Illinois hopes to hit a home run

CHAMPAIGN – For the next three weeks, the Illinois football players won't be jumping on any foul-smelling airplanes.

They won't have their bus break down in the middle of nowhere.

They won't get home at 5 a.m., unless they want to.

Starting tonight against Middle Tennessee State, Memorial Stadium becomes home sweat home for the Illini.

"Whenever you play at home, the confidence level is just a little bit higher," Illinois quarterback Mark Hoekstra said. "It's more of a pride thing when you play at home. You've got to defend your territory."

The Illini barely will leave their territory for seven weeks. After tonight, they host Louisville and Iowa. A short trip to Northwestern will be followed by home games against Ohio State and Wisconsin. Then another short trip, to Purdue.

The Illinois players and coaches are worried about tonight first. But Hoekstra said next weekend's game against Chris Redman's Cardinals also is important.

"The first two are going to help us going into the Big Ten, just being at home, not the opponents or anything like that," Hoekstra said.

The Illini have a rest and comfort advantage tonight that they didn't have last week at Washington State. The team's charter flight west was delayed, and one of the team's three buses died on the trip from Lewiston, Idaho, to Moscow.

The trip home didn't go much better. The bathrooms in the plane weren't working. When the team stopped at a Montana airport to refuel, the players weren't allowed a restroom break.

"That was awful," Hoekstra said of the trip. "There is no other word to describe it. I don't know how it could be any worse."

How about coming back from the trip and losing to a Division I-AA team?

The Illini spent the week trying to make sure that doesn't happen. Coach Ron Turner said there isn't any chance his team will take the Blue Raiders lightly.

"Our team is hungry," Turner said. "I don't care who we play.

"It would be like somebody who hasn't eaten in a couple weeks, and they say, 'We're going to take you to some restaurant.' And he'd say, 'No, no, I don't want to go there. I want to go to this one.' "

Turner got asked early in the week about the risk of playing a I-AA team. He apparently didn't enjoy the question.

"What are you talking about? I don't know what you mean by risk," Turner said. "We're going out there with the expectation to win."

Welcome to town

Middle Tennessee State makes its first visit to a Big Ten campus. In 2000, the Blue Raiders will be back as a I-A team. They move up a division next season.

The Blue Raiders opened with a 28-27 win last Saturday over Tennessee State. It wasn't the prettiest game ever for Middle Tennessee, ranked No. ?? in the latest I-AA poll.

"We played decent," Middle Tennessee coach Boots Donnelly said. "We did not play very well on the defensive end of the ball."

Middle Tennessee needs to cut its mistakes tonight, Donnelly said. They also have to keep the defense off the field as much as possible.

Donnelly reads the papers. He knows the Illini are trying to end a long losing streak and that his team is the designated endee.

"Coach Turner's going to be preaching to his football team that this is a game that you have to win, this is a game that you should win," Donnelly said. "They being a Big Ten Conference football team. They having 85 scholarships.

"We understand what's gone on in the past with Illinois. It has nothing to do with this game. Sooner or later, everybody gets an opponent that they think that they should beat. They'll emphasize that."

Back to basics

Nobody calls Middle Tennessee's offense "Air Raiders." Using a third-string quarterback at starter, Donnelly's team likely will keep it simple.

"We've always been a running football team," Donnelly said.

But he never has had a runner like Torin Kirtsey. The Georgia transfer put the Middle Tennessee uniform on for the first time against Tennessee State. He finished with a school-record 251 yards on 38 carries.

"I can't imagine they're going to change what they did a week ago," Illinois defensive coordinator Tim Kish said. "They're going to feature him. The best thing we can do is be attacking up front, getting off blocks and pursuing to the football."

The Middle Tennessee offensive line made huge holes in the Tennessee State defense. It shouldn't be as easy against Illinois.

Kish was generally happy with his defense at Washington State. It forced three turnovers. Cougar quarterback Steve Birnbaum didn't have a huge game.

"I thought we played hard, and I thought we played smart," Kish said.

On offense, Turner expects an improved Hoekstra. The senior played well against Washington State, Turner said.

Hoekstra might be missing one of his weapons. Freshman running back Jameel Cook likely is out of the game because of turf toe. True freshman Rocky Harvey takes over as Steve Havard's backup.

Turner doesn't want to rely strictly on Havard. He expects more production from the tight end position, which had just one catch against Washington State for 4 yards. He expects his wide receivers to find gaps in the secondary and Hoekstra to hit them with passes.

The Illini defense is missing two starters. Linebacker Eric Guenther is out with a hamstring injury. The only way he'll play is if Robert Franklin and Manuel Strong are both hurt.

At defensive end, the Illini will use a four-man rotation of Rameel Connor, Jason Eberhart, Jeff Weisse and Ryan Murphy. Eberhart starts for Tuscola's Fred Wakefield, who has been out because of a virus that got into his heart. Wakefield is recovering and could be back for the Louisville game.

Illinois missed Wakefield's pass rushing ability against Washington State. The team had just two sacks.

Connor still is recovering from knee and hamstring injuries. He went 32 plays against Washington State and won't go many more than that tonight.

"We're very pleased with the way he played," Turner said.

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