Memory Lane: Mike White's debut

EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF LOREN TATE AND THE MEMORIES OF JIM TURPIN.

Sept. 6, 1980: Illinois beats Northwestern 35-9 in Mike White's first game

HEADLINE: Jitters Show, But Wilson Succeeds

CHAMPAIGN — Coach Mike White's original psychology called for him to bring Dave Wilson into his first college game virtually unnoticed.

Soothe the nerves, diminish the pressure buildup and disguise him as something of a sleeper.

The opposite happened. Californian Wilson splashed into the limelight when it became necessary for him to take on (and defeat) the Big Ten in court for his right to play. And he paid for it Saturday in a predictably nervous beginning as Illini quarterback.

An exquisite passer in pre-season practices, he threw a deflected interception on his third attempt, completed just 5 of 18 all day and netted only 56 yards in White's highly touted aerial game. He never did locate his big, talented tight ends.

But Wilson, his hair wet and parted down the middle, was still able to smile in the post-game press conference. A powerhouse Illini ground game, drawing strength from Mike Holmes' 53-yard TD run and capitalizing of a rash of late Northwestern turnovers, resulted in a 35-9 Illini victory.

The crowd for the opener was modest - 44,222 - but it was four times bigger than any Wilson had ever performed for.

"I guess I played before 10,000 in California once," he reflected. "I guess you could say I was nervous kind of uneasy, from the mental standpoint ...reading coverages, calling the right audibles, that sort of thing. I can't say the court case wasn't on my mind a great deal until it was settled last Tuesday.

"Today I made too many bad passes. Northwestern came out with a lot of tight man-to-man coverage, and it gave me trouble. We could have blown them out early if I had been sharp. I had people wide open. I'll get that straightened out."

Wilson considered the 70-yard drive at the start of the third quarter, with Illinois trailing 9-0, as critical to the outcome.

"It was important for us to take charge," he said. "I could feel the change immediately. There was more calmness, more confidence. I knew then that we could turn it around."

Two bull's-eye tosses to junior John Lopez for 21 and 15 yards kept the march in motion, setting up Mike Murphy's 4-yard TD plunge. Wilson did not complete another pass all day - the Illini attempted none in the fourth quarter - punching in from favorable field position after Holmes provided the go-ahead TD from 53 yards.

Wilson scored the first of three 4th-quarter TDs on a bootleg left while NU defenders followed Holmes' fake dive. It was straight out of the NFL, something in frequent runners like Bart Starr or John Unitas might  have done.

"Coach White called the play from the sideline," said Wilson. "We didn't even tell our own players I was going to keep the ball. It caught everyone by surprise."

Geneseo sophomore Lance Hofer relieved Wilson, indicating White intends to conserve Californian Tony Eason's two seasons of eligibility if possible. Hofer scored the last TD on a 3-yard sneak when center Adam Lingner, following coaches' instructions, snapped the ball to catch a Wildcat lineman offsides. Centers Lingner and Greg Boeke drew NU penalties on four occasions by alert snapping.

"The centers are coached to do that," said Wilson. "We also change the customary snap count and the inflection of our voices in certain situations."

Other Illini quotes:

Mike Holmes: "We're in top condition and we started running them down when our reserves came off the bench.

"Everybody was up-tight in the beginning and no one took the initiative. We needed something to get the guys going. I guess you could say my run didn't hurt. I knew once I got to the sideline that I had it. It's great. I've never had a chance to cheer in this locker room."

Mark Butkus, after a highly impressive debut at tackle: "I enjoyed it. I just jumped in and did my best, and it went pretty much as I expected. I thought they might come at Terry (Cole) and me, but they never did. Yes, I deflected the pass that (Jack) Squirek intercepted.

"The substitutions helped. I guess part of it was nervousness. But I settled down, and came out without even a bruise."

Jack Squirek, one of the red-dogging linebackers: "Yeah we blitzed over half of the time ... we had somebody coming on virtually all the pass situations. We tried to apply pressure (resulting in an interception in each quarter).

"I wasn't discouraged at halftime. I knew we'd come back. I didn't get tired at all in the second half. The defense wasn't in that much after the half.
"We're pleased for coach White. Coach (Max) McCartney recommended we give him the game ball and it was unanimous."

Comments