At 11 a.m. Saturday, the Illinois Fighting Illini take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, IL.  Minnesota is horrible this year with a record consisting of just 1 win and 9 losses.  The one win that the Golden Gophers has is over Middle Tennessee, please don’t make me name who all of their losses came against.  The Golden Gophers are quarterbacked by senior Adam Weber, whom the offense is definitely ran through.  The team is not a great running team; they are actually the 90^th rushing team in the nation.  While they are only 52^nd in the nation in passing, it is clear they lean towards throwing the ball since Weber averages about 230 yards per game.  The team rushes about 100 yards per game.

The Fighting Illini are coming off a tough loss against the Michigan Wolverines.  That game went into triple overtime so it was not a game to be ashamed of.  The Illini defense is clearly ready to just eat up the Golden Gophers defense to make themselves feel better after giving up 67 points last week.  The Illini are the 20^th rushing team in the nation, doing really well there.  The Illini defense is not ranked extremely high, but if you watch the games you know how they can play.  Scheelhaase is going to have quite a game this week, I can already tell.  He is playing more and more confident each game, which is soothing to watch since he will probably be around for 3 more years.  Mikel Leshoure is obviously a beast of a running back so we don’t have to even talk about him and how he will just run over these Gophers.

This weekend at U of I is Dad’s Weekend.  A lot of fathers will be at this game looking for a happy start to their Saturday.  They will not be disappointed.  The Illini are going to blow out the Gophers.  With this win, the Illini will become bowl-eligible.  The idea of the Illini is already pumping up students around campus, making them want to make the trip to wherever the Illini’s bowl game is.  I will talk more about the bowl game when the time comes, but for this week Fighting Illini fans do not need to be worried about being disappointed like last week.

PREDICTION:  Ilini-49, Golden Gophers-10

The Fighting Illini lost to Michigan yesterday by only two points.  The Illini made it into triple overtime against the Wolverines in a game where the score ended at 67-65.  The overtimes were played exactly as the rest of the game was played, scoring back and forth.  It seemed that throughout the game whoever had the ball last was going to win.  It was absolutely insane that the game came down to both teams having to go for two after scoring, I did not even know that was a rule.

Although the Illini defense let up so many points, the team did play very well.  The Wolverines had 6 turnovers, one of them being a turnover on downs.  I would say that is pretty good for the defense.  As I was watching the game I realized that the Illini offense was leading the game.  Their offense was able to move the ball at will against the poor Wolverine defense.  As I realized this I also realized that the Wolverines just got the ball so many times that there was no way for the Illini to stop them every time.  The Wolverines have a good offense that is hard to match on defense so when a good offense has so many opportunities to score, it is hard to stop that.  I do not blame the Illini defense for the loss.

I hate to just come out and say it, but I believe that Illini Coach Ron Zook is to blame for Illinois’ loss.  On the final play of the game, the missed two-point conversion, Zook called a passing play.  Now one, the Illini’s running game could not be stopped the entire game.  The Wolverine’s defense was so tired that we were able to run it down their throat, but for some reason Zook decided to throw the ball which just blows my mind because we did not throw the ball well.  The Michigan defense ended up basically blitzing everyone on defense and sacking Nathan Scheelhaase.  Scheelhaase did have two people open but he just could not get it off because of the defense coming at him.  I was liking Zook this year but after that play I feel the same way about him as I did last year, I do not trust him with our team.

On Saturday, at 11 a.m. Central time, the Illinois Fighting Illini will take on the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor, MI.  The Illini defense, which is ranked 12th in points scored against them, will aim to slow down Denard “Shoelace” Robinson.  Denard Robinson was at one point this season a candidate to win the Heisman Trophy because of his explosiveness and the amount of yards and touchdowns he has gotten.  Unfortunately, his defense has not been able to keep up with him.  The Wolverine defense is ranked 89th in the nation for points against them.

The Illini defense will have a hard time stopping the Wolverines on offense because of Robinson, but the defense has shown that they are up to the task in the past weeks.  The Illini are now 5th in the Big Ten, just a few weeks ago they were last.  The Illini are one win away from being bowl-eligible, don’t think that the Illini are going to allow the Wolverines get in the way of them and that goal.  The last time that the Illini were in a bowl game was when they miraculously made the Rose Bowl and played USC.  When the team starts off the season after being named a rebuilding team by their fans, it would definitely feel good if they were to make a bowl.

The keys of the game are pretty much the same as they always are.  Nathan Scheelhaase cannot make mistakes and lose the game for his team by interceptions or fumbles.  Mikel LeShoure will need to have a typical Mikel LeShoure game and run the ball well.  Finally, the defense will need to do what they have been doing all season and not allowing the opposing team to move the ball well on them.  Denard Robinson may be a great runner, but I am not scared to say the Illini defense will slow him down, maybe even pull off his untied shoes.  Hopefully I don’t jinx the team by saying this, but I predict Robinson will have less than 200 total yards.  That would be great for someone that averages over 300 total yards per game.

PREDICTION:  Illinois- 38, Michigan-21

The Illinois Fighting Illini beat the Purdue Boilermakers 44-10 on Saturday in Champaign.  The game was a battle of two freshman standing quarterbacks, with Nathan Scheelhaase absolutely dominating the Purdue defense.  Scheelhaase had a total of 195 yards throwing and 118 rushing, with 4 touchdowns throwing the ball.  The Boilermakers quarterback, Sean Robinson, only threw for 52 yards on the day.  By the time the Illini were up 14-0, the Boilermakers had only had 5 plays.

Running back Mikel LeShoure only had 23 yards on 15 carries, but racked up 3 touchdowns, one on the ground and two in the air.  Although the Purdue defense held the Illini rushing attack below their usual average, there was no need to run the ball when the Illini could throw at will against the opposing defense.  With this win, the Illini are now 5 and 3, only one game away from becoming bowl-eligible.  That is great for a team that was not expected to do anything this year.

If you read my past post, I correctly predicted the Illini’s defense’s ability to stop the Boilermakers.  I was perfect on predicting the Illini only allowing 10 points.  Once again, I incorrectly predicted just how potent the Illini offense since I only guessed they would put up 27 points.  This was a great game for the Illini and hopefully they can keep it going next week when they play the Michigan Wolverines in the Big House.  Even though Denard Robinson is a freak, the Illini’s defense should be able to hold him.

On Saturday at 11 a.m. Central time, the Illinois Fighting Illini will take on the Purdue Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, IL.  The Illini come into the contest matching Purdue with a record of 4 wins and 3 losses.  The Illini are coming off a big win against Big Ten rival Indiana, winning 43-13.  The Boilermakers are coming off of a horrid loss against Ohio State, losing 49-0.

Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase looked great going up against the Indiana defense and the Purdue defense ranks about the same as the Hoosiers’.  On average, Purdue gives up 120 yards more on defense than their offense accounts for.  The Boilermakers seem to be more of a running team where they have average about 180 yards, opposed to only a 150 yards per game passing the ball.

Look for the Illinois-Purdue game to be an old-style, smash mouth football game.  Yes, both teams will throw in some passing plays throughout the game to keep the defense faithful, but Illini’s running back, Mikel LeShoure, is going to be receiving a lot of touches.  Purdue has a running game consisting of a committee of backs.  The highest rusher on the Boilermakers is quarterback Rob Henry who is a red-shirt freshman.  The next two leading rushers are fullback Dan Dierking and running back Keith Carlos, both of whom rush for over 38 yards per game.

The Purdue Boilermakers have two semi-important wins against Northwestern and Minnesota, but other than that they have lost to Notre Dame, to Toledo, and Ohio State extremely bad.  The only team that the Illini and the Boilermakers both played against is the Ohio State Buckeyes.  As I have said in my past posts, the Illini had a great chance to beat the Buckeyes.  Looking at the 49-0 score of the Boilermakers’ matchup with the Buckeyes, I am going to go ahead and guess that the Boilermakers never really had a chance.

Honestly, looking at the numbers and from watching the Illini game last week, I think the Illini can blow the Boilermakers out of the water.  With that being said, I remember we are also talking about the Illini that are lead by Ron Zook, whom I do not tend to trust too much.  I will give him credit for this season though.  He has lost to undefeated Missouri (who just beat the number 1 ranked team in the nation), Ohio State, who was ranked number 1 at one point and is still right up there, and the Michigan State Spartans (who were ranked number 18 in the land when the Illini played them).  Those are some great teams to have lost to.  I am very impressed with the way the Illini have played this year, especially the D.  Hopefully, this week the Illini will keep up the effort and keep rolling against the Boilermakers.

PREDICTION:  Illinois- 27, Purdue- 10

In high school, homecoming weekend is loved by the students mainly because of the fact that the dance that is held.  The girls get all prettied up and the guys focus on impressing their date for the night, hopefully being able to dance with the prettiest girl at the end of the night.  College homecoming is completely different.  College students are pumped up for the football game and to show as much school pride as possible.  The football team prepares for this day to make all of the current students and alumni in attendance proud.  Well that the Illinois Fighting Illini football team did.  The Illini handedly issued the Indiana Hoosiers an in-conference loss by winning 43 to 13.

Now, if you read my last post, I almost perfectly predicted the way that the Illini defense would play.  I predicted that the defense would allow 14 points in the game.  I praised the defense in my post and they are just making me proud now that they basically shut down a potent quarterback.  Hoosiers quarterback Ben Chappell threw for 30 yards less than his season average that is 310 yards per game.  Chappell also threw for three interceptions, which was extremely detrimental for his team.  Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns.

What I did not predict correctly was just how potent the offense of the Fighting Illini was.  Nathan Scheelhaase had 123 yards passing, 45 yards rushing and had 2 touchdowns throwing the ball.  The Illini’s usual stud on offense, Mikel LeShoure, had only 77 yards rushing, but averaged nearly 5 yards per carry and also got 1 touchdown.  In my last post I pointed out how it was key for Scheelhaase to not lose the game for the Illini and he didn’t.  He was 13 for 21 passing, not great numbers but also no interceptions, which is great.

The team definitely made all of the alumni at Memorial Stadium for Homecoming very proud.  People placed a lot of doubt on this game because the talent of Ben Chappell and the Illini proved to us all that they are a team to reckon with.  The Illini now have 4 wins and 3 losses, and most importantly are bowl-eligible.  This season was definitely a question mark for Illini faithful and if the team was able to make a bowl game fans would be very impressed and encouraged for next year.  If the team keeps up the way they have been playing lately then the Illini just might be able to dance with the pretty girl for the last dance.

The University of Illinois Fighting Illini will take on Big Ten rival Indiana University Hoosiers at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning at Memorial Stadium.  The Illini are coming off of a loss against Michigan State in which the Illini were actually winning by 3 at halftime.  Unfortunately for the Illinois fans the Illini didn’t put another point on the board the rest of the game and lost 26-6.  Illinois’ defense looked like a ranked defense the first half against the Spartans by holding them to only 3 points in the half.  The problem for them is that their offense just cannot put points on the board so the defense constantly has to crack down and not allow anything.  The Illini offense had a rough day last Saturday.  Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase had three interceptions and A.J. Jenkins had a crucial fumble after a long pass down the field from Scheelhaase.  Mikel LeShoure had another great game running the ball.  In the first half the offense was able to drive the ball down the field, mainly from their running attack.  The only problem was every time the offense would get into the red zone they would not take risks and would settle for a field goal.  Here’s an interesting fact though; the Illini actually lead the nation in red zone efficiency.  They are 19 for 19 in possessions in the red zone.  That absolutely shocked me that the Illini could lead the nation in any kind of statistic like that.

The Indiana Hoosiers are coming off of a tight win against Alabama State, beating them 36-34 in their own Homecoming in Bloomington.  The Hoosiers have 4 wins and 2 losses, the losses coming to explosive Michigan and ranked Ohio State.  A key player for the Hoosiers is quarterback Ben Chappell.  Chappell averages a staggering 310 yards per game in the air and has a total of 16 touchdowns.  By those numbers alone, it is easy to see that this game is going to be a tale of two completely opposite offenses.  The Illini are all about running the ball, the passing game is just a little add-on in order to not just have the opposing defense stack the box and stop the run.  The Hoosiers are all about throwing the ball.  The biggest weakness, which is still not a big weakness considering how well they are playing, on Illini’s defense would be defending the pass.  They tend to give up a lot of short yardage passes, which works in favor for the Hoosiers.  What is good for the defense is they tend to not give up big plays, which is great.

The key players for the game on the Illini’s side are the defense.  They are proving themselves to the students and fans here at the University of Illinois and hopefully won’t let them down this weekend.  On offense, as usual, the key players are Nathan Scheelhaase and Mikel LeShoure.  LeShoure needs to keep up the great work of his hard nosed running.  Scheelhaase has been a player that usually does not lose the game for the team but last week he might have done that.  This week he will need to not turn the ball over and to make sure he still runs the ball when dropping back every now and then.  With this happening the Fighting Illini will be celebrating Homecoming with even more joy.

PREDICTION:  Illini- 24,  Hoosiers- 14

The Illinois Fighting Illini will be up against the Nittany Lions of Penn State at 11 a.m. Saturday morning in University Park, Pennsylvania.  The Illini come into the contest with 2 wins and 2 losses and the Nittany Lions come in with a record of 3 wins and 2 losses.  Both teams have lost to very respectable teams; #2 Ohio State and Missouri for the Illini, #1 Alabama and #17 Iowa.  Also, both teams have beaten teams that they are definitely the favorites against.  The Illini probably have more respectable wins and have played well the majority of the time while Penn State have been absolutely blown out in both games they have lost and have beaten very inferior talent. The Illini on the other hand had a battle with the Ohio State Buckeyes last weekend and had the chance to actually win the game.

The key for the Fighting Illini, as it seems to be every game, is the running games of running back Mikel LeShoure and  quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase.  The Illini come into the game average just over 200 yards rushing per game while the Nittany Lions average about 130 yards per game.  However, the key for Penn State is definitely their passing game.  Quarterback for the Nittany Lions, Rob Bolden, has been having a pretty good year, averaging over 200 yards passing per game.  The two quarterbacks are very different, Scheelhaase is a runner and Bolden is a strict passer.  The game on Saturday should be a story of two different approaches, the passing game for Penn State and the running game for Illinois.

This is the first clearly winnable contest for the Illini in the Big Ten.  The Nittany Lions are usually a powerhouse, but this year is not their year.  The Illini have a legit chance to get a win in the Big Ten and move up in the standings.  If the Illini play the way they did on defense against Ohio State, then Penn State may only be able to score a field goal like they did in two of their games this season.  Hopefully the Illini’s offense can give their defense a break and put consecutive long drives together so the defense can be energized when it is their time.  If all of these things happen, it gives a chance for Illinois Fighting Illini fans to cheer towards their TV screens.

The Illinois Fighting Illini put up a fight on Saturday at Memorial Stadium against the 2nd ranked team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  Even though the Illini only lead the game for about 3 minutes, the game was within one possession until 2 minutes left in the game.  Terrelle Pryor was hampered slightly with a leg injury that he sustained during the game, but the Illini’s defense played out of their minds.  On the season, the Buckeyes have passed for 229 yards per game and rushed for 235 yards per game.  On Saturday the Illini defense only gave up 290 yards total, way below the Buckeyes’ season average.  The Illini were able to stop the Buckeyes seemingly unstoppable running game.

Scheelhaase did not have the game of his life, but also did not cost the Illini the game.  He did throw an interception but had a great opening drive to push the Illini ahead at the beginning of the game.  Unfortunately, that was the Illini’s last touchdown of the afternoon.  They only had two field goals the rest of the game.  With about five minutes left in the game the Illini were down 17-10 and on fourth down coach Ron Zook decided to kick a field goal.  The call was questionable at the time because the Illini were down by 7 and would be giving the dangerous Buckeye offense a chance to run the game down and leave with the victory, and that is what they did.  Looking back on it, Zook probably should have gone for it on fourth down to try and tie the game later in the drive.

Resulting from the loss, the Illini now have two wins, two losses, and are now second to last in the Big Ten.  But the loss was not a terrible thing.  The loss showed the Illini could actually hang with the top Big Ten teams.  Although nobody likes a loss, if the Illini continue to play like this then the Fighting Illini may exceed the season’s expectations.

The University of Illinois Fighting Illini are facing one of the toughest college football powerhouses, the Ohio State University Buckeyes this Saturday at 11 a.m. Central time.  The Buckeyes are undefeated on the season with 4 wins and 0 losses while the Fighting Illini are coming off a bye with 2 wins and 1 loss, that loss coming from the hand of Missouri.

The two offenses are lead by fairly similar quarterbacks.  Nathan Scheelhaase will be leading the Illini and Terrelle Pryor will be leading the mighty Buckeyes.  I am by no means saying that Scheelhaase has anywhere near the same amount of the Heisman Trophy hopeful Pryor.  Scheelhaase is a red-shirt freshman that is still learning to take the reins of the offense and learning what to do in all situations.  Pryor is a junior that is trying to will his team to an undefeated season resulting in a National Championship.  The two quarterbacks are similar in the fact that they are possibly the most important player on their respective teams in both passing and running games of their offense.  The statistics are shocking.  Scheelhaase averages 68 yards per game running and Pryor averages 67.2.  Pryor does have 3 rushing touchdowns while Scheelhaase has only 1, but remember Ohio State has played one more game than Illinois due to Illinois’ bye week this past weekend.  This proves that both quarterbacks are very talented at running the ball effectively.

While Pryor does nearly triple Scheelhaase in passing yards and touchdowns, this just proves that Pryor has had more time to mature.  When Pryor first started under center for the Buckeyes his passing game seemed non-existent.  There were  multiple games where his passing attempts did not even need more than two hands to be counted on.  I do think that Scheelhaase can possibly be ahead of the curve that Pryor was at with his passing at this point in Pryor’s career.

Do I think Scheelhaase will ever be a Heisman hopeful? No.  Simple as that.  Pryor has a great coach in Jim Tressel and has great players around him due to Tressel and his recruiting staff.  Scheelhaase just does not have as good of a team around him.  Yes, Mikel LeShoure, the Illini’s running back is very good and averaging 132 yards per game and 1 touchdown per game, but a good running back along with a run-happy quarterback is easy to defend.  This Saturday’s game should be a very easy time to compare the two Big Ten quarterbacks and their similarities under center, although the Illini may be blown out.

As of writing this article, Ohio State is favored in the game by 17 points.  I have to agree with this spread because the Buckeyes are ranked 2nd in the nation, but don’t be surprised if the Illini stick around for awhile.  The Illini have looked solid this season minus the second half of the Missouri game the first week of the season.  The Buckeyes beat Eastern Michigan last weekend 73-20, so only a 17 point spread is saying that the Illini are no team to laugh at. If Shceelhaase and LeShoure can produce an unreal amount of yards running and Scheelhaase can have a mistake-free passing game, then Pryor may be under pressure on offense and force plays.  Even with saying all of this, the game will be a tall task for Illinois, but it will be very interesting to see how Scheelhaase and the Fighting Illini will respond to the Buckeyes during battle.