Guest Columnist: My Take on the Illinois-Minnesota Game

Well, it finally happened. We were brought back down to Earth. Minnesota stunning upset us on our own homecoming. Or did they?

Feeling invincible after humiliating Michigan at The Big House on their homecoming, Minnesota brought us back down to reality. Setting records, getting POW accolades for both Juice and Brit 'the Hit' all seems like a distant memory. We all knew Michigan was bad. But it was still Michigan. At The Big House. A victory that decisive had to mean something! Right? Wrong. This Saturday we found just how bad Michigan was after losing to Toledo at home. And all our unreasonable expectations came crashing down.

Here is my (a guest columnist and senior Illini season ticket-holder at U of I) take on what happened.

First off, we did not take Minnesota seriously. Sure, they haven't really played anybody, with the exception of Ohio State - a team that they lost to, despite staying in the game. The same could have been applied to us last year. Just ask Penn State and Wisconsin. Those who watched the game on TV have heard the comparisons of this year's Minnesota team to last year's Illini team. Therefore, Minnesota has the element of surprise on their side, as well as the fact that they are playing with a chip on their shoulder - wanting to prove something and earn some national respect. On that same note, while I still believe we are a better team than last year, we now have a target on our backs. We can no longer sneak up on teams like Penn State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State while they overlook us for the monster match-ups that they face the week after us. We are now one of the teams they look forward to playing the most and gameplan for. This means we will have to execute more, make better gameplans and adjustments, and stay focused week in and week out. We as fans may think we are better than we are because our only losses have come to top 10 teams in Mizzou and Penn State. However, we forget about the fact that our wins have been against nobodies - including the fact that we squeaked by against Lousiana-Lafayette. It's clear that we tend to play down to our competition and we would not take Minnesota seriously.

Here is my take on the actual game itself:

Special teams, as everyone has mentioned, was just plain terrible. Two kick-offs out of bounds. Benn botching the kickoff and giving us horrible field position. He admitted later he ran the ball out of the end zone because he thought he had to. To me, there doesn't seem to be many special teams rules. (Fair-catch, out of bounds kick-offs = illegal procedure, etc...) Given that, I would assume our best returner would know all of them. But he didn't - something you can attribute that to coaching. I'm very happy that Benn's 'fumble' on the second fair catch punt was called back. I believe the officials did the right thing - they stayed consistent.

I believe our offensive playcalling was abysmal. I know that Dufrene had a break-out game last week and is statistically just as good as Mendenhall last year (in terms of YPC). But it is clear that our passing game is carrying our offense. I wish we would be less conservative and let Juice pass more. In the second half, when we were down and Juice was allowed to air it out, good things happened. Just ask AJ Jenkins (more on him later). However, Locksley's conservative playcalling stifled the offense in the first half. The goal line stand where we turned it over is unacceptable to me. I understand that both Jason Ford and Juice both got stuffed on runs straight up the middle. But I can't say I agree with the call to fake the hand-off and then have Juice roll out. I don't like the idea of taking the ball further away from the goal line when you're just a couple of inches out. Granted, they stopped us twice before, but I still think that by pounding it in, we would have gotten there eventually. That is why we have 4 downs.

Despite what happened, I still think our defense has improved. People forget that we are facing the Big Ten's leading QB and receiver. One TD was scored on a fumble recovery and the other was on Dufrene's fumble giving the offense great field position. After being told he was playing to close to the line, Brit has been an amazing run-stopping and blitzing MLB for us. Thank you, J Leman.

What I liked:
Juice looked very poised in the pocket, much like last week. He looks comfortable stepping up into the pocket to avoid the rush from the outside. However, as crazy as it sounds, his ability to stay in the pocket and make the throw facing the rush hurt him this week, given the fumble and interception that was caused because he was hit as he was thrown - both in the 4th quarter.

AJ Jenkins really showed us what we have to look forward to. Fred Sykes has been the freshman getting the most playing time despite being a 2-star recruit while Jenkins and Scott were both 4 stars. This can be attributed to Syke's route running. But when it comes to physical ability Jenkins and Scott have him beat. That was evident in Jenkin's long catch and sprint down the sidelines as well as his freakishly athletic catch in the back of the end zone. Given this freshman class of WR's improvements, the return of Benn for at least one more year, and Fayson joining us next year, we will have a very strong WR corp for some time.

What I Didn't Like:
Playcalling, but I've already elaborated.

Very costly turnovers and very critical parts of this game. I honestly thought the game was over when Juice fumbled and was returned for a TD. But we were lucky that after we scored and kicked, Minnesota was conservative in their play calling for us to get the ball back.

Final Take:
I still like to believe that we are the better team. However, given our Rose Bowl berth last year, we have a target on our backs and cannot squeak by and catch teams by surprise as we did last year. On the flip side, Minnesota is doing just that to teams this year. When he is let loose, Juice was able to march down the field in no time. However, it seems we are very conservative in our playcalling unless we are down and that to me is unfortunate. I hope we can get it together and beat the teams that we are currently favored against (Indiana, Iowa, Western Mich, and Northwestern) and cap the season with a New Year's Bowl Bid. Maybe we can even surprise a falling Wisconsin team or even put up a fight against Ohio State. You never know. That's just me, a guest writer's take on a disastrous homecoming.