The Illini put up nearly 550 yards yards of offense against an outsized and overmatched Illinois State defense on Saturday night. ...and a good chunk of it was on the ground.

The combined rushing yardage from Jason Ford, Daniel Dufrene, Troy Pollard and Justin Green... as well as quarterbacks Juice Williams and Eddie McGee ...totaled 384 yards and 5 touchdowns.  The offensive line had a good night ...opening holes in the ISU defense... and the running backs showed their speed (Green), agility (Ford), power (Dufrene) ,and vision on the field (Pollard). 

Eddie McGee stepped in early for an injured Juice Williams (quad injury on first offensive play of game) and had a solid night with 13-17 for 164 yards with 2 rushing TD's and 1 TD pass to Chris Duvalt.

The Illini defense also recorded (2) interceptions (and long returns by Pilcher and Ellington) and sacked ISU quarterback Matt Brown twice.  They also limited the Redbird running attack to 44 rushing yards on the night as the Illini built up a 31-0 lead early in the 3rd quarter.

Two things the Illini coaching staff was not happy with were the number of passing yards allowed (354) ...and the number of Illini penalties (13).  Ron Zook said the Illini secondary made some mistakes (especially in the 2nd half) and they will work on those mistakes in the next 2 weeks leading up to the Ohio State game.

I know a lot of Illini fans were unhappy about the total yardage allowed by the Illini defense (398)...and yes... improvement in the secondary is a MUST if the Illini are to still be standing after running through the Ohio State/Penn State/Michigan State gauntlet in late September/early October. Everybody agrees on that.

But keep in mind that the Redbirds HAD to throw the football in the 3rd and 4th quarters on just about every down....and all the Illini defense was trying to do was keep the ball in front of them and not let ISU get quick points. 

Think about it....If the ILLINI were behind in a game 45-10 in the 4th quarter and were throwing on every down and picked up a lot of passing yards....a lot of  Illinois fans would just say that while the the total yardage was impressive.... all that yardage would be meaningless because it came in "garbage time"-when the game was already decided.   So wouldnt the same logic apply in reverse in this case?..

.I dont know...just thinking out loud.

There were way too many penalties...and the personal foul penalties have to stop... or the Illini won't give themselves a chance against the Buckeyes, Nittany Lions and Spartans.

The one thing I know that Kurt Kittner and I both liked... and talked about on the radio broadcast Saturday night... was the emotion the Illini played with...especially in the first half... when they grabbed a 24-0 halftime lead.  They hit the Redbirds hard on both offense and defense and knocked them out of the game early.    Hopefully they can take the positives from Saturday night...combine it with defensive improvement in the secondary... and cut down on needless penalties .  

They better...because they will need their best effort to take out the revenge-minded Buckeyes in Columbus at the end of the month.

Enjoy the "bye" week!