CHAMPAIGN – During the final minutes of their streak-snapping win over Middle Tennessee State, some Illinois players were waving for the fans to storm the field.

They didn't provide any road maps to the end zone or give tips on toppling goal posts, but they were happy to share the field with their fans, especially the students.

After losing nine straight home games coming into Saturday night's contest, they wanted to thank the fans who supported them through an 18-game skid.

"It feels really good to do it for the fans," senior quarterback Mark Hoekstra said. "It's hard for a fan to stick behind a team that's not winning. I was right there with them."

There was no embarrassment about fans reacting so strongly to a win over a Division I-AA school. Hoekstra said he heard rumors all week that the goal posts would come down with victory No. 1 in the Ron Turner era (for the record, neither goal post came down despite fans scaling the one in the south end zone).

Like Hoekstra, junior running back Steve Havard stayed clear of the upright frenzy.

"I just stayed back and watched," Havard said. "They were rougher than we were."

After the celebration, the Illini gathered in the locker room for one of their oldest traditions – singing the UI fight song. It had been awhile, but they remembered the words.

"We've been practicing," Hoekstra said. "We've been wanting to sing that for a long time. We sang it loud. And we sang it proud."

Not so fast

The fans might have been enthusiastic, but there weren't many in the Memorial Stadium seats.

Attendance was reported as 35,475, the lowest for a home opener since 1970 when 33,246 witnessed a 20-16 win over Oregon.

It was an improvement from the 30,087 that showed up for the 1997 season finale against Michigan State. But there were also more than 40 high school marching bands in attendance Saturday.

No redshirt for quarterback

Illinois freshman quarterback Kurt Kittner got the first action of his career, taking a knee to run out the clock on the final possession.

The Schaumburg product is listed No. 2 on the depth chart behind Hoekstra and is on track to be the starter in 1999. Barring an injury, he should play all four years.

"He's not going to have a redshirt year," Turner said. "We haven't even thought about a redshirt with him."

Injury report

Senior middle linebacker Eric Guenther missed the game with a slight hamstring pull and will likely return next week. In his place, sophomore Robert Franklin got his first start and was third on the team with six tackles.

Tuscola native Fred Wakefield was out with a virus and has not yet been cleared for practice next week. Freshman running back Jameel Cook did not play because of turf toe, but he should return next week.

Doing their homework

Sure, they got paid $250,000 to take a seven-hour bus ride to Champaign and help break the Illini losing streak. But there was more in it for Middle Tennessee than the paycheck.

The Blue Raiders will make the jump to Division I-A next year. So while they were getting exposure from a Big Ten team, the coaches, administrators and even the band took notes.

"You can figure out how far away you are from competing at that level," Middle Tennessee athletic director Lee Fowler said. "You get to see the facilities and learn a lot about what to do.

"Our president's committed to this. He hired me four years ago to make this move."

The Blue Raiders were supposed to be moving on up this year. Expansion to Johnny Floyd Stadium – doubling seating capacity to 31,000 – was slowed, making MTSU ineligible for I-A.

"We just barely got in there for our first game," Fowler said.

MTSU – with an 18,366 enrollment – drew an Ohio Valley Conference record 27,568 fans to their 1998 opener. The school has sold 16,127 season tickets, assuring the Blue Raiders the 17,000 attendance average they need for Division 1-A.

MTSU will face one more 1-A team – Alabama-Birmingham on Nov. 14 – and is 25-34-1 all time versus big-time opponents.

"We've played Texas A&M (1995) since we've been here, we've beaten Northern Illinois (1992), played Nebraska (1992) and Florida State (1991)," Fowler said. "The least we've ever been paid was $225,000 and the highest was $330,000 from Arizona."

MTSU coach Boots Donnelly said competing with Big Ten teams is no different than facing the Seminoles or Cornhuskers.

"This is where we're headed," Donnelly said. "The players were probably a little awed because they hadn't been to A&M. But we want to see where we're at, and it looks like we have a long way to go."

Band on the run

The Blue Raiders brought along their marching band, and Fowler said the band makes most of their big road games.

"They wanted to see a Big Ten band," Fowler said. "We've always had a lot of pride in our band. One thing I've always said, we've already got a Division I-A band, no problem."