Tate: UI weekend started bad, ended worse

   Give Ron Turner some extra space.

   The coach is not a happy camper, and it isn''t just the Illini''s string of 12 straight losses under his direction.

   Take the holiday weekend. And toss it in a dump in downtown Iowa City!

   How many things can go wrong in such a short period?

   After determining initially that two of his prize junior college transfers aren''t eligible  one hasn''t received a required summer grade and another is awaiting his high school transcript  the travel group for Washington State was left hanging because the plane scheduled to pick them up in Decatur was directed instead to Decatur, Ga.

   You know about that, and the bus breakdown en route to Pullman, which found Turner and his defensive players skipping around rattlesnakes on a hill in Idaho, forcing Friday''s practice to be pushed back to evening.

   Well, the late-night trip home was worse. Tired and aching athletes were squeezed into too-small seats on a suffocating plane that required a one-hour fuel stop, and the arrival home was so deep into the a.m. that Turner was obliged to call off Sunday''s practice.

Nobody really knew what happened

   Then there was the 20-13 loss to WSU, the game turning early on a 52-yard return of a Mark Hoekstra fumble that responsible officiating members (from a Pac-10 crew) apparently felt obliged to "let go" because they didn''t fully see what happened.

   "It wasn''t a blitz," said Turner. "The defensive end, Jonathan Nance, rushes 100 percent of the time. It was a blown blocking assignment on our part."

   UI senior guard J.P. Machado offered the opinion that the Cougars created some defensive movement that put a defender opposite the right tackle, Marques Sullivan, and Nance came free on the outside. It resulted in the only sack permitted by the Illini Saturday, the only fumble and the only turnover.

   But what caused the fumble? Was it Nance, who rocked Hoekstra in the chest, or was it the ground (in which case the ball would be ruled dead)?

   Press box viewers couldn''t tell, nor could those on the UI sideline. Turner sought an explanation. A no-call apparently developed from two officials who couldn''t blow their whistles because each thought the other might have seen it better than he did. As it turned out, neither was sure, and once WSU''s Rob Meier started running with the football, the officials had to go with it.

   Would Turner like to criticize?

   "I don''t have enough money to do that," he said.

Cougars cover UI receivers

   But that''s just one play. If the Illini were good enough, they had plenty of time to catch up. They didn''t do it because  you''ve heard this before  the UI receivers weren''t able to shake free of WSU''s tight secondary defense.

   "We couldn''t get our receivers open downfield," repeated Turner at Monday''s press conference.

   "I thought Hoekstra did a good job," praised the coach.

   But, face it, 40 percent completions won''t win games. A 17-for-42 ratio, without a gainer over 15 yards, isn''t sufficient. We must report that, as of today, all the travel and work that went into assembling a speedy JC corps resulted in a receiving group that looks just like last year ... and the years before. There was only one Connie Moore, and he''s playing for Murray State.

   "We took seven or eight shots downfield," said Turner. "That''s plenty. But we didn''t hit one."

   Noting that he expects more from Larry Davis this week, Turner said:

   "Davis acted like it was his first game, which it was. But I told him that if we knew he was going to play like that, we wouldn''t have put him in. We need these guys to make plays for us."

   Add on the inability to exploit the tight end, a black hole since Ken Dilger graduated. Josh Whitman got no receptions, and Brian Hodges caught one short toss.

   "A couple of times the tight end was our No. 1 read, and he was covered so Hoekstra dumped the ball off," said Turner. "A couple of times the downfield pass was No. 1, but they dropped back, so Hoekstra had to go elsewhere. When the ball goes to the fullback, that isn''t usually our No. 1 read."

   On a weekend to forget, nothing much worked like it was supposed to. But regardless of travel troubles, the Illini have to score touchdowns. A program that averaged a national-low 10 points per game last year managed 13.

   Yes, the Illini are a little better. But that''ll be a permanent frown on Turner''s face if it doesn''t get a lot better in a hurry.

   Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette.

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