AUDIO * - First Word with Illini Football Coach Ron Zook

Illinois-Purdue Box Score 

I planned on writing a long and descriptive rant about Saturday’s game because I know we as Illini fans have a lot of questions that don’t seem to have answers.  Instead, I had to host Dave Gentry’s show for an hour and since I had last week off, I’m still catching up a little bit.  Because of this, I’m going to keep it short.  Here it goes…

Good Move…Bring in RS FR Jacob Charest to play quarterback and watching him complete three nice passes to the tight ends and march all the way down to a first a goal situation.

Bad Move…Bring in Juice Williams on the same drive that Charest worked beautifully and fail to score on a penalty and two worthless passes.

Bad Move…Matt Ellar kicking chip shots on the hash.  Still should be made, but a tougher kick than it needs to be.  Well, it should have been a friggin’ touchdown.

Bad Move… I seriously thought Charest would start the second half, but out of the locker room came Juice. 

Good Move… Eventually bringing Charest back in the game.

Bad Move…  The three plays he ran were all passes.  With the way LeShoure was running (again) why the hell did we not run with Charest in the game?  Can Charest not hand the ball off.  Illinois ran wild, but once again failed to notice it or something and didn’t use it as much as they should.

Bad Move… Juice comes back in and it doesn’t matter. 

First of all, let me just say that there is no way I could do Zook’s job.  I know coaching a football team is tough work, and coaching a college teams is tougher still because of all that goes into it.  I know there’s pressure from the fans, the media, the players, the other coaches and the college.  I also know that I'm not getting paid a butt-load of money to coach a team.  The kids are trying the best they can and I get that.  It’s the coach’s job to give the kids the best possible chance to have success.  You would also think that more success would warrant more playing time, but apparently not.

The “Monday Night Sim” will take place tonight, and since I have no clue as to what the heck will happen on Halloween, I will have both Juice and Jacob play.  Should be interesting to see the result of this thing.

Also, the prediction standings will be updated tomorrow and I will once again be taking your predictions.  In case you’re wondering, Michigan is an early eight-point favorite over our “frightening” Illini.  Get it?  Halloween game?  Frightening?  Forget it…

Oh, one more thing.  Did you guys catch the score of the Idaho-Nevada game in the WAC on Saturday.  Nevada beat the Vandals 70-45!  Check out this crazy box score.  Nevada ran for 484 yards, and this isn’t even their highest rushing total of the season!  They ran for 559 against UNLV.  QB Colin Kaepernick on the year has passed for over 1,200 yards and rushed for close to 700, including a whopping 230 against Idaho on Saturday.  Why do I point out this game?  Combined, both teams scored a total of 115 points.  On the season, Illinois has scored 113 points.  This is over seven games and includes Illinois State.  Sad.

I-L-L…