Last night’s “Monday Night Sim” went exactly the way I thought it would.  The only question is will the Illini actually play the way we all thought they would when the year started?  Let’s hope so, because this is getting kind of sad.

NCAA 10 on XBOX 360

Illinois 45       Indiana 10

I went ahead and went with Juice Williams at QB.  Eddie McGee not only hurt his chances of playing this week with his performance against Michigan State, I feel he left the door open for Jacob Charest to step in and take over the QB job next year as well.  According to NCAA 10, going with Juice is the right decision.

Juice went 21-32 passing for 370 yards and 4 touchdowns.  He also didn’t throw any interceptions.  Rushing wise, there weren’t a lot yards gained since the passing attack was so successful, but HB Jason Ford and FB Zach Becker had rushing TD’s.  On top of this, Becker also caught one pass, and it went 71 yards for a TD.  Can you imagine our fullback catching a 71-yard pass for a TD?  That would be awesome.

As expected with the video game simulation, WR Arrelious Benn had a nice day, catching eight passes for 106 yards and a TD.  WR A.J. Jenkins also had a nice day, catching three passes for 66 yards with two of them going for touchdowns.

Nothing really stuck out on defense.  DL Sirod Williams got the team’s only sack, while CB Tavon Wilson got the team’s only interception.  The interception was the games only turnover. 

As for Indiana, the stats weren’t all that great.  I guess that’s expected when you loss by 35 points.  As Illini fans, we already know the feeling.  QB Ben Chappell went 11-30 passing for 195 yards, a TD, and a pick.  The only other guy worth talking about is RB Demetrius McCray, who ran for 55 yards, and caught two passes for 82 yards including an 80-yard touchdown.

My Prediction

Illinois 28       Indiana 27

Please win this game, PLEASE?!?!  The good news?  Juice William’s play in his last two halves has been better.  The bad news?  Both of these halves took place in two different games (second halves against Penn State and Michigan State).  Now it’s time to put two good halves together in one game.  It’s time to keep the offense on the field for more than three or four plays, and it’s time to start looking like the Illinois team we thought we were going to see when the year started.

Who knows what the offense is going to run.  Here I was thinking that the addition of Mike Schultz was going to be just what the doctor ordered, but instead things haven’t quite gone the way they’ve planned.  One thing that I think would help is if we pick one running back and stick with him for the whole game.  With Mikel LeShoure’s performance last week, I say let him be the man this week.  If that doesn’t work, then I say back to Jason Ford for the rest of the season, and that’s it.  How can any of these guys get in a rhythm when they get pulled after one or two runs?  I don’t think they can.  The more we keep using three or four different RB’s the more we are preventing one of them from stepping up to be the man.    Here’s hoping that some things get figured out against one of the weaker teams the Illini will play all year. 

Indiana has had more success than the Illini this year, but the competition they’ve beaten isn’t all that great.  They started 3-0 with wins against Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan and Akron.  Even though 3-0 looked nice, they only beat E. Kentucky and W. Michigan by a combined 10 points, and allowed 21 points to Akron.  On the other hand, the Hoosiers handed Ohio State better than we did, scoring two touchdowns in a 33-14 lost in Bloomington.  They also gave Michigan all they could handle in a 36-33 loss on the road. 

I was probably going to give the edge to Indiana in my prediction based on their first five games, but their sixth game was a complete disaster that even I couldn’t believe.  At Virginia, Indiana got spanked 47-7 and gave up 44 of those points in the first three quarters.  They gave up over 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing.  This is the same Virginia team that lost by 12 to William & Mary in week one!  I don’t care how good a FCS team is, this is sad.  Because of this game last week, Illinois has the slight edge over the Hoosiers.  This game on paper should be a blowout in Illinois’ favor, but they unfortunately have to play these things on the field.  It’s time for the Illini to step up.

Time to update the prediction standings.  The first four games overall were even since there was agreement amongst everyone, but last week changed things up a bit.  Michigan State beat Illinois 24-14, so the real score difference was Michigan State +10.

NAME                                                             W                    L                      RSDT*

chrispatton33 (ILL 23-21)                                 3                      2                         70

Jshaw (ILL 24-21)                                            3                      2                         73

Tom Young (MSU 35-28)                                 3                      2                         77

NCAA 10 (ILL 20-9)                                       3                      2                         95

Jweeks (ILL 28-17)                                          3                      2                         115

Combatmedic44 (MSU 24-21)                         3                      0                         34

dave1956 (MSU 27-13)                                   2                      1                         53

* - Real Score Difference Total

I have a feeling things could shake up against with this game.  You want to know how bad Indiana is?  Illinois is a two-point favorite on the road!  Wow.  A win is a win, and I really don’t care how ugly it is.  Illinois needs this game, and lets hope they get it. 

I-L-L…