It may not have been pretty, but Saturday’s 28-17 victory over Ball State was one of those slug-it-out games that absolutely must be won – MUST BE WON – and it really doesn’t matter how it happens.
It happened with a whole bunch of Rashard Mendenhall (189 yards rushing, two touchdowns), with a pretty good dose of Juice Williams (90 yards rushing, two rushing touchdowns and a season-best 145 yards passing), and some pretty sweet after-the-catch running from Rejus Benn.
In all, Illinois put up 324 yards rushing and 469 yards in total offense, enough to turn back a Ball State team that tried to hang around for most of the game.
Mendenhall is having a fantastic season. He went over the 1,000-yard mark Saturday and if he stays on course, he’ll break Antoineo Harris’ single-season rushing record. Harris ran for 1,330 yards in 2002.
The bigger question is whether or not Mendenhall is around next season to move up on the career rushing list. He’s a junior, but a strong, fast, difficult-to-tackle tailback like him will have to ponder an early exit to the NFL next season. I talked with him about that on Saturday after the game and he agreed it’s something he’ll have to investigate.
He said draft order will be an important factor and how he performs when the pro scouts come in to time and measure them will play into that.
Naturally, Illini fans want him to return. He could be a legitimate Heisman Trophy-quality back next season and if Illinois grows and improves at some offensive positions, this could be a high-powered, high-scoring attack.
When Mendenhall put on 20 pounds in the off-season, you couldn’t help but notice the huge muscles around his neck and arms. The guy looked like he had maxed out in the weight room. But we all wondered how it might impact his quickness. So far, the change has been all for the better. He’s just as quick and fast and now he can run over tacklers. And he’s spinning away from some, juking others and is running with a style that says, “I hate to be tackled!!!”
The pros have to love that.
Saturday’s victory was No. 6 on the season, which makes Illinois bowl-eligible. That said, it would be a good idea to pick up victory No. 7 this week at Minnesota. There could be as many as nine bowl-eligible Big Ten teams and the league could be squeezed to find homes for all of them in the big bowl lineup.
Illinois would be an attractive team for some bowl, however, because it hasn’t gone bowling since 2001 and because its fans figure to travel well, as they have at places like Syracuse and Iowa.
Sunday morning is the Big Ten basketball media day event in Chicago, then it’s off to the Orange & Blue basketball scrimmage is at 5 p.m., Sunday (Oct. 28) at the Assembly Hall with autographs for the fans to follow. Tickets are $10 for adults, $2 for students.
A panel of 22 media members voted on the Big Ten basketball finish and the results were as follows:
1. Michigan State; 2. Indiana; 3. Ohio State; 4. Wisconsin; 5. Purdue; 6. Illinois; 7. Penn State; 8. Michigan; 9. Minnesota; 10. Iowa; 11. Northwestern.
October 28th, 2007 at 1:03 am
Illinois will finish better than the predicted 6th place in the Big Ten this basketball season. They are going to be better than what people (media memebers) think. Tupps, did you vote on this and where did u place the Illini? Don’t you think they have a chance to surprise some people this year?
BSU was no match for the Illini today. When you run the ball effectively like that, you wear out the defense. BSU’s defense was gassed. Juice threw the ball well in the second half. Not pretty you say? 469 yards of offense looks pretty good to me. The defense was pretty good except for letting the qb scramble for a bunch of yards. I was pleased with the secondary today, they did a lot better in their coverage than they have all year.
Punt returns were good, punt coverage was good. The punter was good! Going on the road to Minnesota scares me though. I hope there is not another let down like the Iowa game.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Mark, with all due respect, Rashard Mendenhall is not a legitimate Hesiman candidate NEXT year, he is a legitimate Heisman candidate THIS year. Compared to the 3 RBs that the turkeys at ESPN have on their list, Rashard has the most total yards (rushing & receiving), the highest average per carry, and is tied for the most TDs. Why is Ray Rice continuously on this list other than the fact that he is closest in proximity to the Eastern Seaboard Promotional Network? 12 of his 14 TDs have come against Buffalo, Navy, Norfolk St., and big bad Syracuse. Give me a break! The Heisman is nothing more than a popularity/publicity contest. If Rashard and Hart switched teams, you better believe Rashard would be getting all the hype and Hart would be toiling away in media obscurity. Rashard is the best RB hands down and while we’re at it, let’s give some credit to the guys up front and Weil for a job well done. Let’s get Minnesota! Go Illini!
October 28th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
Marlin, what’s stupid is thinking there’s some kind of conspiracy to ring up penalties against the illini. Yeah, the illini never hold only the other team. Whine, whine, whine.
Judge Smalls must be the most hilarious character ever since the geezers on here think it’s funny to quote 30 years later.
October 28th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Jake: Why, in the last 15 years has the B10 office found it necessary to apologize to Illinois twice (at least - that I know of) for officiating errors (against Michigan) that cost us the game? I also vividly remember a game in the 70’s when Blackman was our coach. Michigan was “given” two touchdowns when the receivers clearly came down OUTSIDE the endzone and they beat us by 7. I will continue to believe what I believe, and you, my friend have demonstrated that your knowledge of ANY subject, athletically, is suspect, at best. And please, consider your use of the term “stupid”. It may, in fact, apply to the person you view daily in the mirror rather than myself!
October 28th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
For McGee not to even play is a travisty. Give me a break. Juice’s season best for passing is 145 yards?? Pathetic. And this was against Ball State. Not Michigan, or Penn State. If you can’t throw the ball against Ball State, who can you throw against? Then, to top it off, Benn only touches the ball 6 times during a game. Honestly, does this make any sense? We have a great trio on offense in Rashard, McGee, and Benn. Unfortunately, we have a head coach that only uses one of these weapons. Why recruit great talent if you aren’t going to use them? If we want to have any chance of beating Ohio State, all three guys must play the entire game. If Juice starts, we lose.
The BB team will finish higher than 6. Guaranteed. The low ranking should put a chip on there shoulders. Sounds like Crandall Head is close to a verbal. The future looks very bright in Assembly Hall. And you guys blasted me for the last year because I had faith in Weber and his recruiting. Go Illini!
October 28th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Did anyone notice the halftime yell of “Chief” seemed a lot louder during the Homecoming game?
Bill R. so you like the Illini passing game? I don’t - last in the Big Ten just won’t win close games.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Jaake,just disapear!
October 29th, 2007 at 10:13 am
Congrats on the “W” over Ball State. I didn’t get to see it because of this stalemate going on…..hope it ends soon.
I agree with Bill R that the Illini will finish better than 6th this year in B-ball. They finished better than that last year with all those injuries, etc. I say no worse than 4th.
Also agree with shooter about RM…..no respect.
October 29th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Hey Brooks — Right there with you saying “where were you guys when I was supporting Weber!” Go Illini!
October 30th, 2007 at 1:46 am
The lack of touches by Benn recently is very likely because of his recurring shoulder problem which might, or may not, require offseason attention. Seriously people, I know Zook has made a couple of errors here and there in some games- but the man is not a complete idiot. I expect to see Benn contributing plenty in Columbus, Ohio.
GO ILLINI
October 30th, 2007 at 7:09 am
I’m on the list with Brooks & Jessica, just like many others are, as backers of Weber who had the patience to wait before calling for his head & knew he would turn it around. I’ll give Brooks the credit he is due for keeping up the fight when many of us got tired of the arguing on this board long before he did. Illini b-ball is headed in the right direction.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Brooks, Jessica and Bill Arter: Please don’t pass out from drinking the Kool-Aid. Illini basketball will be headed in the right direction when these kids win a B10 Championship, make it to the Elite 8 and maybe play for a NC. If all these kids end up on campus, then things will look better at that time than they did 6 months ago. Let’s hope they all have better values than Jamar.
nlynn: Thanks. Couldn’t have said it better. Although I have said it many times.
October 30th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
No flyfishingnut I don’t like the Illini passing game and I didn’t say I did. All I said was Juice threw the ball better in the second half.
October 31st, 2007 at 7:43 am
Marlin - Apparently we have different definitions of the phrase “headed in the right direction”. Some of us derive pleasure from any good news about the Illini & some of you are much more cautious about it. Even pessimistic Archie said that he thought these recent verbals was a good sign. Time is too valuable to me to wait for a B10 championship, elite 8 trip, another NC game, or for these verbals to show up on campus before I show some enthusiasm about my most favorite sports team to follow, the Illini b-ball team. I’ll continue to savor every tidbit of positive news about them & not dwell on any negatives for any great length of time, which is pretty much the way I look at all of life in general. Thank you for your concern, though, about me drinking too much Kool-Aid.
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:15 am
Bill Arter: I agree the verbals are a good sign, if these kids are as good as many here want to believe. Verbals are great, but I would think you all have seen that verbals are roughly worth the paper they’re written on. I will savor positive results - when these guys sign and when they beat some top 20’s.Results are always worth so much more than promises.
Who knows, maybe this blog and others like it lit the recruiting fire under Weber. It’s not always a bad thing!!
November 3rd, 2007 at 9:12 am
Marlin - While it would be flattering to think that blogs could have an effect on Illini recruiting, I seriously doubt that BAM & his staff were not aware that they needed better recruits. I think it just took a while to get the recruiting machine headed in the right direction.