Disappointing and humiliating. These are the words I use to describe Illinois’ season opener against Missouri. 

It was a true pummeling, to say the least. Illinois was dominated on both defense and offense by a young Mizzou squad. Quarterback Juice Williams was 18 for 28 for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception. While Missouri rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a fourth. Illinois wide receiver Arrelious Benn and running back Jason Ford missed the second half with ankle injuries.

Preseason predictions were in the hands of the Illini coming into the game as a 6.5 point favorite with a highly experienced offensive unit. If you watched the game, you would have seen an ugly and unbelievable sight. The so-called “veteran” offense was no where to be found. Quarterback Juice Williams seemed to be playing worse than he had as a rookie. The preseason predictions were completely wrong and the Illini played a awful game. It was humiliating to be wearing orange and blue and an embarrassing blow to the hearts of Illini Nation. At this rate, it’s going to be a long season.

“I feel sick for these guys,” Zook said. “I feel sick for them. I feel sick for the Illini Nation. It’s up to us to make sure we get that fixed.” … “I wouldn’t have thought we’d play like that. That’s not the kind of off-season we’ve had, the kind of camp we’ve had, the preparation this last week we’ve had. I’m embarrassed with it, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel. I know our guys will come back and fix it. We didn’t play the way we are capable of playing. I think that everyone who follows us knows that, and more importantly, the guys in the locker room know that. We’ll be back and get the things fixed that need to be fixed.”

I’m not ready to throw in the towel either, but I think that the team needs a leader. I think that man should be the quarterback. Juice, you need to be more consistent. You need to motivate your teammates and keep up the team’s focus. You need to make accurate throws and use good judgement. You also need to make sure you don’t trip over your linemen’s feet, especially not on a fourth down in the red zone.

So here we are again, starting the season 0-1. It’s gonna take a lot of work to be considered a good team again. It’s gonna take a rally by the Illini to make it to a bowl game. I hope we can do it. The next game is the season home opener against Illinois State University. It is also the Red Grange dedication game. Maybe some of the history and talent from the “Greatest College Football Player of All Time” will rub off on the team (well at least I hope so).

“In the game of football, you’re going to have adversity. It’s how you handle it that will determine the type of success you’ll have. We’re going to take one game at a time.” – Ron Zook

Illini nation, let’s join Mr. Zook and rally behind our team, for “we love no other.”  Let’s do this together… Go Illini!

Illinois Loses Season Opener Against Missouri, 37-9 – FightingIllini.com 
After blowout, Zook has no answer for injuries or effort – IlliniHQ.com

Saturday marks the beginning of the 120th season for the Fighting Illini Football Team. The season opener is against the Missouri Tigers as part of the State Farm Arch Rivalry game in the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. Mizzou leads the all-time series, 15-7, and has won all four games in the State Farm Arch Rivalry series played in St. Louis. Missouri beat Illinois last year 52-42.

This year is expected to be different, however. Missouri has lost a lot of their big name starters from last year, including quarterback Chase Daniel, tight end Chase Coffman, and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin. Illinois has been preparing for this game for quite some time, and it seems to have paid off. The Fighting Illini are a 6.5-point favorite going into this week’s game.

Some controversy has recently been brewing between these two teams when Missouri senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon called out Juice Williams in a personal Tweet: “just finished a stellar workout, hit 475 on the bench easy, almost hit 500, gotta get it soon! 50 days until I squeeze the pulp out of Juice.” Weatherspoon received a lecture from Coach Gary Pinkel following this post. Williams is expected to answer with his own message on Saturday. 

The game plan for Saturday according to Coach Ron Zook:

Well I think number one, we can’t turn the ball over, which is something we always say but it really became our Achilles heel last year. We can’t turn the ball over and we can’t give up big plays. We have to stop the run. I think the one thing we didn’t do last year was stop the run. It really felt like that was a reason that we weren’t able to make it a better game. Our defense has been made aware of that all summer and obviously in camp. But we’ve got to stop the run. We can’t let that running back get going. Washington is a good player, a guy that can beat you. We have to take care of business and take care of the ball on offense.

Watch our for quarterback Juice Williams who will be playing his final season with Illinois along with running back Daniel Dufrene and junior receiver Arrelious Benn.

Illinois vs. Missouri
Saturday, September 5, 2009
2:40pm | ESPN

Live Coverage vs. Missouri
Live Audio | GameTracker | TV: ESPN | RADIO

Good luck to the 2009 Fighting Illini Football Team!

Wear orange, and Go Illini!

Ron Zook Press Conference Transcript
Game 1: Illinois (0-0) vs. Missouri (0-0) at St. Louis
State Farm Arch Rivalry

Illinois dropped their season opener to Missouri last week after coming back from a 25 point deficit. The game was very similar to the action and suspense of last year’s Missouri game. Both teams went into the battle with something to prove. Although Illinois wasn’t able to pull it out, they proved that they can put up a good fight and battle with just about anyone.

The Illini offense looked a little rough at the beginning of the game, going into half-time down 31-10. The second half started to look up, however, when Juice Williams threw the ball long to make up some much needed points. The Illini brought the game back within 10 points at 45-35 in the fourth quarter. A quick Missouri interception was ran back for a touchdown and the Illini never could overcome the drought. They did score again however, ending the game 52-42. Juice Williams was 26 for 42 with 451yards.

All in all, it was a pretty good game. As previously mentioned, the Illini proved that they are able to contend. It was a little disappointing however. Illinois made a number of big mistakes that cost them a number of points. The fact that they were able to come back against this #6 team, shows that they have what it takes. I only hope that they will look at their flaws in this game and continue to improve throughout the season. I look forward to Saturday when the Illini face Eastern Illinois in their home opener.

Go Illini!

Tomorrow is the start of Illinois’ 2008-2009 football season. The kickoff will be at 7:30pm at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN, and the 20th ranked Illinois attempt to defeat the 6th ranked Missouri Tigers. At this neutral location, Missouri will take the home team status as an 8.5 point favorite to win.

Last year’s game ended in a 40-34 Illinois defeat. Illinois piled up 435 yards of offense and nearly came back from a 24-point second half deficit. It was clear that the Fighting Illini shocked the Tigers and gave them the scare of a lifetime. This year, Mizzou should be expecting it. The question is then, will Illinois be able to contend with the Tigers even without the scare tactics?

I believe so.

Illinois lost only a few players last year which makes their club a veteran one. Experience aside, Illinois is gonna have to push it. They are going to need to be playing for something. I think they have a score to settle. Missouri has won four of the last five games in the series against Illinois. A victory last year was in the hands of Illinois when an interception finished it off for Mizzou.

All in all, I think Illinois can win this game. I also think that they must win this game if they are looking to get back to the Rose Bowl. A big win like this one will be a great first step to becoming Big Ten Champions.

Good luck to the Illini as they begin their 2008-2009 football season!

It’s going to be a great challenge for us. And as I said, an exciting challenge. It’s a border war game. I was fortunate enough to coach in eight of them, the Florida-Georgia games. It’s great for the programs, it’s great for the fans and it will be great for St. Louis. It should be an exciting deal. – Coach Ron Zook

7:30 PM on ESPN or 1400AM in Champaign

Go Illini!

The Quad was recently informed that the UIUC athletic ticket office began selling tickets for the State Farm Arch Rivalry game against Missouri. According to the source, tickets were not suppose to be on sale until July 22nd. Apparently, for Missouri fans, tickets were expected to be extremely hard to come by. Because of this, a number of Mizzou fans are purchasing tickets through the UIUC athletic department after someone spread the word through online Missouri newsgroups.

We here at The Quad, want your help. Do you really want to have to sit by a punk in an ugly yellow shirt spilling his beer all over you while he complains about his team losing and whining that they didn’t get into a BCS game last year? I didn’t think so. I encourage you all to buy your self some tickets. These are Illinois seats and they should be filled with Illinois fans. Wear orange and cheer on the team that is sure to have one phenomenal season.

The State Farm Arch Rivalry is on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. Tickets can be purchased here and sell for $35.

Go Illini!

The football season is almost over and for the first time in 5 years, the Illini will be watching the BCS Selection show on December 3rd to see where they will spending their New Year’s. The Illini are currently in 15th in the BCS after last week’s series of upsets. So what bowl will the Illini be in? The Capitol One Bowl looks like a sure bet for the Illini. However, the Fiesta Bowl and Rose Bowl have quickly become possibilities. How could the Illini get into the Rose Bowl you ask? Well, if Missouri, or West Virginia lose this week, Ohio State will be in either first or second place which puts them in the National Championship. With the Buckeyes fighting for it all, the 2nd in the Big Ten Illini will fill the spot in Pasadena. So go Oklahoma and Pittsburgh!

The Illini were upset by the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. The Hawkeyes snapped the Illini’s five game winning streak and moved the 18th ranked team back out of the polls. Everything was looking great for the Illini with 1:12 left in the game. Illinois, trailing 10-6, had the ball on Iowa’s 12 yard line when Eddie McGee threw a pass to the end zone… McGee had a sudden flashback to six weeks prior in this same situation against the Missouri Tigers… when the Iowa defense man received the ball for an interception. The turnover would cost Illinois the game.

“He tried to force it in there,” Illinois coach Ron Zook said of McGee, who came in after Williams had fumbled early in the fourth quarter. “He led him too far.”

The Fighting Illini fell from their 18th ranking position to somewhere off the list. They are however, ranked #1 in the ESPNU Fan Poll. It is this energy and support that the Illini hope to use this week when they face the Michigan Wolverines. The game is scheduled for 7pm October 20th at Memorial Stadium. Tickets are sold out.

Late Illinois Drive Falls Short Against Iowa

Photo Location

Let me introduce to you my first of many Illinois football post-game articles. I am a self-proclaimed football connoisseur, and I am here to tell you my thoughts about the game.

Yesterday’s game was, without question, one of the greatest football games I have ever seen. Coming into the game I wasn’t expecting much. After last year’s two wins, I expected the Illini to put up a good fight, but not actually leave with a victory. I have family members that are Missouri fans and they expected to win by about 3 touchdowns. To give you a small glimpse of how it went, after the game , these Tiger fans were speechless. For those of you who don’t know, Missouri barely won the game 40-36. I am not going to give you the play-by-play, if you want to know the details, follow the link a the end of this article, but like I said earlier, this game was amazing.

The Illini football team showed all of St. Louis exactly what they are made of… and it is good. When Juice Williams got injured, I got really scared. The offense finally starting to produce and it was looking pretty good. When we had to put in a back-up QB, I figured that it would take the offense another 15 minutes to come around. This however, was the opposite. Eddie McGee, the new QB came in and did an excellent job, throwing for 257 yards. This was the first time that this kid played in a real game and he went out there like he was a pro. This is just one of many aspects that made this game spectacular.

The crowd was amazing also. There were over 62, 000 people packed into the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO. There was a good mix of Illini and Mizzou fans often sitting together and the energy was intense. The fans are often referred to as the 12th man, and in this game, the Illini’s 12th man was playing his heart out. When I left the stadium, I was certainly proud to be wearing orange. I will leave you to read the full story of the game for those of you who weren’t there. Let me just explain, in conclusion, the three things I learned from this game.

1. Thanks for your time Juice, but we don’t need you.
2. The Marching Illini and the Three in One is indeed incomparable.
3. 2007 Illini Football is most certainly a brand new ballgame!

Quote from Ron Zook after the game:

“I told them in the locker room that I was proud of them. They could have shut down and quit but they didn’t. They kept fighting and hanging in there. As a coach that makes you feel good, because you know that you have good people, that you have winners. The guys are going to learn from this game and it will help us down the road.”

Illinois Rally Falls Short in Season Opener

To those lucky students, Illini football tickets were available for free today. The tickets are for the September 1st game vs. Missouri at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO and were available to specific student season ticket holders. Although this is a great deal, it begs the question: Why are football tickets being given away. They would never give away basketball tickets. I can’t decide if it’s because the game is in St. Louis and the Chicago-land students don’t want to go, or if there is just a small interest in the Illini Football program. If the latter is the case, let me tell you now… IT”S TIME TO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON!

Last year’s recruiting class was ranked #1 in the nation. That means this year, and the years to come, are going to be some of the best. Last year, the football team finished the season 2-10 beating a worthless Eastern Illinois team and with a nice field-goal kick, Michigan-State. For those of you who were there, they practically beat Ohio State too, actually losing 10-17.

Here in Champaign, however, we don’t look in the past, we are all about the future and this year is is going to be great. I trust Ron Zook and with Juice Williams at the forefront, it will sure be a success.

GO ILLINI!