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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Beleaguered Ron Zook was desperately looking for something positive.

It didn't happen on the football field Saturday. Purdue, drawing a disappointing crowd of 47,349 after upsetting Ohio State, handed Illinois its seventh straight Big Ten loss, 24-14.

But earlier in the week, as was confirmed by athletic director Ron Guenther at halftime, Zook received a "vote of confidence" for not only this season but the 2010 campaign as well.

For Guenther, this jaw-dropping announcement made sense because Zook was frustrated, losing sleep and needed a lift. It's what administrators do for hard-working employees. But rather than shush Illini Nation, it landed like a bombshell as the team is seemingly running aground. If a 1-6 team finishes 1-11, and the string of losses against major teams reaches 14, will Zook really survive the season-ending evaluation?

Guenther probably didn't intend for his private discussion to hit the Internet mill, but he told old friend and former Illini assistant coach Glen Mason of his intention, and Mason related it on the Big Ten Network on Friday. This created a furor among media and disgruntled Illini fans who had virtually written off Zook if this losing streak continues.

Changes on the way

In their earlier meeting, Guenther reportedly told his coach that everything would be done after the season to give Zook a chance to turn it around. This is construed to mean that Zook will have financial support to make any staff changes he deems necessary. Both coordinator jobs are believed to be in play, and Guenther's halftime remarks supported that line of thinking: "We'll evaluate everything at the end, and there'll be changes, but we won't make a change at the top. That isn't going to happen."

Under the circumstances, with the university administration in upheaval, Guenther's word goes almost unchallenged on the campus.

But both Zook and defensive co-coordinator Dan Disch have made comments indicating their true feelings as to the difficulty of it.

During a commercial break in his Thursday radio show, Zook made reference to the UI's erratic historic record and vented about "fighting something we can't see." After the game Saturday, Disch noted: "Look at the history of the place. It doesn't happen overnight, or often."

Disch noted that Saturday's game followed a pattern in which the Illini seem almost defenseless until the margin gets out of reach. The spread quickly stretched out to 21-7 Saturday. It was 27-7 at Indiana, 24-0 vs. Michigan State and 28-3 vs. Penn State.

"It's been like that all season," Disch said. "We can't seem to put two halves together. We knew when Purdue went into a two-back set that they intended to run the ball. We were in the right defense most of the time but they made plays. On the big run (Jaycen Taylor's 44-yard TD dash that tied it 7-7), we didn't line up right. We are young at linebacker, and that inexperience hurts more than I like to let on."

Easy does it

Joey Elliott, the Big Ten's leading passer, turned to the running game for 171 first-half yards in building a 21-7 halftime lead. All three Purdue TDs came on the ground. And once again, Illinois had a disaster before the break.

With Jacob Charest taking over at QB, the Illini marched from their 31 and reached the Boilermaker 2-yard line on a 31-pass to Hubie Graham. Juice Williams came in and handed to Arrelius Benn for an apparent TD, but center Eric Block was called for holding and the Illini failed to score when Matt Eller missed a short field goal.

If that was devastating, look what happened at the outset of the fourth quarter. After Williams ran 14 yards past midfield, the next four plays went for minus yardage (counting a 5-yard penalty). Then Zook inserted Charest, and the Illini went three-and-out with incomplete passes.

Champaign's Mikel Leshoure finished with a personal-high 122 yards rushing but, once again, All-America candidate Benn made only a minor impact as two of his three catches (for 15 total yards) came during the final UI possession.

And so the stretch of non-stop ineptness continued with Zook employing two brand new offensive lineman, all five running backs, a former third-string QB, and a two-deep mix of in-and-out defenders at linebacker, line and secondary.

Through the growing mist, Guenther apparently sees a light at the end of the tunnel. Or is that an oncoming train?

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.