OK, let’s get this much straight: Syracuse is a mess of a football team and you’d hate to be coach Greg Robinson with a big mortgage and a family that would probably appreciate a little job security. Before long, he’ll have neither.
That said, Illinois did just about everything it could Saturday at the Carrier Dome in playing with I believe was the best game in the Ron Zook coaching era. Yeah, I know they won at Michigan State last year but that was a bruised, nearly broken Michigan State team that was just beginning to fall apart at the seams. And there’s no question in my mind that Saturday’s 41-20 victory over Syracuse marked Juice Williams’ best-ever game as Illinois’ quarterback.
Furthermore, the way Illinois ran the ball was impressive and I don’t care if they were playing the junior college jayvee. Illinois ran for 378 yards on the ground and could have had three 100-yard rushers if that mattered.
Rashard Mendenhall looks better all the time. Saturday he rolled up 150 yards and three touchdowns in 16 carries. Williams himself ran for 90 and he ran with authority. And when JC transfer Daniel Dufrene dinged his ankle early, Illinois inserted freshman Troy Pollard, who carried 13 times for 92 yards. That kid is only 5-foot-8, but he runs bigger and he runs with some quickness.
The defense blanked Syracuse until the second half when a botched on-sides kick gave the Orange a field goal and a missed tackle led to a long run that set up a touchdown. The final 10 points Syrcause scored came in the final six minutes against mostly reserves.
Overall: The best game Illinois has played for the Zooker.
I don’t know what the Big Ten season will hold, starting this week against Indiana, mainly because I don’t know how good the Big Ten really is. Or isn’t. But Illinois should be able to run the football. And if Williams’ improving confidence is partly due to the realization that with weapons now all around him he does not have to do it alone, that would be great.
I look forward to the next few games.
If Syracuse wants to change its football fortunes, I would humbly suggest they start by changing out of those seriously nasty uniforms. Those are just wrong on every level.
Orange helmets. Orange jerseys. Orange pants. Dark blue trim. It looks like a bad Jello mold, a Halloween decoration gone awry, just butt ugly awful. Looking at them makes me shiver. Maybe that’s the idea.
Great sightlines at Carrier Dome. Really enjoyed watching the game here.
And as for basketball, expect an announcement on the new assistant coach on Monday or Tuesday. Yes, Dennis Gates has pulled out. But there are a couple of other candidates in the running, although no one seems winning to let us know who they are. I’m sure those candidates want protection just in case.
I would still handicap the race with Jerrance Howard as the frontrunner. We’ll see.
September 15th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
WOW!!! Syracuse really is bad. Good game for us. The team looked much more focused than they did against WIU. Greg Robinson will be given one more year and then will be gone.
Michigan’s win over ND won’t save Lloyd Carr. He will be gone this year and he will probably retire to spare himself from the AD’s axe. Anybody still think Charlie Weis is a genius? Come to think of it, the only person I’ve heard call Charlie Weis a genius is Charlie Weis. Good thing ND got rid of Ty Willingham, a decent guy who did things the right way but didn’t win enough, and got Charlie Weis, an arrogant jackass who now wins even less. I wonder what the buy out will be on that big contract extension they just gave him?
September 15th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
“While there are no guarantees with any of those, Weber and his staff have an obligation to lock those three up tighter than Shaun Pruitt at the free-throw line.”
“Orange helmets. Orange jerseys. Orange pants. Dark blue trim. It looks like a bad Jello mold, a Halloween decoration gone awry, just butt ugly awful.”
Great quotes Tupps!
September 15th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Kinda ominous that no passing stats for Juice were mentioned. Que Pasa?
Uniform talk? Interesting concept! I can feel the knashing of Homer teeth!!!!
Silent screams:(For heavens sake Tupper don’t help the guy. Kentucky Mike has a big enough ego already!!!!)
Ha Ha Ha!!!!
September 16th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Take that Nancy Cantor! From the Illini with love. Orangemen or Orange, you need to do more than just change the symbol.
Hopefully, this is the start of an Illini team that knows how to win. Next, maybe we can have a game with a + in the turnover column.
September 16th, 2007 at 10:16 am
It is clear that McGee is far better a
quarterback - more accurate arm, lazer
perfect spiral passes, quicker feet and
better runner,and most importantly has
a much broader field vision and can spot the second and third receivers. We will need a passing qb when we start playing teams that will shut down our running game (Penn State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, et al) The good news is that
we are starting to see some top grade superior athletes with the Illini. Benn,
Mendenhall and Gamble will be recognized in the next year or two at the national level. Two problems still exist - our defense and offense let up and do not have a killer instinct as the Western Illinois game and Syracuse game proved. We should have had 60 points and shut out Syracuse. And we still make stupid mistakes. The Illini now look to be able to bang with the best teams but they need to develop a killer instinct, take no prisoners aapproach. That attitude will eliminate aa lot of mistakes that arise from letting up. And contrary to what I and most people initially thought, Hudson is not a return man. He can run like the wind in the open field but has deer eyes in car lights when trying to return a punt.
September 16th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
let wilkins return the balls!!!
September 16th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Congrats Illini! That having been said, there were still way too many penalties and fumbles!It’s clear that we have a tremendous amount of talent and depth at running back. Juice Williams is nowhere near the QB that Eddie McGee is!Something that will be sorely needed when we start playing the better teams. Absolutely no passes to Kyle Hudson. I’m not sure that the tradeoff of Kyle as pass receiver is worth the addition of Kyle as punt returner! The coach that called the onside kick to start (probably Zook) the second half should be hung by his toes (or something else) from the yardarms. That together with the stupid play of not fair-catching or at least falling on the ball on the short kickoff, together with the 30 some odd yard ave. on punts in a dome leads me to give the special teams at least a D if not an F fo the game. Hopefully this is the start of something good! It won’t be, though, unless a bunch of these stupid mistakes are corrected!
September 17th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Those were two of the most ridiculous turn overs I’ve ever seen. Thankfully they didn’t hurt us in any way against a team like Syracuse. I agree, I really like McGee. He looks and moves like a true Q.B. They hype Juice so much but I just don’t see it yet. It’s great that he has the ability but it’s obvious he’d rather run than throw. We already have three fine running backs. Anyway, nice “win” lets get some more. “GO ILLINI”
September 17th, 2007 at 9:03 am
For BrooksTaylor, this week’s game @Indiana is the biggest game of Zook’s tenure at Illinois. Win that, Illinois is 3-1 with Penn State coming to town and excitement for Illinois football will be sky high.
September 17th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Sheesh, the way some of these posters “congratulate” the Illini, I’d be afraid to let women and children read any of their comments if they DIDN’T mostly like what they saw.
Obviously the Illini are a work in progress. Obviously they are a young team not yet reaching their potential. But let’s enjoy the progress we’ve seen–heck, we have a reason to look forward to upcoming games now, not just the tailgating-!
If anyone feels the need to vent and criticise, just go over to the nearest Notre Dame message board. Anything you say will have a better-than-50-percent chance of being accurate, and Charlie Weis will likely admit in his next post-game news conference that he should have taken your advice (!)
September 17th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
So where are we going with Juice and McGee? I for one am concerned that we will have to put up with Juice’s up and down passing performances for another 3 years before we have McGee as QB for just one measly year (his senior yr).
September 17th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I’m glad somebody brought up that botched on-side kick. Even if it had actually worked, who cares? We’re up 17-0, stuffing them on defense and moving at will on offense. All we succeeded in doing was handing a home team momentum and home fans something to get excited about. Good thing we were vastly superior in every other facet of the game so it didn’t really matter. With that said, I read an article in the Syracuse student newspaper where Benn’s high school coach called Zook one of the top two recruiters in the country. Very complimentary piece. I don’t think anybody here is trying to say they’re not doing a great job. Just pointing out some obvious improvements that need to be made. If we were playing a good team, that on-side attempt could have cost us a game.
September 17th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
It sounded like a good game on the Illini Sports Network, and then when I watched the Ron Zook show last night, it LOOKED like a good game.
I remember listening on the radio Saturday a nervous wreck - I was SO hoping our team, especially our coaches and Juice - would do well. I didn’t expect a blow out. (My wife loves it when the games are only on the radio (I don’t get ESPNU) because I use my nervous energy to scrub the kitchen floors, do the dishes, clean the cabinets…)
On the Ron Zook show, Zook looked like he was enjoying himself. He looked relaxed and he even grinned a couple times like he was thinking, “Man THIS is what I get to see on the practice field!” It was almost a, “yeah, we looked good, but man you ain’t seen nothin yet. The best is yet to come.”
I know they’ll be focussed even more against Indiana… doubt there will be quieting that crowd but at least they won’t be playing in an echo chamber.
The Big Ten Network had a hilarious bit last night on J Leman’s diet. He rattled off the caloric intake of his raw eggs, olive oil, and heavy cream breakfast, pausing at one point to ask the interviewer if he was following him.
Looking forward to taking it to some Big Ten teams.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Catfish: If we had been playing a good team, we wouldn’t have tried the onside kick!
Tom Duffy - Frankly, I don’t see any teams shutting down our running game.
Doug: I hope we can show some B10 teams that paybacks are hell.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
KyM: With your prowess at QB predictions, I’m feeling better every day!! You were really thumbs down on Peyton Manning? I think you are being self deprecating, friend. You are much better than that. I refuse to believe it! You ever get to Ann Arbor? Let’s tee it up.
September 17th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Marlin - I really did think he would not pan out. Or at least to the hype. Of course he may have to win 10 Super Bowls to equal the hype. I always thought his patting of the ball and all those pump fakes would get him killed in the pros. Seemed to have happy feet.
Ryan Leaf and Jeff George are the same guys. As Crash said Million dollar arms and a two cent head!
I worked on the construction at UAW Blacklake. Not sure what they call it now. If you get to Onaway or have played it let me know how she looks. If you ever hear of someone needing a golf course designer let me know. I pay commission!
Blog Patrons:
Since this blog seems to be dying (I thought the true fans would be out in droves. Don’t you guys love to trumpet meaningless wins?) Let’s try this:
Give your worst prediction and best on a player.
Mine:
Worst- Peyton Manning Bust
Best- Cornelius Bennet better than Bosworth. And I love the Sooners!
September 18th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Tom Duffy said that the Illini should have scored 60 points & shut out Syracuse. You may be right, Tom, but surely you would agree that having a big lead late in a game is the opportune time to give the reserves some PT? We may not have won by as much as we could have, but they got some valuable experience.
September 18th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Yes, we could have won by 60. If there’s anyone who understands what it’s like to have the score ran up meaninglessly, it’s Illinois. Credit Zook with winning with some class and getting most of the players that traveled some playing time.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Honestly, I don’t think uniform colors really matter too much, Mark. I mean, look at Penn St. Not exactly making a fashion statement out there, are they? But because they’ve won so much, everyone thinks their uniforms are classical looking. So if Syracuse starts winning, I guess UglyOrange will turn in to ClassicOrange. Anyhow, I could care less about what uniforms the team wears– Just win baby!
September 18th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Marlin: An on-side kick is a trick play designed to steal a possession, and to gain field position and momentum. We had the latter and didn’t need the former. The extended result was a methodical 17-0 lead earned in the first half whittled down to 20-10 within minutes. It was a bad call no matter how you look at it. However, that’s about the only bad thing I have to say about the game. We handled them on both sides of the ball. Now let’s go slap the Hoosier’s around…
September 18th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Well, there sure are some impatient Illini fans on this board. And why so many are already christening McGee a much better QB than Juice is beyond me. Did you people just ignore those four turnovers Eddie had in less than 3 quarters versus Missouri? Get a clue!
September 18th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
Eddie McGee fumbled three times, losing two (including one for a 100 yard touchdown), and threw two bad interceptions in the fourth quarter against Missouri, yet he is the best QB on the team. If Juice had done these things he would be run out of town. Those are things that Rex Grossman does, yet again Eddie McGee should be the Illini QB. Interesting.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Ky Mike… this is easy for me… while down in school in the STL… the Rams were ready to draft a quick little half back that was getting some love from our friends at ESPN while he was starring for San Diego State… come draft day, being the only Bears fan in sight, I started blowing the whistle on the this little dude… “oh quick enough to come out of the backfield and make people miss in the league like he did in college, yada, yada, yada” thank you marshall… but mikey, i was dead on about dwayne wade…
September 19th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Catfish - Easy, pal. I didn’t say the on-side kick was a smart play. In fact, it was pretty dumb - unless Zook felt we needed to practice on-side kicks, which ti looks like we do. My point was in response to your comment, “If we were playing a good team, it would have cost us the game.” (Or something to that effect). And my point was that had we been playing a good team, we probably would not have tried the on-side kick in the first place. I officiated football for nearly 30 years. I think I know what is the purpose of an on-side kick. (BTW, you are correct).