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Paul Klee's breakdown from St. Louis

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

– Where to point the blame for the program's most lopsided loss since USC's Rose Bowl beatdown in '07? It has to start with the staff. One player said the Illini were "surprised" Missouri was so good – and surprised first-time starting QB Blaine Gabbert was so effective – making you wonder if the Illini took the Tigers lightly.

"We knew Mizzou was going to be a good football team. And they're going to be a good football team," Ron Zook said. "They played extremely well. They talk about all these new starters (at Missouri). Well, all these new starters have a lot of experience, a lot of playing time."

Still, Illinois is just 6-9 since Juice Williams converted that famous fourth and 1 and the Illini stunned Ohio State in 2007. That includes disheartening losses at home to Minnesota, at Western Michigan and Saturday's rout.

Against Missouri there seemed to be more post-tackle celebrations – when Illinois was losing – than physical tackles. Most concerning, however, was the sense of shock on the Illinois sideline, as though the Illini expected to win simply by showing up.

"Like I said earlier, we were expecting to come out with a win. We took them for granted a little bit," linebacker Martez Wilson said. "We were just going by words. We didn't come into the game focused as a team and it showed on the field."

– First, Daniel Dufrene didn't play. Then Arrelious Benn left with an ankle injury. Then Jason Ford left with an ankle injury. Then Jarred Fayson was slowed by cramping. You can make the argument those are the top four non-Juice weapons on the Illinois offense. Welcome to the Arch Rivalry, Mike Schultz. Now try to win without your best players.

"I come from a football family. Injuries are gonna happen. You've got to close ranks and march on. That happens," the first-year offensive coordinator said. "There's nothing you can do. It's unfortunate. But you've got to close ranks and march on."

The native Texan didn't use excuses to explain what must have seemed like a first-game nightmare. But the offense's latest wishy-washy display certainly was affected by a rash of injuries. The troubling decline of the offense dates to last season, and Illinois has scored just 17, 27, 17, 20, 10 and nine points in its last six games – an average of 16.6 points in that stretch.

"I haven't lost any of my confidence in this team," Williams said.

– The Tigers beat up the Illini. Whipped 'em good. If there's any way to explain the rout, it was how thoroughly the Illini were out-muscled, out-meaned and out-thumped.

"Maybe they was shell-shocked a little bit. But I think we were just fired up," said Mizzou's terrific linebacker, Sean Weatherspoon, who had nine tackles and one sack. "We were just ready to play."

SECOND GUESSING

– Where's the deep pass? Instead of stretching the field, Illinois tried to control the game with conservative playcalling. Before halftime the Illini rushed 20 times and threw the ball 14 times. Rarely did Juice look deep. Part of the reason surely was the absence of Benn, who sustained an ankle injury and didn't return after the first series.

Coaches said that even if they had Benn, the Illini weren't going to attempt to stretch the field with deep passing routes. We'll see if that changes when Benn returns to the lineup.

"We didn't come into the game thinking we were going to throw deep a lot," Zook said. "We wanted to control the game and run the ball and run a controlled passing game and try to keep their offense off the field."

It became clear Illinois isn't anything close to a Top 25 team without their star. Good thing his quarterback thinks he won't be out for long.

"He should be ready to go (against Illinois State)," Juice said of Benn's ankle. "I think it's more precaution."

– Illinois' decision to use quarterbacks Williams and Eddie McGee at the same time seemed like a panic move. It was only the second quarter, Illinois was deep in its own territory, and the first two plays resulted in minus-5 yards. We love the idea – and, frankly, the coaches know their team better than we do – but it seemed like odd timing.

– Not much to critique on Missouri's end of things. But to close the first half, the Tigers used poor clock management and had to settle for a field goal. They had three timeouts at their disposal but didn't use them. A touchdown there and the game could have been decided even earlier than it was.

THIRD DEGREE

– Maybe it's a good thing for Illinois that Eastern Illinois was on its 2008 schedule and not its 2009 schedule. The Panthers were impressive in a 31-6 win against Illinois State on Thursday. Iowa transfer Jake Christensen's debut was a success as he threw for three touchdowns. The Redbirds, meanwhile, appeared as though they'll be overmatched the first two weeks of the season. Illinois State visits Memorial Stadium next Saturday.

– All the turmoil in Ann Arbor didn't seem to bother Michigan and Rich Rodriguez. The Wolverines did what the Illini couldn't do last season – beat Western Michigan. Michigan won 31-7 at home and, at least for a week, cooled the heat on their coach.

– The strongest performances in the Big Ten actually came from some of the unlikeliest suspects. Michigan built a 31-0 lead before coasting to a win.

A team that figured to be down, Wisconsin, had little trouble beating Northern Illinois 28-20. Meanwhile, heavyweight Ohio State needed a final-minute interception to avoid overtime with Navy in a 31-27 win. And Minnesota escaped point guard Greg Paulus and Syracuse 23-20 in overtime, while Iowa nipped Northern Iowa 17-16.

So what did we learn in Week 1? As always, expect the unexpected.

FOURTH ESTATE

– Expectations for Illinois dropped – at least among the fandom – with Saturday's result. But expectations also changed for Missouri.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Vahe Gregorian said before the game that a successful season for the Tigers would be heading into the final game of the regular season – a matchup with Kansas – with the Big 12 North title on the line.

"You can win the Big 12 North at 5-3," Gregorian said.

Unless it was Illinois that made Missouri look like world-beaters, the Tigers appeared strong enough to go through the Big 12 North with a better record than 5-3.

"I think there will be big disappointment at 6-6 (overall)," Gregorian said. "Seven-and-five is good. They would be happy with that. The gambling upside is 8-4."

Gregorian is always on his game. But most observers in the press box guessed wrong. Five Illinois football beat writers were asked for their prediction just before kickoff, and all five picked an Illinois victory.

Surprise, surprise.

IN THE STADIUM

– Even when he's not in the press box, Loren Tate has a presence.

Our legendary columnist was conspicuous in his absence Saturday. Tate was unable to attend and cover the game. Instead, he was in Chicago for granddaughter Elizabeth Burden's wedding in Chicago.

"I have not missed a single football game in 45 years, other than those games where there was a conflict with basketball," Tate said. "There's never been a reason to miss a game."

Saturday's kickoff was at 2:30 p.m. The wedding was at 5 p.m. He had his game plan set weeks in advance, in order to see as much of the UI-Mizzou showdown as possible.

"I can probably leave at 4:20 and make it there on time," Tate said before the wedding/game. "I'll probably miss the fourth quarter."

IN THE LOCKER ROOM

– Mizzou's Weatherspoon made headlines – and the Illinois bulletin board – after announcing on Twitter "50 days until I squeeze the pulp out of Juice."

His verbal response after Missouri walloped Illinois?

"I think we squeezed the pulp. People took it wrong when I made the comment. I was talking about this team, not just myself. You can't do it by yourself, man. Offense did a great job and everybody came out today fired up."

And it was barely an hour after the final horn that Weatherspoon (<@>SeanWSpoon12) tweeted again: "I told you guys! We over-prepared! Mizzou Football is so fun!"

Weatherspoon said the Tigers watched a lot of TCU game film to prepare for the Illini. That's where Schultz used to coach.

– Schultz wasn't ready to critique the offense immediately after the game. He wanted to see the film first.

"I'm the worst after a game," he said. "Most of the time when you're up calling plays, by the time that play is run, I'm looking down again trying to find out our next call and anticipating whether it's a first down, whether it's a second down."