Box Score

First Word with Ron Zook on News Talk 1400 WDWS

How low can Illinois football get? We can't beat Indiana. Ouch. I don't know if I really need to say much else about that game. Just look around IlliniHQ. It seems like every story has about 10-20 of you guys posting comments about firing Ron Zook and telling Ron Gunther to hit the road. You would expect some changes are going to be made after that game and after the way the season has gone. The question now is: how much longer before we make changes? One game? Two games? The rest of the year? Not at all? The Illini have fallen into a deep hole, and there isn't a ladder tall enough to get them out of it.

I'm gonna go ahead and post the “Monday Night Sim” and my prediction for next weeks game at Purdue today. I'm won't be around for the next day or so because I will be getting some wisdom teeth removed(........yeah....). Obviously the Xbox doesn't take underachieving into consideration. Purdue in the game is rated higher than Illinois, but that didn't matter. Take a look.

NCAA 10 on XBOX 360

Illinois 27 Purdue 20

It's nice to think about, isn't it? It went well for QB Juice Williams, as he went 16-29 for 196 and two touchdowns. Both TD passes going to WR A.J. Jenkins, who one the day caught four balls for 97 yards. No other receiver accumulated any stats worth mentioning.

RB Jason Ford got a bulk of the carries, totaling 75 yards. Juice ran for 36 yards on eight carries, and that's really about it. K Matt Eller did make a couple of field goals, but he also missed a couple. WR Arrelious Benn did return a punt 84 yards for a touchdown for the Illini's third TD.

Defensively, LB Russell Ellington was a stud, registering 11 tackles, picking off a pass, and forcing a fumble. DL Sirod Williams had four tackles, all for loss, including one sack. FS Travon Bellamy had a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. P Anthony Santella had 3 punts that averaged 37.3 yards with one inside the 20 and one for a touchback (that one's for dave).

For Purdue, QB Joey Elliot had an alright day, going 24-38 or 254 yards, a TD and an INT. RB Ralph Bolden only amassed 63 rushing yards, so the running game really wasn't a factor. WR Royce Adams had their big receiving day, catching six ball for 78 yards and a touchdown.

On the defensive side, DL Ryan Kerrigan had a nice game with seven tackles, four for loss, and a sack. LB Chris Carlino had the other sack for the Boilermakers. Their K Carson Wiggs made both of his field goal attempts, with his long being from 39 yards.

My Prediction

Purdue 31 Illinois 10

It's hard to believe an offense that put up so many yards the past two seasons can continually look like they've never played in a football game before, but that's what we are looking at. Purdue is coming into this game on some kind of high after pulling off the massive upset of Ohio State and there isn't any reason for them not to continue that high level of play. Joey Elliot was awesome as he kept putting pressure of Ohio State by helping the offense score points. Speaking of pressure, the Purdue defense made Terrelle Pryor look silly. His touchdown pass he threw was the extremely lucky and could have been picked off the players were in place.

To make matters worse, Purdue has this kicker who can drill 55 yarders. Sophomore Carson Wiggs will be able to make kicks even when the Illini “stop” their offense. I haven't even talked about the running game, which has totaled close to 1,000 yards in 7 games. Man we are so done.

I keep hearing about how they are trying to get the ball into Arrelious Benn's hands because he's a play maker. I'm starting to think that getting the ball to him isn't a good idea. It isn't because he can't get it done (I assume he can, we still having seen the TD's from him), but it's because we have to pass it to get that done. WE NEED TO RUN THE DANG BALL!!!! Juice threw 37 passes against Indiana. 37!!! Way too many. Meanwhile, the three running backs that ran totaled 26 runs for 131 yards. That's 5.0 yards a carry!! How about we do that a lot more often. Mikel LeShoure averaged 6.5 a carry, but only ran 12 times. If you average 6.5 a carry, you should have 100+ yards rushing. This means you are having your way with the defense. Instead he only has 78 yards, and he has carries taken away from him by Dufrene and Ford, who didn't do anything close to what LeShoure did. The more I try to understand things, the more I get confused.

I have a buddy of mine that I use to bowl with and Illinois kind of reminds me of him.  This guy was a good bowler, but he never was as good as he could be.  He was the only guy I know that would throw a strike, and then on the very next ball throw something completely different.  It never made any sense to me, but he did this every week.  He has a pretty strike ball, but he refuses to throw it all the time.  Illinois, despite all of their troubles, has had a good running game (dare I say great?), but they refuse to use it as much as they should.

Time to see what you guys think for next week. If it's anything close to what I have already seen on here from some of the other guys, there could be a lot of interesting reading for us to do below in the comment section. In case your wondering, Illinois is an 11 point underdog at Purdue. That's it?

I will update the prediction standings later in the week. Needless to say I won't be doing much for a day or two and that's why I went ahead and added the sim and my prediction today. I wanted to give you guys enough time to come up with your predictions for next week. Nice to see that we had a couple of new guys join in on the fun. I appreciate everybody taking time out of their day to read what I have to say. I also enjoy the comments below. Thanks to all who respond to my rants, lol. Hopefully by Wednesday night I will have the standings updated. In the mean time, post the predictions below, or on my next entry in a couple of days if you want some time to think about it.  Have a good one guys.

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