A win is a win, but I don't have to like it.

Well we did learn a few things this weekend at Illinois,
#1 our defensive problems can be fixed,
#2 that doesn't necessarily apply to all 4 quarters
#3 The offense has the ability to move the ball, control the clock and play possession football.
#4 Sometimes our offense can't convert on 2 and Inches, 3rd and inches and 4th and inches. All against the worst run defense in the FBS

Ugh, what a game. The running back corps was seemingly slimmed down to Daniel Dufrene and Mikel Leshoure. Other than those 2, Jason Ford got all of 2 carries and Troy Pollard none. Perhaps Zook wants to make sure the foot is healthy for the upcoming Penn State game. All together Illinois put up 194 yardsn the ground, with Dufrene getting the lions share of 124.

Rejus got just one pass, although it was for 22 yards, and Micheal TE #16 (do you know how difficult it is to type Hoomanawanui?) Became showed his ability to get open, catching 5 passes, leading the team on Saturday.

On the defense I was extremely happy with the way they played, especially Brit Miller, for the first 3 quarters and 8 minutes. ULL is a rushing team and the Illini held them under 50 yards on the ground, which shows that the problems up front and in the LB area the team seems to have turned the corner. Going into the 4th quarter Illinois held a 17 to 3 lead. Brit Miller played possibly the quarter of his career in the early part of the game, with an entire series resulting in his tackling of the ball carrier, or in the final case, mugging the QB and taking the ball back to the house. He really needs to keep that up, the rest of the defense relies on a reliable gap filling, hard hitting MLB, especially against the run.

Of course there is a reason that Illinois only won by 3 points. Nate Bussey was caught out of position 2 times late in the game which both resulted in points for the Cajuns. A key facemask penalty on a sack that would have ended the Cajun drive with a minute left allowed them to stay in the game as long as they did. This capped a 9 penalty for 92 yard day for the Illini, something that definetly contributed to the close score.

Bottom line, the Defense showed the most improvement from the first 2 weeks and the offense just plain went into hibernation (woo Big Ten football!) This would have been fine, were it not for the sudden relapse in the fourth quarter. The game should not have been this close and the fact that it was scares me. Thats football though, and Illinois will have an extra week to practice, and more than likely run some laps, before the game in Happy Valley. This mercifully ends the non-c0nference chunk of the season (save the Western michigan game) and while it isnt exactly the way anyone expected, it is still a record that many predicted through the first 3 games.