

Wisconsin had 4 drives that started in our territory.  The aforementioned 2, 30, 39, and 45.  From these drives, they scored 28 points.  Game set match.

For the 14th consecutive game, our defense played well enough for us to win.  Whoa.  That thought just hit me like a ton of bricks.  14 straight games that Koenning’s boys have put us in a position to win.  And we just lost our 5th consecutive game.

You know what?  I need to stop.  You know all of this already.  I’m no longer informing – I’m harping.  And that team played really, really hard today.  They came out on fire and dominated the first half against a very good football team.  Jeff Allen tweeted after the game “left it all on the field”, and he did.  The offensive line did.  The offense outgained Wisconsin.  The defense held the Badgers 214 yards under their average.  Effort wasn’t the issue today.  Turnovers were the issue.

We fumbled 5 times, but got pretty lucky and only lost 1.  But we threw 3 interceptions.  And we muffed a punt at our 2.  And we took points off the board (again) with a penalty.  And we didn’t play the wind correctly.  And a hundred other little things that make the big things obsolete.

If there’s an epitaph that can be written for the now-certainly-over Zook regime, it’s that.  We never did any of the little things well.  So despite a pretty good offense here and a pretty solid defense there, Zook’s teams are now a collective 34-50 mostly because they were never properly instructed on how to win games with just the little things.

+ Man the first half was fun.  Donovonn Young running HARD.  Nathan accurate on the short throws (I think we was 13-15 at one point).  Reilly O’Toole looking in command for his series’.  Converting fourth and long plays that I can’t ever remember us converting.  The crowd was into the game, and the players responded.

And then we emerge from the locker room completely flat.  The sideline wasn’t as fired up.  From the moment Darius Millines fumbled, not another thing went right.  Our second half drives ended as follows: fumble, interception, punt, interception, interception.

I’m back to harping, aren’t I?

+ The two best linebackers in the Big Ten were on display today.  Chris Borland of Wisconsin had 16 tackles (1.5 TFL) with 2 forced fumbles.

Not to be outdone, Bad News Brown had 10 tackles (4 TFL) with a sack, a QB hurry, and a 28 yard fumble return.  He now has 18.5 tackles for loss on the season, which puts him 8th on the single season Illini TFL list.  And that’s in only 10 games.  I swear if he had played against Indiana he’d have 29 TFL’s by now.

If Jonathan Brown isn’t a first team All Big Ten linebacker this year, something’s wrong with the system.

+ Speaking of defense, I asked this question on Twitter, but I’ll pose it again.  Is this the best Illini defense in the last 25 years?  It’s either #1 or #2, that much is certain.  The question is whether it’s better than 1994.  I’d say 1994 has a slight edge right now, just because of the 4 NFL linebackers.  To have two Butkus winners on the same defense was something special.

But say this defense holds Minnesota to 219 yards and 9 points next weekend.  Their stats would be right up there with our 1994 defense, right?  And given what this team has had to face, with an offense turning the ball over and punting it away, this might be the best defensive effort in Illini Football history.  And we’re 6-5.  Yep, the 1994 parallels keep on comin’.

+ When I type out my resume to submit for Head Football Coach at University of Illinois, I think I will solely concentrate on the wind.  That part of the cover letter will go like this:

Wind.  It plays a role in 60% of the games played in Memorial Stadium.  There are no hills in east central Illinois, and because of that, the wind rolls in off the plains unabated.  And the design of the stadium doesn’t help – the balconies concentrate the wind towards the center of the field.

As head football coach, I will make that wind my obsession.  The wind is there for nearly every October and November game, so when those games arrive, my team will have an advantage. 

I will have had my quarterbacks work on giving it a little extra and taking a little off.  I will train my punters to read the flags and set their angle accordingly.  And my returners – yes, I will pull my returners out to practice on a windy day, put them on the turf inside the stadium, and have each and every one of them learn how far a ball will drift (or die) because of the wind.  My kickoff returners will be ready at the 20 instead of the 8, my punt returners will never let a ball sail over their heads, and my field goal units will be well-versed in the wind swirl that sometimes happens at the south endzone.

What do you think?  Do I have a good shot?  I hear the job might be coming open soon.

I’m no longer laughing.

Wouldn’t it just be SO Illinois football to start the season 6-0 and not go to a bowl? For the rest of time, when we’d climb to 6 wins, someone would scream “bowl eligible, baby!” and they’d need to be reminded “well, remember 2011…”.  We already have scenarios for “win the Big Ten outright but miss out on the Rose Bowl” and “lose the final three games in excruciating fashion to miss out on a bowl”.  Can’t you just see us adding “start 6-0, be one of the first 8 teams in the FBS to lock up bowl eligibility before Columbus Day, and then miss a bowl game” to the list?

There will likely be ten bowl-eligible Big Ten teams, and if we lose our next two, we’re definitely 10th out of 10.  Yeah, we beat the Fighting Fitzees, but they’d have three Big Ten wins to our two. And Purdue beat us, so they’re a step ahead of us (PURDUE IS A STEP AHEAD OF US).  This is probably the year that the Big Ten only gets one team in the BCS, so in the scenario above, two B1G teams are searching for a bowl to pick them up, and we’re two of two.

Driving home tonight, I thought of my 6-6 preseason prediction.  Specifically my desire to call this an 8-4 team, but the safeguarding procedure I put in place to make sure I accounted for the loss of Mikel, Martez, and Corey.  And my thoughts settled on the loss of Mikel.  Bring him back, and we’re probably 8-2 with an outside shot at 9-1.  Not only did he average 6 yards per carry and put up a school record 1,697 yards – he didn’t fumble a single time.  Not once.  This year, we apparently can’t look at a ball without turning it over.

I felt like a fool for my 6-6 prediction after we started 6-0.  Now I hate myself.  It’s just SO us.

+ I feel absolutely sick for Vic Koenning and the defense.  So much so that when I start that jazz band some day, I’m going to name it Vic Koenning and The Defense.

What more can one defense do?  I just looked up the stats.  In the second quarter alone, Michigan got the ball at their 41… and we forced a turnover on downs.  They got the ball at our 13… and we forced a fumble.  They got the ball at our 43… and we held them to a missed field goal.  They got the ball at their 44… and we got an interception.  Four drives, all starting within 60 yards of our endzone, one starting at the thirteen, and Michigan doesn’t score.

Warriors.  All of them.  They don’t deserve a 4 game losing streak.  They deserve a spotlight on College Gameday next Saturday of  “the best defense you’re not aware of”.  But instead, the offense treats them to 3 fumbles, an INT that was almost a pick-6, and NINE PUNTS.  Just so unfair.

Whitney Mercilus had another sack.  Jonathan Brown had three more TFL’s.  PNY played admirably in relief.  Akeem Spence was a load.  We held Michigan to 83 yards less than their average.  And we lost by 17.  Just sickening.

+ I have no answers for the offense.  Besides AJ Jenkins, I can’t really point to a single player and say that he’s playing well.  Nathan is off.  Ford is a fumble machine.  The offensive line is a hot mess when trying to run block (we had 336 yards rushing against Michigan last year – we had 37 yards in this game).

I need to pause and reflect on that.  Thirty seven yards rushing.  37!  ON 33 ATTEMPTS!!  1.1 yards per carry!  1.1!!!  I wish I could stop with the italics and the exclamation points, but I just can’t.  This offensive line, with 3 1/2 starters returning and several All Big Ten candidates, faced a defense that gives up 143 yards per game on the ground, AND WE ONLY RUSHED FOR 37 YARDS. AT HOME!!!

Oh yes I did.  That just happened.  Bolded italics with three exclamation points.  BAM.

+ I will say this: God bless Alex Hill.  Redshirt freshman who played a few snaps against South Dakota State, and then BAM starting against Michigan and trying to block Mike Martin.  I think it was Hill who had the false start penalty on our first play from scrimmage, but I can’t fault him for that.  If it was me in that situation, as a freshman, I’d probably stand up, call timeout, and run to the sideline to call my mom.

I tried to watch a lot of Hill, and at least in the plays where I watched, he played fairly well.  I saw him get blown back by a defensive tackle on one play, but hey, who didn’t?  I think Hill is definitely a starter next year.  Probably a 3-year starter on this offensive line.  Good thing his girlfriend’s text told him to choose Illinois over Duke.

+ And now, what everyone wants to talk about.  Yes, the only way Zook saves his job is to beat Wisconsin, beat Minnesota, and win a bowl game (I just scared you, didn’t I?).  I suggested two weeks ago that a move should have been made during the bye week.  We’d be able to name a coach immediately after the season and attempt to salvage a recruiting class.  I’d still be OK with it happening sooner rather than later – name Vic the interim coach and begin your search immediately.  That probably won’t happen, but I still think the benefit of making a move before the season is over outweighs the upheaval a mid-season firing brings.

It’s so strange.  I spent the years 1995 through 2005 saying the same thing over and over (well, except for 1999 and 2001).  We. Must. Hire. A. Recruiter.  The vast majority of those years, we just didn’t have the talent to keep up.  Our linemen weren’t big enough, our linebackers weren’t strong enough, and our secondary wasn’t fast enough.  When you’re a step slow, well, Penn State beats you 63-10 at home.  So I begged and begged and begged for a coach that emphasized recruiting over everything else.  And I got one.

And from the looks of today’s game, that’s really the only thing he emphasizes.  This game had the very special combination of poor discipline, awful special teams, and mind-numbing mental mistakes.  Oh, and one of the worst replay challenges in the history of videotape.  Yes, we have the horses to compete.  Sometimes that’s enough.

But not with this coach.  Which is why he’s now on his farewell tour.

A field goal off the upright. The failure to recover a great onside kick at Purdue.  Ohio State completing one pass and beating us.  Fresno State getting that first down.  Minnesota scoring with 16 seconds left.  A failed two point conversion after we scored in the third overtime at Michigan.

And that’s just in the last 365 days.

I could go further back and mention a Fresno State offensive lineman catching a deflected two point conversion on the final play of the game.  Or outgaining Minnesota at home by 250 yards and losing.  Or an 83 yard touchdown to beat Iowa that gets called back on a penalty.

We don’t just lose.  We lose excruciatingly.  We lose in a way that delivers a simultaneous punch to the gut and kick to the boys.  Illini teams in the Zook era have rarely been blown out.  And maybe that’s a compliment – I don’t know.  But to lose this way so many times – well, let’s just say I understand our negative fanbase better.  I still wish the anger wasn’t directed toward the players, but whatever.  This is a bruised and beaten group of fans.

A group of fans with no confidence in the coach.  It might be the anger talking, but I think it’s time to hit the reset button.  Maybe as soon as Monday.

Yes, Monday.  This season is off the rails.  Ron Zook is 34-48 as the head coach at Illinois. I don’t see how our new athletic director doesn’t look at that, see that our season collapsing, see that we can’t sell out a game with a 6-0 team, see that we’re the worst team in the country on Special Teams (not hyperbole – statistically), see that our current recruiting class is ranked 12th out of 12 Big Ten teams, see that the word “Zooked” is an actual word that has entered the sports writing vernacular, and not make a move.  As I said earlier in the week, Thomas’ decision will be to fire or extend at the end of the season; after this loss, I’m thinking that the firing might come sooner rather than later.

Would Mike Thomas really do that?  Would he pull the trigger during the bye week?  Probably not.  But after the next three games, he’ll be making that decision (fire or extend).  There might be some benefits to making that decision sooner rather than later.

6-3.  Who would have thought that I’d ever be this distraught after a 6-3 start?

+ I feel awful for our players.  Just awful.  This wasn’t for a lack of effort, in my opinion.  A rookie punter made a mistake, a green holder made a mistake, and that was pretty much the ballgame.

Jason Ford ran like a man possessed.  Nathan Scheelhaase gutted out a bad first half to really crank it up in the second half against a solid defense. Jonathan Brown played like a future Butkus winner.  The whole defense played like warrior poets.

Mistakes, penalties, and some coaching gaffes cost us this game.  When it happens in the pros, I want to pay new players and hire new coaches.  When it happens in college, I feel sick (and I want to hire new coaches).  Tim Russell had to be over the moon when he won the holder job.  And he’s just a walk-on, paying for his college and playing football just because he loves it.  So to see him drop a snap at a crucial moment in the game, well, my heart breaks for him.

And I feel awful for Derek Dimke, too.  He’s made so many kicks that have kept us in so many ballgames – I can’t fault him for one off the uprights in Happy Valley.  Good on Nate for being the first one to run out and console him on the field.

I guess when I look at it that way, I’m more OK with 6-3.  These guys are giving everything they have.  They don’t deserve the hard luck that seems to follow Ron Zook around.

+ Was it just me, or did two of our turnovers seem insane?  I thought Jenkins came down with that ball, but then the PSU player seemed to talk the official into a different ruling.  And Nate was clearly speared to cause the other fumble – how is a player expected to hold on to the ball when a safety is allowed to launch at his helmet?

And while we’re at it, what was with the spot at the Penn State 5 late in the game?  The Penn State receiver slides to make a catch at the 6 1/2, flips over and dives to the 5 1/2, and they spot it at the 5 1/2?

And since we’re on the subject, what was with that downed punt that should have been at the 49 but was spotted at the 44?  And why didn’t that Bolden fumble get reviewed?  And why did the umpire come running in with a quick whistle on the catch-and-maybe-fumble when the line judge was ready to rule it a fumble and let replay sort it out.  The umpire’s whistle made the play unreviewable.

The officials didn’t cost us the game today – Jay Prosch doesn’t lean forward, and we win.  But goodness, Big Ten.  Something has to be done.  Our quarterback nearly lost his head today, and the officials did nothing.

+ It’s impossible to juxtapose this against the Cardinals winning the World Series.  In case you missed it last night in the SOC post, yes, I’m a Cardinal fan.  Apart from my 5 years in Champaign, I’ve lived in the St. Louis area my whole life (most of the time on the Illinois side).

So yes, I should be able to just tuck this game away in some “my sports life is pretty great right now” pocket, but I can’t.  I should be able to do what the majority of Illini fans do and put football on the shelf again and turn to basketball.  But I’ve never been able to fully do that.

I’ve chosen one sport to place at the pinnacle above everything else, and that’s Illini Football.  And I’ve chose college sports – specifically, the teams from the school I graduated from in the state I grew up in – as the top.  When rating my fandom, Illini Football gets a 93.4, Illini Basketball gets an 81.9, and the Cardinals are a distant third at 44.6.  So when I try to place today’s loss in the “that’s OK, the Cardinals won it all” slot, it doesn’t fit.  Right now, I’m really wishing it fit.

And right now, I’m really hoping Mike Thomas hits the reset button.

Looks like it was the second.

Again.

There were cracks in the armor everywhere, but none of us wanted to see them. Only 17 points against Arizona State and 23 against Western Michigan? That’s OK – a few plays went the other way and kept our point total down. We rebounded for a huge outburst in the second half against Northwestern and then torched the worst defense in the Big Ten, and suddenly the town crier is screaming “all is well”.

All is not well. We haven’t scored in the first three quarters of the last two games. Our next three games are against defenses much better than Purdue, and we’ll be heavy underdogs in all three.

The signs were there that this dropoff was approaching, yet there I was, predicting wins in the last two games. When I should have been listening to those whose football opinions I really respect. Like GHD over at IllinoisLoyalty in responding to my post on Thursday:

I knew that our special teams and turnover problems were really hurting this team, but didn’t quite realize the extent to which we have been whistling past a graveyard.

Fantastic defense has really saved our bacon. With a more consistent running game, elimination of the turnover problem, and decent special teams, this could be a top 10 team. If wishes were fishes….

Whistling past the graveyard. Yep – that’s it. Signs all over the place that this team had serious issues, yet there I was last night, with a Zookian “we’ll get that fixed” Stream Of Consciousness post. We’ll get that running game going. We’ll fix those special teams. Whistle whistle whistle. Wishin’ fishin’.

Now, well, now I feel normal. My son came in with his usual “how are you, dad?” after we lost, and I told him I was fine. Because I was. I’m totally fine right now. I feel 100% completely totally the way I expect to feel every fall. THIS is what it is like to be a fanatical fan of this football team. This is my normal.

To the game:

+ Five things that could fix our offensive issues right now:

1. Mikel Leshoure chooses last winter to return to school for one more year.
2. A completely healthy Darius Millines.
3. Interior blocking communication between Pocic and the guards.
4. Nathan stops pressing.
5. Mikel Leshoure wears Josh Ferguson’s jersey next weekend and nobody notices.

As we kept putting ourselves in third-and-more-than-5 positions, today, I couldn’t help but think of Feeding Five. I watched the Texas Bowl again the other night (yeah, so what – I like bowl games), and it’s amazing to watch Mikel run the ball. Focused. Bursting for the hole. In control. Great decisions, even when there’s no hole. Turning a 4 yard gain into 13.

And that’s the issue, to me, right now. We can’t put ourselves in second and short enough, so we can’t put drives together. We can’t find a rhythm, so we punt EIGHT TIMES in the first three quarters against Purdue. Find our running game, and we can stop this slide. Run the ball like this, hello Detroit.

My score prediction last night was 31-20. The defense did their job and held Purdue to 21. The offense was a pile of fail. Paul Petrino is the second highest paid coordinator in the Big Ten, and in the next 4 weeks, it is time to earn that money.

+ I haven’t seen any post-game comments yet, but I’m sure Vic Koenning saw what I saw – three opportunities to force field goals, 3 touchdowns. If Spence’s penalty doesn’t happen or we don’t bite on a WR screen, that would have been a 13-0 game entering the fourth quarter. Instead, it’s 21-0 and we really had no shot.

So maybe “the defense did their job” above was too kind. They got a big turnover. They forced third and goal. But they couldn’t turn 7 into 3 when they needed to.

+ We’ll never return a punt. We just won’t – ever. I’m giving up hope. I’m not going to expect a single punt return for the next 3 years. We have no idea how to block the “new” punt formation, and our returners will face a minimum of 4 unblocked tacklers the second they catch the ball. It will never happen, and I am an idiot for expecting us to.

I’m secretly hoping that Mississippi had a few solid kickoff returns today. Because if they did, it will drop us to 120th out of 120 teams. 120th can’t be argued with. 120th can’t be looked past. 120th hits you square in the mouth. On the “overall athletes on a college football team”, we’re probably around 30th in the country. Teams like Alabama and Oklahoma are much more athletic than we are, but we’re still in the top 3rd.

And we’re 119th in kickoff returns and 112th (and falling) in punt returns. Unbelievable.

+ The one play that sticks out in my mind: Caleb TerBush is nearly tackled for a sack on third and 21, stumbles away and throws and absolute duck… and they complete the pass for a first down and eventually push it in for a touchdown. I was still watching the game on tape-delay at that point, and I had to rewind it 3-4 times before continuing to watch what was certain to be a touchdown drive. Two chances to turn the game around, and we allow a duck from the worst QB in the Big Ten.

+ I just realized I’m kicked out of the top-25 meeting this week. And I might not return (for years).

Alright, I’m not OK. I just remembered that “normal” means “insignificant place in the college football landscape”. Here we go again.

The defense wasn’t tackling correctly.  We should have known what play they’d run there.  “Tackle somebody!”  We finally force an Ohio State third down, and the only noise, at least from my section, is more complaining.

This was nothing new, of course.  I think anyone who has attended an Illinois game in the last few years, especially visiting fans who are accustomed to their home crowd, are taken aback by the negativity in Memorial Stadium.  My buddy from Arkansas is accustomed to a festive atmosphere in Reynolds Stadium, with every fan “calling the hogs” and a raucous crowd from start to finish.  As I said a few weeks ago, he leaned over at our first opponents third down and asked why no one was yelling.

I saw a great phrase on one of our message boards that I think fits what I’m trying to say: “there’s something uniquely negative about Illinois fans”.  That’s what is bothering me.  It’s not booing – all fans boo when displeased, from college football to tennis (OK, in tennis I think they whistle, but you get the point). It’s not the complaints about coaching decisions – all fans in all college stadiums do that at some point during the game.  It’s not even the failure to stand and cheer – let’s be honest, there wasn’t much to cheer about yesterday.  I think I’ve put my finger on what has been bothering me.  It’s the ethos.

e-thos – (noun): 1. The characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as seen in its beliefs and aspirations.

You attend a game at Indiana, and you get this sense of, I don’t know, sarcasm. They’ve been terrible for 20 years and everyone is in on the joke. Let’s go tailgate so more.

You attend a game at Iowa, and there’s this unbridled overconfidence (some might say cocky – I am one of those people). The crowd certainly voices displeasure, but it’s because they’re all in on it – they’ll will this team to victory if they have to.

You attend a game at Wisconsin, and there’s almost a creepy devotion, like everyone got up in the morning and recited their oath to Barry Alvarez.  But it’s a good kind of creepy – some of the loudest cheers I’ve ever been around are when Wisconsin tackles a tailback for a 3 yard gain early in the first quarter.  That crowd would cheer for the trainers.

Attend a game at Illinois, and I think the description these days would have to be “uniquely negative”.  We’re 6-0, ranked 15th, and the crowd is angry at the tackling on the third play from scrimmage.  It’s almost as if the crowd gets excited for an opportunity to get angry, if that makes any sense.

I struggled with this on the drive home, and then a commenter in the From The Stands post helped me figure it out (thanks, Hoppy): ethos is part of Zook’s job.

At first, I didn’t think that was the case.  Fans at Arkansas and Iowa and Indiana aren’t exactly coach-dependent.  These fanbases have developed their ethos over generations, with many different coaches on the sidelines. How could you simply point at a coach?  Wouldn’t a long-term AD be the better target?

But the more I thought about our specific situation, the more it seemed that Hoppy was right.  Why do our fans look so negatively at every game situation?  Because they don’t have much confidence in our head coach to make the right decision.  There’s a reason “Zook” was trending on Twitter last evening, and it’s not because barefoot waterskiing pictures are suddenly all the rage.  College football fans and media-types can’t wait to get their hands on the latest “Zooking”, be it not knowing the score or not kicking an obvious field goal.

Part of the job of a head coach is ethos.  Part of the job is becoming a figurehead to rally around.  You don’t have to be perfect – Les Miles might be insane and Mike Gundy is a man who is 40 – but you have to be solid.  You have to be the immovable center of the ethos.  And right now, with multiple questionable decisions in the last two weeks 7 years, Ron Zook isn’t providing that.

I’ve said many times that I wish fans could see Ron Zook in other situations – chatting with a recruit, speaking to grandparents at a football family BBQ (he knows every name).  There’s a reason he’s able to close on so many recruits just before signing day – he’s an infectious personality.  Adding Paul Petrino and Vic Koenning appears to have shored up other weaknesses during his tenure, and I continue to think he does a good job with the pregame speeches and such.

But he’s not helping the ethos.  With each poor sideline decision, he continues to lose the home fans a little more.  And after 20 years of “we’ve arrived! *pulls rug*”, Illinois fans are edgy to begin with.

I still wish it wasn’t about the success of individual plays on the field during the game – I wish our fans simply wanted to support our team because those are our guys; if they need us to stand and yell, we’ll stand and yell, regardless of how we feel about the coaching decisions – but I think I might understand it a little more today.  To build that kind of fanbase, you need a strong leader on the sideline that everyone can rally around. And we just don’t have that right now.

To the game (and this should be short, because our faults were pretty simple):

+ Maybe I’ll watch the game on tape and see that many of these balls couldn’t have been caught.  But if there’s one thing I take from today, it’s that drops by wide receivers absolutely killed us.

For starters, Spencer Harris has to come up with that ball in the endzone.  I’m sure there’s been much talk about the Zook decision to go for it instead of kick the field goal, but all of that is moot if Harris hauls in that TD.  It would be 17-14 with 1:25 to go and two timeouts – even if the onsides kick is unsuccessful, we could still stop the clock a few times and theoretically get the ball back with time to get into field goal range.

But there were other drops, too. Ryan Lankford on third down.  Harris again on third down.  Again, maybe I’ll see on tape that these were not good throws.  But if we can haul in most of these passes (and if AJ doesn’t fumble after one of his catches), that’s a different game.

+ It’s crazy how Tressel’d were were without Tressel on the sidelines.  Their formula is so simple:  Don’t turn the ball over (which is why they didn’t throw).  Punts aren’t a bad thing.  Win the field position battle.  Force turnovers, and take advantage of those turnovers.

Done, done, done, done, and done.  We made two huge mistakes, they capitalized (immediately) on both, and ballgame.  Biggest play of the game, to me, was their one completion (the Stoneburner touchdown).  Hold them to a field goal there, and we’re driving for the winning score with 2 minutes left.

But of course that didn’t happen.  Because Ohio State did what Ohio State has been doing for years – play smart, efficient football and walk away with a victory.

+ I was very surprised to see that Ohio State only ran for 221 yards – I would have guessed 300+.  I guess my initial feelings were incorrect – the defense really didn’t do anything poorly today besides not force any turnovers.  If we hold teams to 228 yards and 17 points at home, we should win.

The offense, on the other hand, in their first test against a top defense, performed poorly.  Costly turnovers, drops, and only 7 points.  I’m hoping it was a good reality check for us – Purdue’s defense isn’t bad and Penn State’s defense is outstanding – this offense will be severely tested in the next few weeks.

Paul Petrino has shown that he can gameplan accordingly when we’re struggling – I’m expecting a much better effort next week.

+ The good: we’re 6-1, headed to a bowl game, and our defense has shown that they will get to the quarterback against every offensive line they face.  That will keep us in a lot of games.

The bad: we’ve turned the ball over 8 times in three Big Ten games.  Keep that up, and we might struggle to only 1 or 2 more wins.

The ugly: me choosing a game like that to bring up the subject of negative fans.

I’m serious.  That wasn’t just a clever “hey Illini fans, make those bowl plans because we’re totally bowl eligible.”  I am urging all Illini fans to start informing friends, family, and bosses that some time around the 1st of January, they will be out of town.

Here’s why: The next step to building a program is fan support.  We simply must show the Big Ten that when Illinois has a successful football teams, the fans will show.  They did it in the 80′s when Mike White resurrected the program.  They did it in 2007 when we went to the Rose Bowl.  And they’ll need to do it again in January.

Yes, January.  3-3 finish and I still think we play in the Gator Bowl on January 2nd (that’s another thing – New Years Day Bowls are on the 2nd this year because of NFL games on Sunday, so when making said bowl plans, inform said boss that you won’t be there on the second. Or the third.)

I’d say that a 2-4 finish puts us in the Insight Bowl (hi Dan!) in Arizona.  For now I’ll say 3-3 sends us to the Gator Bowl, 4-2 the Outback or Cap One, 5-1 is probably a BCS Bowl, and 6… I can’t say it.

AH WHAT THE HELL. 6-0 sends us the Big Ten Championship game with a shot at the BCS title game.  I JUST TYPED BCS TITLE GAME AND ILLINOIS FOOTBALL AND NOBODY SHOWED UP IN WHITE COATS TO HAUL ME AWAY.  THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY SINCE EVER.

(deep breaths)

Where was I?  Yes – make bowl plans.  I’m serious about this.  We need to show up in Florida in droves.  We need to show every big time recruit that is suddenly interested in Illinois that Illini Football will be around for awhile.  So we need a big bowl showing.

AND, we need fans in Memorial Stadium for the next three games.  Non-sellouts would be embarrassing.  But beyond that, WHY WOULD YOU NOT WANT TO BE THERE?  Our 6-0, likely top-15 team is about to beat Ohio State at home for the first time in 20 years, and you might want to watch from your couch?  You need to be there.

I’m sweating.  I’ve typed these first 368 words in 11 minutes.  I feel like I’ll wake up tomorrow and regret challenging Illini fans to show up.  My heart rate has to be north of 150 bmp.  We’re bowl eligible on October 8th.  I’m going to watch every recap show in the history of life tonight.  I’m going to search the internet for every word written about Illinois Football.  I’ve waited a long time to feel like this, and I feel anxious that I simply must take it all in before I wake up.

I need to calm myself down – here, I’ll tell a story.  I was at my son’s sporting event this morning, and another dad was there who went to Wisconsin.  He sought me out – sought me, an Illini football fan – to say “that game on November 19th might be a big one, eh?”  I wanted to hug him.  Do you know how long I’ve waited to have that conversation?  My Arkansas coworker and I talk college football at the very moment I arrive on Monday mornings – do you understand how fun that is?  About 7 years ago, I had a K-State coworker discussing the bowl projections with my Minnesota boss and another Missouri coworker.  And I sat over there in the corner, not invited to the conversation, preparing my “well, you know, this Brad Bower kid showed some promise last Saturday…” in case they asked me to join.

Now, not only am I in the game, we’re in the top-15 and I’m having “you know, we could meet in the Outback Bowl” conversations with my Arkansas coworker.  ”Petrino vs. Petrino, that would be something” he says, and inside I’m high-fiving myself.  This is just too much fun.

I should probably talk about the game.

+ AJ Jenkins.  (I just went to look up his stats from today, and our score was right there at the top of the page on ESPN.com.  THIS IS THE GREATEST LIFE EVER.)

6 catches for 182 yards and three touchdowns.  And be it not for a few drops, he would have cleared 200 yards again.  What an amazing senior season.  In our run first, run second offense.  But wait, there’s more.

Nathan Scheelhaase.  210 yards passing with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.  88 yards rushing with one touchdown (and inches from another).  Be it not for that blindside fumble and a few missed passes, he played nearly the perfect game as a QB in this offense.

If these two continue to put up numbers like this, some of those outlandish scenarios I posted above might just come true.  Did I mention this is fun?

+ Anyone remember #Win10?  I tried to start that hashtag on Twitter last fall after the Michigan game.  And I wrote an entire post about it.  My claim: that we could win our next 10 games.  And then we lost to Minnesota.

But now?  After those 10 games?  8-2.  With the two losses being Minnesota at home (where they scored a touchdown with 15 seconds left to win) and at Fresno State (where, had the official made the correct call, Derek Dimke would have kicked the winning field goal as time expired).

After the Minnesota game, I thought I was an idiot for making such a declaration (and I think I said so in the From The Stands podcast after the game).  Now?  I feel much better about it.  We were actually really close to winning all 10 games (truth be told, we were also close to going 5-5, but who’s counting?)

The back-down-to-earth thought: the reason I came up with #win10 in the first place was because they were 10 games where I was pretty sure we’d be favored (and I think we were favored in all 10 games – maybe not Arizona State, and I can’t remember the Texas Bowl, but I’m pretty sure we were favored in the other 8 games).  Now it gets difficult – Ohio State, a trip to Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin heading to Champaign.  Things get a lot tougher in these last 6 games.

But I don’t care – we’re going to a bowl game.

+ Honest question: will I ever not pace watching an Illini game on TV?  So many years of so many blown leads and I can’t get comfortable until the game is REALLY decided.  We’re driving, Indiana is blowing their timeouts, there’s less than 2:00 remaining, and I’m wanting Nathan to slide after he got the first down just so we can take a knee and know that we know that we know the game is over.

I don’t think I’ll ever get comfortable.  Not until we prove time and time again that we can close out games.  WHICH WE JUST MIGHT PROVE SOON. YAY.

+ Justin DuVernois doesn’t get the game ball – Nathan and AJ cut that one in half – but I’m giving him a helmet sticker.  His average was only 38 yards per punt, but he put 3 inside the 20 (two of them inside the ten, if I recall correctly) and hit two boomers around 50 yards.

We were all afraid of a Kyle Yelton scenario where a scholarship freshman clearly wasn’t ready to kick in his first year in uniform, but we’re not getting that from DuVernois.  We’re getting a kid who is going to turn out to be a great punter.  Good call spending a scholarship on him.

+ I will now get out all of my special teams angst in 4 minutes.  And then I will never think of it again.

Opening kickoff returned for a touchdown – are you KIDDING me?  And it looked exactly like the kickoff that Arizona State almost returned for a touchdown last month – a lane on the right with a blocker in front.  WHY IS THIS SO HARD?

But that wasn’t all.  The kickoff where we thought they were going to onside-kick – don’t you teach Pollard to let that one go into the endzone?  There’s absolutely no blockers in front of him – why not teach him to let it bounce at the 2 (line drive kicks like that don’t check up), head into the endzone, and we get the ball at the 20.  Why is he returning it to the 10?

And punt return – why do we never have room?  Why can’t we stop a gunner?  Why are we the worst in the country at this when combining the last 5 years?  Why don’t we realize it will cost us a game soon?

(time’s up)

+ The official stats aren’t up yet, but Buchanan and Mercilus had 19 sacks apiece today, right?

No seriously – they had like 7 sacks, right?  I’d love to see the real stats, because I think there’s a chance Mercilus leads the nation in sacks after this game.  My goodness how good have those two been?  Good work Keith Gilmore – Ball-On-A-Stick is helping us possibly lead the nation in sacks.

Missouri just lost to K-State.  Meaning they’re 2-3, while we’re 6-0.  I can go tell that coworker that yes, without question, we would have beaten them this year.  And when he points to head to head, I’d get all “Arizona State” and he’ll have to stay quiet.  And as he walks away, I might possibly maybe say “I’m gonna go over here and discuss the bowl projections with Arkansas”.

6-0 is the greatest thing ever.

We’re getting ready to run out the clock and on the first play, Jason Ford fumbles.  Every human being on earth who has followed Illini football for even 10 games knew exactly what would happen.  Northwestern would score with a few seconds left, their players would run over to celebrate with the Purple People, and the stair tower ramps filled with thousands of dejected fans would fall silent again.

My first experience with the silent stair tower was also a Northwestern homecoming game.  1992.  We led 26-6 late in the third quarter.  Northwestern mounts a comeback behind wide receiver Lee Gissendaner and quarterback Len Williams.  With every Illini fan on their feet and screaming, Williams hits Gissendaner for a touchdown with, get this, 13 seconds remaining.  The extra point goes through, and Northwestern wins 27-26.

I was sitting in the east balcony that day.  The walk down the southeast stair tower was so very quiet.  Hundreds of fans around me, and no one saying a word.  It was my first experience with that.  Followed by Arizona 1993.  And Penn State 1994.  And Michigan 2000.  And San Jose State 2002.  So many times, in so many close games, we lost in excruciating fashion, and the stair towers fell silent.

What I would have given to walk down a stair tower ramp today.  I thought about it after I recorded my From The Stands mini-podcast, but the noise had probably spilled into the parking lots and onto the streets by then.  One of these games – because all we seem to do is win close games at home – I’m going to run over to a stair tower, climb halfway up, and scream I-L-L at the top of my lungs.  I think it would bring some healing to the pain of the past.

Kinda like today’s game did.

+ Last year we didn’t win any of our close games.  In 2009 we won the Minnesota game by 3, and in 2008 we won the Iowa game by 3, but for the most part, over the last three seasons, we’ve lost nearly every close game.

And now we’ve won 3 in a row.  What?

A three point win over Arizona State, followed by a three point win over Western Michigan, followed by a three point win over Northwestern.  A team that could very easily be 2-3 right now is 5-0 because they dug deep and found a way to win.  It’s nine hours after the game ended, and that still hasn’t sunk in.

+ Speaking of things that aren’t sinking in… Nathan Scheelhaase 391 yards passing? What?  AJ Jenkins 268 yards receiving? WHAT?

Jenkins had a pretty solid year last year with 746 receiving yards.  He now has 633 yards this season in only 5 games.  With 645 receiving yards in the next 8 games (9?), he’d break David Williams’ all time single season receiving record at Illinois. Mikel breaks the single season rushing record in 2010 and AJ breaks the single season receiving record the following year?  I take back every bad thing I said about you in the first half today, Paul Petrino.  Please stay forever.

Wait, that reminds me – as far as single-game records go, Mikel broke the rushing mark last year.  Against Northwestern.  And AJ broke the single game receiving record this year.  Against Northwestern.  Please stay forever, Pat Fitzgerald.

+ Speaking of good ol’ Fitzee, anyone see this quote from the postgame?  From the AP story…

“Shocked,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said, describing his reaction to his team’s collapse. “(Illinois did) nothing that we didn’t work on and nothing that we didn’t prepare for, which is probably the most disappointing aspect of the whole day.”

Did anyone else just laugh out loud?  It’s OK if you just chuckled to yourself.  I mean, could this guy think more highly of himself?

“Did nothing we didn’t work on?”  How about that deep route to Jenkins THAT WE RAN 177 TIMES?  You’re telling me you prepared for that all week?  What about two-minute defense?  Oh, wait, I see the problem.  You prepared your two-minute defense.  WE SCORED IN ONE MINUTE.

I will never, ever grow tired of Clowning the Fitz.

+ You know who got lost in the shuffle with AJ Jenkins having such a good day?  Spencer Harris.  6 catches for 63 yards and a big two-point conversion grab.  And it should have been 7 catches for 80 yards and a (brilliant) touchdown.  I still haven’t watched the tape, so I haven’t seen the pass interference call yet, but if the instant twitter poll I threw out there just before halftime is any indication, it was a very poor call.

But what a catch.  And what a surprising emergence.  Here’s a two-star receiver with only a preferred walk-on offer from Arkansas who is now, with Darius Millines probably out for a bit, our #2 receiver.  He won my Eye Opening Player award back in spring ball, but I really didn’t expect him to climb to “go-to possession receiver” status just yet.  If he can be that go-to slot guy, I’m excited to see what this passing attack will produce.

+ So many strange stats in this season that’s only 5 games old.  No 4th quarter comebacks since the first game of the 2005 season, and now two in three games.  As discussed earlier, three consecutive games within 3 points, and all three wins.  And then of course there’s the whole “5-0 for the first time since the Truman Administration” thing.

And we’ve done all of that while only being mildly successful running the ball.  Yes, the second half of the Arkansas State game and the entire SDSU game we lined up and ran the ball effectively.  And the second half of the Western Michigan game we finally broke through for a few long runs.

But where’s the 6 yards, then 5 yards, then 11 yards, then 8 yards, then 23 yards running game from last year?  Jason Ford averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season – this year he’s averaging 3.2 yards.  We converted so many 3rd and 2 situations last year by lining up with twin tight ends and getting 3 tough yards.  This year, it seems we really struggle in third and short situations (and goal line situations).  What gives?

All I’ve been able to come up with so far: Cornell and Heitz don’t have the chemistry that Hunt and Palmer had last season.  It’s something I’ll be watching for on tape tomorrow.

Tape tomorrow.  That sounds fun.  I get to wake up, watch the tape, maybe watch it again, refresh my Twitter 85 times until the new polls are released, and then watch some college football highlights hoping for a short Illini discussion.

You’re right – I should go watch the tape right now.  Bet I get nervous.

I believe you’re supposed to say “a win is a win” when you squeak out a victory at home over an opponent you should easily beat.  That certainly applies to today’s game, so I guess we’re supposed to be saying “a win is a win”.

But it feels kind of cheap, you know?  Or do they all feel cheap?  Is the point of “a win is a win” to state that even if it was lucky – even though you barely did enough to win against an inferior opponent – it still goes in the win column and in 4 weeks everyone will forget?

Wait – will we forget?  Wasn’t this game a check engine light, telling us we have issues on the offensive line and special teams?  That’s how I’ve always looked at these games before.  San Jose State in 2002 told us everything we needed to know about the upcoming Big Ten season.  Didn’t this game do the same?

Of course, we didn’t lose this game.  We won.  We’re 4-0.  For the first time since the Truman Administration. Two more wins and we’re bowling.

So maybe that’s what A Win Is A Win means.  Set everything aside – momentum is maintained while reality is checked.  We were humbled but we can still brag. After losing all of our close games last year, we’ve won all of our close games this year.  For two straight games, with the opponent driving for the tying field goal, the defense has stepped up and made a play.  What feels like a 2-2 season is actually 4-0.  Which means what feels like another 5 win season will be a bowl season.  I could get used to this.

So yes, a win is a win.  And we have 4 of them now.  And none of those other things.

+ To start, I’m going negative.  I have to get it off my chest: our Special Teams drive me insane.

Maybe it’s just my view from my seats in Memorial Stadium.  Maybe I’m so focused on it that I can’t see anything but negative (kind of like the guy in my section who is focused on Zook timeouts – he went insane on the timeout with 2 seconds left in the half, screaming “WHY WAIT UNTIL 2 SECONDS??” until someone explained to him that it was 4th down and we were setting up the hail mary).  When I’m watching our special teams, I’m focused like that – I know we’re going to do something wrong, and I want to find out what it will be.

My main issue – I don’t understand how MAC teams with lesser athletes (or even FCS teams like South Dakota State) can have significantly better kick coverage and return teams.  I don’t understand why our punt return blocking scheme never allows our returner any room to work.  I don’t understand how Derek Dimke can lead the league in touchbacks last year but seemingly try to drop kicks at the 5 in the corner this year.  I don’t get how our returners always bring the ball out and rarely reach the 20.  I don’t understand how Western Michigan can recruit a solid punter but we’re rugby kicking.  I don’t know why we always miss the first tackle on a kick return.  I don’t know why we use the modern “three guys protect the punter” formation but twice in 4 games we let a guy in off the edge.

If we didn’t have Derek Dimke, we would have to be last in the universe in special teams right now.  And it’s going to cost us a game soon.

+ But we have Derek Dimke.  And that has made all the difference.

Why did we win a close game today?

FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
POTTER, John 1st 13:01 44 yards Missed
POTTER, John 1st 00:41 26 yards Good
POTTER, John 2nd 13:19 49 yards Missed
POTTER, John 2nd 03:26 24 yards Good

FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
Dimke, Derek 2nd 08:12 39 yards Good
Dimke, Derek 3rd 01:37 35 yards Good
Dimke, Derek 4th 08:14 21 yards Good

The craziest thing about Dimke?  He’s sometimes terrible in practice.  And in scrimmages.  And in practice before scrimmages.  I was sitting at the Rantoul scrimmage with my friend Seth watching Dimke miss several kicks, and we joked that if he was ever really good in practice, we’d get worried.  Because I kind of like this “miss 40% of your kicks in practice, make every kick in games” thing he has going on.

Current career stats: 35-40 (87.5%), including 8-10 from 40+ and 2-3 from 50+.

+ Um, how good was Terry Hawthorne today?

Not rhetorical – I’ll answer.  VERY good.  9 tackles (8 solo), 3 PBU’s, and an interception.  He’s finally healthy, and we’re finally starting to see what we’ve all been dying to see – the best athlete on the team becoming one of the top defenders on the team.  His closing speed on the PBU in the north endzone (where he left his guy and closed on the tight end to knock the ball away) was so impressive.  NFL impressive.

He’ll be a freak at the combine.  I’ve moved my fear of him taking a chance on the NFL and leaving early from “threat-level green” to “threat-level yellow”.  Just need to keep it out of the red.

+ Simon Cvijanovic deserves his own little plus sign.  I think Simon had played maybe 15 snaps his entire career before today (all in the South Dakota State game).  Then, suddenly, with a flag that only Bill LeMonnier could throw, our left tackle is out for the rest of the game and Cvijanovic heads to the locker room knowing he’ll be playing every snap for the rest of the game.

Our first offensive series in the second half, all I did was watch Simon.  And he held his own.  He got beat on the pass rush on one play, but on another, he forced his defensive end outside and pushed him into the blitzing corner.

Most importantly, we rushed for 184 yards in the second half, including the impressive drive that took almost all of the minutes off the clock, with two very green redshirt freshmen at the tackle positions.  Good work, boys.

+ The Big Ten has gained a bit of a reputation for poor quarterback play this fall.  Lots of inexperience, lots of very poor signal callers at traditional powerhouse programs (Penn State, Ohio State).  The quarterbacks who have been successful are those that have helped themselves with their feet (Martinez at Nebraska, Robinson at Michigan).  The only quarterback in the Big Ten putting up big-time numbers is Russell Wilson at Wisconsin.

Which got me to thinking – when we look back at the end of the season, and we try to name the top-4 passers we faced, will we say “Wilson from Wisconsin, plus Aplin from Arkansas State, Osweiler from ASU, and Carder from Western Michigan”?  I think we will.

Granted, we’ll face better athletes at quarterback who will pose a bigger threat (Shoelace, Marquis Gray at Minnesota).  And if Dan Persa is healthy next week (a maybe) and if he’s not rusty (doubtful), he’d certainly be on that list.  But there’s a good chance we look back on this season and say “top 4 passers: Wilson, Carder, Osweiler, and Aplin”.

+ Sometimes, I get a little parental towards our football team.  I spend so much time watching these players in the spring and the summer that I grow a bit attached (stay with me – this won’t get creepy, I promise).

So when a hard working guy like Troy Pollard has a breakout game (133 yards rushing on 14 carries), I burst with pride.  5 long years, one long ACL rehab, biding his time behind Mendenhall and then Leshoure, and now he’s our leading rusher through 4 games (260 yards on 25 carries for a whopping 10.4 yard-per-carry average).  It just makes me want to take the whole team out for ice cream and let Troy get in line first.

OK, it got creepy.

+ It was strange to see Nate’s stats after the game: 14-20 (70%) for 133 yards with one touchdown and one interception (it’s weird that hail mary interceptions count as real interceptions).  From watching the game from my seats, I would have expected Nate’s stats to be much worse than that.  He just seemed a bit off today – tucking and running when, at least from my view, he had a receiver open.  Three plays before the big Spencer Harris drop, Scheelhaase had him open with the safety confused by the routes – he didn’t see him and tucked it for a 2 yard gain.  He also had Ryan Lankford wide open on another play but didn’t see him.

I have to keep reminding myself that he’s a sophomore, and he’s still learning his reads and check-downs.  I also need to remember that he’s completed 71% of his passes this season and we’re 4-0.  So there’s that.

Still, I want to see more (and I think the coaches want to see more).  Especially in the red zone.  I’d love to see some play-calling inside the 10 that isn’t “I hope we can score on one of these runs”.

You know what?  After typing this whole thing out, that 4-0 I just put in the last paragraph felt better.  4-0.  Four wins, zero losses.  We played a classic trap game and won.  We played this Arizona State team that’s currently dismantling USC on my television and we won.  We haven’t gotten the offense fully going yet, and we keep winning. I could get used to this.

And we never do.  The close game at home against a solid opponent that can either build or destroy our momentum – we never win that game.  Michigan 2000.  Michigan 1995.  California 2005.  Michigan State 1999 (although that season turned out OK).  All September games where we could build momentum but stumbled.

And it’s not just that – it’s the close game at home that goes right down to the wire.  Ohio State 2002.  Missouri 2007.  Penn State 1994.  Minnesota 2008.  Michigan 2000 (again).

Maybe that’s why I was so over-the-top overjoyed last night – we basically won the 2000 Michigan game.  The Bill Lemonnier Game.  The I’ve-never-heard-a-stair-tower-so-angry game.  In a September night game against a ranked opponent where a deflating call from an official gave the other team the ball with the chance to get the go-ahead score, we stood up to the challenge and won the game.

As I said in the podcast, the streak is over, too.  It’s been 75 games since we last came back from a 4th quarter deficit to win (Rutgers 2005).  I think that’s a huge psychological hurdle for this team.  We’ve had our chances in the last 12 months (Michigan and Minnesota last year), but we haven’t been able to complete the comeback.  Last night?  Big turnover at midfield, quick drive for the winning score.

It’s a huge psychological hurdle for the fans, too.  It starts to tear at the “wait for it” mentality the permeates every Illini home crowd. No longer can we say “I know EXACTLY how this will end.” We don’t have to wince when we have to punt the ball away with 2 minutes remaining – the defense just might step up and make a play.

We CAN win that game.

+ Jonathan. Brown.  Expect to see a lot of #badnewsbrown hashtags on my Twitter the next 3 years (3 years!).  As you probably know, I agree with what Vic Koenning said on the pregame show last week: the goal for Jonathan Brown should be to become an All-American when he’s an upperclassman.  He’s that good.

The first person to point me toward Jonathan Brown: Nate Creer.  Nathan Scheelhaase’s dad is very vocal in the stands in Rantoul – you should sit near him some time; it’s quite a treat – and in the summer of 2010, he was loving true-freshman Jonathan Brown during 11 on 11 drills.  “This kid can play – this kid wants to play this year”.  After his endorsement, I started to watch Brown more and more, and I liked what I saw.

When he found the field last fall, I really liked what I saw. In fact, before he goes on to his next career as a Chicago sports-media maven, I need to give the Daily Herald’s Lindsey Willhite grief one more time. During the Purdue game last year, I tweeted that Jonathan Brown would be 1st team All Big Ten as a senior. Willhite, knowing my propensity for orange kool-aid, tweeted back “you sure not All-American?” Well, Mr. Willhite, I would like to amend my Tweet. Yes, All American.

This spring, I was pretty sure that Brown was ready for a break-out season.  Here’s what I said back then when awarding him my Spring Crush award:

No question. If I compare him to any of the other former crushes, the only other time I can remember searching for adjectives like this was Mikel Leshoure in the spring of 2009. I started the My Man Mikel campaign, followed by the poorly-named Give Leshoure More Carries posts after he only got 3 carries against Michigan State in 2009, and finally reached traction on Twitter with the #Feed5 campaign last spring.

I feel like I’m there again. I want people to realize how good Jonathan Brown can be, and I selfishly want credit for it before his awesomeness becomes a no-brainer. I think the kid can be really, really good. Like, high on the Butkus list as a senior good. “Is he better than J Leman?” good. “Holocek or Brown?” good. There, I said it.

After this game – a game where he outplayed All-American Vontaze Burfict? I’m not sure what adjectives to use. And because of that, it’s probably best that I tap the brakes a little bit – he’s still only a sophomore, and he still has so much he can learn from Vic Koenning. He’ll probably have some rough games in the Big Ten season as he adjusts to the grind of a full 12 games where you play the majority of the snaps. But the sky is the limit for this kid. He’s the perfect combination of instincts and talent.

+ Speaking of Vic Koenning… Vic. Koenning. Can we please build mansions in Monticello for Koenning and his sidekick Ron West, fill them with all the finest meats and cheeses, extend them 20 year contract extensions, and rename Taft-Van Doren “Koenning-West”.  Better yet, let’s just rename the Chemistry Annex “Koenning West”.  Chem Annex was always kind of a dumb name anyway.

This game plan – going with what reads like a 3-2-6 defense and still getting a pass rush by using different looks and blitzes – was brilliant.  After Arizona State’s first drive, the defense adapted to whatever they were doing and shut them down.  We saw huge games from Whitney the Mercilus and Michael Buchanan, heads-up plays by a now-healthy Ian Thomas, great play in the slot from Tavon Wilson, and probably the best game of Terry Hawthorne’s career.  Oh, and there’s this guy name Bad News Brown who was pretty good, too.

You win in the Big Ten with a running game and a defense.  And as long as Vic Koenning is here, I think we’ll have a defense.  20-year extension and Monticello mansion, please.

+ One guy that deserves his own little plus sign: true freshman punter Justin DuVernois. After struggling in his first attempt – a 29 yarder that made me tell my buddy “we might be in major trouble if we have to keep playing the field position game” – he came through huge: a 44-yarder downed inside the 20, a 41-yarder with his feet at the back of the endzone, a booming 48-yarder when ASU was licking their chops thinking they’d get great field position, and then, probably most importantly, a nice roll for a 46-yarder that pinned ASU at the 27 on their final series.

I think it’s safe to say that if he shanks any of those last 4, Arizona State capitalizes on one of them and scores the tying or go-ahead points.  But under the pressure of his first night game against a ranked team, the kid came through.

+ OK, so the offense.  Yes, they came through when we needed them to.  A bad punt bounce setting us up at ASU’s 38?  March right down and punch it in.  We trail for the first time in the game in the 4th quarter and the defense gives them the ball at midfield?  March right down and punch it in.

But the rest of the game?  There are issues.  We’re struggling to find our rhythm.  There are too many second-and-eight plays and not enough second-and two.  Arizona State has a decent defense, but not one that should hold us to 240 total yards.  That’s a really scary number.  Especially after Missouri put up 501 yards on them last week.

I have faith in Paul Petrino, so I’m sure he can correct some things in practice, but we’re the #24 team in the country now – the number 24 team can’t have an offense that struggles to get to 240 yards.

(WE’RE RANKED #24 IN THE COUNTRY! ZOMG!)

+ Can I just say one more time how nice it is to not watch an opposing team go over and celebrate with their fans in our stadium?  How nice it is that the loudmouth punks a few rows back had to walk out of the stadium quietly?  So many times, in that very stadium, we’ve had to sit there and just take it.  So to watch our team climb up into the student section and celebrate with, yeah, I’ll say it, the loudest student section at any game since the North Endzone was built, was thrilling.

Speaking of thrilling, how epic was your tailgate after the game?  Or your car on the way home?  Or your texts with your friends?  Greatest feeling in the world, isn’t it?  My conversation about “we never win that game” with Tom at the tailgate ended this way:  “Tomorrow, we worry about the Ultimate Trap Game that is Western Michigan. Tonight, we celebrate!”

And celebrate we did.

Four wins from a bowl game.  Seriously – just beat Western Michigan, Indiana (who might only win one game this year), Purdue (who lost to Rice yesterday), and Minnesota (who lost to New Mexico State yesterday), and we’re bowling.  Toss in a win here or there over Northwestern or Michigan, and we’re going to a really good bowl.  Somehow knock off Ohio State or Wisconsin at home….

Back up, Robert.  Let’s focus on Arizona State.  Wait – I didn’t even mention our home game with Arizona State yet.  Win THAT game, and we can crank our expectations through the roof.

And the best news?  We don’t even have to win all of those games.  I mean, I’d love to win all of those games.  I want us to win every game ever – duh.  But as an Illini football fan, I’ve always played the “well, since we’re probably going to lose 2 of 3 to Missouri, Cincinnati, and Fresno State in the non-conference, the game at Wisconsin is probably a must win” game.  Even if we lose next week, we haven’t put ourselves in any “must win” situations.  The season isn’t slipping away already (like it usually is), and our team is gaining confidence instead of watching it slip away.

In the immortal words of J. Walter Weatherman, and THAT’S why you don’t play Missouri, Cincinnati, and Fresno State.

Thoughts on the game:

+ 56-3 is 56-3.  I know it’s an FCS opponent, and it might be a very poor FCS opponent compared to the rest of the Big Ten’s cupcakes (although this South Dakota State team only lost to Taylor Martinez and Nebraska last year 17-3), but that was an impressive performance yesterday.  It’s easy to dismiss what we saw as “it was just an FCS opponent”, and that’s mostly true, but the intensity and focus displayed by this team was so impressive that it needs to be discussed.

Had AJ Jenkins caught that third down pass on the first series, we wouldn’t have punted until the second string came in.  Had we not put the second and third string defense in the second half, we might’ve held them under 50 yards.  Hmmm.. maybe it’s even more impressive that we played mostly second and third string defenders in the 4th quarter and still held them under 100 yards for the game.  All in all, it was as complete a performance since maybe the Houston game in 1991.

It’s still too early to look at total offense/total defense numbers, but hey, we’re 2-0, so I’m gonna take a peek.  Pretty much everyone is playing cupcakes right now (including Illinois!), so let’s see how we stack up.

Total Offense: 18th nationally, 1st in the Big Ten
Total Defense: 13th nationally, 3rd in the Big Ten

I’ll take it. South Dakota State and Arkansas State might turn out to be two of the weaker teams that anyone has played thus far (although Arkansas State did beat Memphis 47-3 yesterday).  But ever since Arkansas State took an 8-7 lead with a field goal, we’ve looked as crisp as we possibly could for the last 6 quarters.

Yes, it was a nobody opponent yesterday, but it was also a clinic.  And our biggest margin of victory since 1944.

+ The most encouraging thing I saw: Ian Thomas returning to form.  I was worried that his shoulder injury would keep him at 70% the rest of the season, but he was flying around out there yesterday.  It’s nice to rotate all of these linebackers in and out of the game, but against the Ohio States and Wisconsins of the world, we’ll need all the Ian Thomas and Jonathan Brown we can get.

His tackle on the second SDSU series was a thing of beauty.  Plug the hole, then continue through the hole when the tailback tries to bounce it outside, and finish off the play with a shoestring tackle.  We will need about 19 of those plays from Thomas come Big Ten season.  Happy to see him rounding back into form.

+ Much better game from Michael Heitz at strongside tackle.  Granted, the defensive ends and blitzing linebackers he was facing were nowhere close to the class of Arkansas State, let alone Ohio State and Wisconsin, but I watched him on a few series and he looked really solid.

As did Trulon Henry at Sam Linebacker.  And not just because of the pick-6.  He looks really comfortable at Sam, flying around and being very Bussey-like.

Why do I group these two players together?  Because I’m curious what happens when Corey Lewis returns from injury and when Ashante Williams returns from his suspension.

Right now, I think Henry will start the rest of the year at Sam Linebacker.  But what if our safeties struggle once the schedule toughens up?  Would we move Trulon back to safety and put Ashante back in the starting lineup at Sam?  It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Same with strongside tackle.  If Corey Lewis comes back for the Northwestern game, do you start the redshirt junior over the redshirt freshman Heitz?  Lewis played a fair bit as a true freshman in 2008 and a decent amount in 2009.  Is that enough game experience to say that he’s better prepared for the Big Ten season than Michael Heitz’s 4 starts in September?  Another “interesting to see how that plays out”.

+ I have other notes that I made to myself here – we haven’t seen 10% of the playbook yet; Supo Sanni, even though he got the interception, had a few rough moments; Donovonn Young’s second touchdown had me all giddy with excitement – but I’m still in a haze from my high school class reunion last night and unable to elaborate.  I need a nap.

You’re right – I won’t nap.  I’m totally gonna re-watch the game now.