Moderator: Welcome back to another chat. We've got plenty of questions, which I will get to right away.

Thanks again for participating. Just because the football season ends at Illinois on Saturday, it doesn't mean the chats will go away. We plan another one next Tuesday.

Tom, Champaign, IL: Bob,

who is starting at QB on Saturday

Moderator: Tom,

Juice Williams will be the starting quarterback. I've been assured by Ron Zook that no change will be made. The coaches are open to using Eddie McGee, either in his current receiver/quarterback position. But I don't think you will see a change made unless Juice has a bunch of turnovers.

Without saying it specifically, the coaches don't believe the interceptions are all on Juice. Receivers haven't always made the right play. The offensive line hasn't offered enough protection at times. Not that they excused the interceptions. Only two quarterbacks in I-A have more interception than Juice Williams.

Jim, Champaign, IL: Bob,

with the season not going as well as planned, will this hurt the recruiting?

Moderator: Jim,

At some places, the 5-6 record might hurt recruiting. But in the case of Ron Zook and his staff, I think they can turn it into an advantage. To a player who might think he was getting caught behind a pack of talented players, the coaches can say, "Look, we need your help. We have more work to do."

They have obvious openings at linebacker, which should make it easier to recruit there. And with the likely departure of Vontae Davis, there is a hole to fill at cornerback too.

If Illinois doesn't get into a bowl, it just means more time for the coaches to work on recruiting. Of course, they want to get into a bowl, but there is a way to make it work for them if they don't.

Tom, bloomington, IL: Should we expect improvement and a better record next year? We seem to be regressing from week to week and we lose several key players again like Brit Miller and likely Vontae as well as other seniors. Linebacker really concerns me.

Moderator: Tom,

I do think the Illinois record should improve next year, but there are no guarantees. The schedule will play a part in it. So will any possible changes to the staff and to the team. If Vontae Davis leaves early that's one more position that needs to be filled.

Brit Miller told me today that he thinks Russell Ellington will take his place at middle linebacker. He thinks Russell will be ready to go by the start of next season.

The nonconference schedule already includes a dangerous home game with Fresno State. There is a hole in the schedule that needs to be filled. I want to see what team that is before making any decisions on the overall difficulty. Iowa and Wisconsin rotate off in the Big Ten, while Purdue and Michigan State come back on. At worst, that's a push for Illinois.

Grady, Saint Joseph, IL: What do you think has been the biggest breakdown this season with the Illinois football team? Is their record merely a reflection of their youth and lack of experience at key skill positions, or has there been a letdown with the coaching staff this season? Knowing what you know now...if you had been granted one wish that would have fixed one part of this team prior to the season...what would that have been? :)

Moderator: Grady,

I think a couple things come into play. First, turnovers. Illinois is minus-5 for the season, which puts them 88th nationally. Against good teams, or even teams that you are equal to, you can't lose the turnover battle.

I don't believe the coaches have had any kind of letdown. In fact, I think they have probably pushed the players harder this year than last. They feared exactly what has happened.

Illinois is losing close games this year that it won last year. The team is 2-5 in games decided by 10 points or less. Last year, Illinois was 3-3 in games decided by 20 or less and 5-3 in games decided by 13 or less.

The one wish is a selfish one: I wish practices were open to the media. That might give me a better idea of what the problems are. This is the fifth season in Illinois history when practices have been closed to the media. The first four were all losing seasons.

Roy, Alsip, Il: I really am amused about any hot seat talk for Coach Zook. the improvement the team has made since he started is amazing. They overachieved last year and have very little experience at key defensive positions tis year. Let's all take a deep breath and relax a little.

Moderator: Roy,

I don't believe Ron Zook is on any hot seat other than one he designed for himself. He is not happy about the record this season. But he is also realistic about the type of program he took over and how fragile it was. I think he knew there could be some steps backward until he could get it going positive all the time.

From talking to the Illinois coaches, they thought this might be a bit of a transition year. They expect to have a good season in 2009.

Tom, bloomington, IL: Will Ron Zook try to get a couple JC guys to help in the LB and DB positions for next year? How does recruiting look for those positions for the upcoming class?

Moderator: Tom,

I do think the coaches will search for junior college help at linebacker and defensive back. That worked well a few years back, when they got Antonio Steele and Justin Sanders to enroll at the semester. They also have Donsay Hardeman on the current team.

There is one linebacker committed, Floridian Darryl Lee, and a pair of defensive backs, East St. Louis' Tommie Hopkins and Washington (D.C.) Woodson's Joelil Thrash.

You will see more LBs and DBs in the 2009 class.

Bob, Urbana, IL: It has been 9 years since IL has won a bowl game (Micron PC Bowl circa 1999 - thank you wikipedia), with OSU almost a lock to beat Michigan and getting into the BCS which means a win and we are in for a bowl game. Besides the obvious do not turn the ball over, what do you see being the deciding factor(s) of a win over Northwesten and a chance to go bowling

Thanks

PS did you see the person dressed as the chief in the horseshoe @ halftime of the OSU and do you have any thoughts

Moderator: Bob,

I think Illinois needs to make the Northwestern offense one-dimensional, meaning it must stuff the run. That will put pressure on C.J. Bacher to make plays. And he can. With a bunch of talented receivers to throw to, Bacher can dominate a game. But he can also get into trouble by throwing interceptions. He has 13 picks and 12 touchdowns this season.

I didn't see the person dressed as the chief in the horseshoe. Sorry.

Ed, Palatine, IL: "Ron Guenther talked about a 3 for 1 deal with the MAC."

Bob: So what we have as evidence that this much-discussed three for one deal with the MAC exists comes down to this: Ron Guenther “talked about it”? That's all there is?

You said its not in a contract form. Is there any evidence of it that is reduced to writing and signed by anyone, be it Guenther or Delany or anyone else in Park Ridge?

Right now I only see this hyped agreement as simply a statement of Ron Guenther’s opinion, and nothing else. Perhaps schools in the MAC provide a great many scheduling advantages for many Big Ten schools, but I don’t think anyone has seen any sort of “conference-wide” agreement put into writing that will justify this three for one deal that Guenther has used as a rationalization for the lack of a seventh home game in Champaign Urbana in 2008.

Minnesota played at Bowling Green; and if Glen Mason had any input into that I would say that he didn’t mind a game in Ohio. But the much bigger point is that in the same year that they played at Bowling Green, they had three nonconference home dates in Minneapolis-St. Paul. They didn’t sacrifice anything by playing there. Going out until 2011 they have not scheduled two nonconference away games. Indiana also plays at least seven home dates. But with plenty of time to plan for this, Illinois has not only scheduled six home dates for this year, but also for a future year with the Fresno State trip. Guenther's three for one is merely a collection of a home-and-neutral with Western Michigan and the two purchased home dates (with Ball State and Ohio): all of which were negotiated separately between schools with no input to or from either conference office. The grouping exists solely in his mind.

A agreement between the Big Ten and anyone that leaves Michigan out of the arrangement is not an conference-wide agreement at all. Anyone can see this.

Again, the question remains: is this agreement captured in writing anywhere? If so, who signed it on behalf of Illinois? If it does not exist, the "three for one" is merely a statement of rationalization by Ron Guenther.

Moderator: Ed,

All we can go on is what Ron Guenther said about the deal between the Big Ten and the MAC. Michigan, up until this year at least, did have more power than most and could have just said no to any game involving the MAC outside Ann Arbor. My hunch is that Rich Rodriguez will be more open to playing a MAC school away in the future.

The Big Ten needs the MAC to fill out its schedules. So, there has to be a spirit of cooperation between the two leagues. Even if it wasn't written down that "Illinois must have a 3 for 1 with the MAC," it still could happen that way. More to the point, it has.

Do I think the Western Michigan game in Detroit was a mistake? Obviously. Forget the outcome of the game. Illinois should never play a game in front of 12,000 people. Period. It was demeaning to the program. I think the MAC realized too late that it was a bad idea. A much better site would have been Soldier Field. But that didn't happen.

Moderator: I'm going to close it out for today. Remember to check out the rest of the chats this week, including newcomer Tony Bleill.

We will have an ingame report Saturday from Evanston.

Have a great week.