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10
observations after Week 1 of Illinois football
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By Greg
Taylor
[September 04, 2007]
Saturday marked the start of the
2007 Illinois football season. The Illini rallied from a 24- point
third-quarter deficit to get within three of the Missouri Tigers,
but couldn't finish the comeback and lost to the Tigers 40-34 at the
Dome in St. Louis. Illinois lost starting quarterback Juice Williams
to injury early in the second quarter, yet had the ball at the
Missouri 20 with 58 seconds to play in the game -- only trailing by
six.
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While Illinois didn't get the win -- and this Illinois team needs to
get some wins -- the LDN noticed several positive observations (and
some negative ones as well). Positives:
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Eddie McGee --
Most Illini fans didn't even know who McGee was before Saturday,
but the redshirt freshman from Washington, D.C., really made a
quite an impression in his college debut. Forced into action due
to injury, McGee made some mistakes -- his first fumble was
returned 103 yards for a touchdown by Mizzou. But, the kid from
the capital showed some moxie -- and came within a late
interception of leading Illinois to the greatest comeback in
school history. This kid is a keeper, and I'll be the first to
say the idea of rotating QBs
-- a la Florida 2006 -- might just be in the cards for 2007
Illinois football.
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The Illinois
Offense -- I'm not saying much about this, but it was so
nice to see McGee to Hudson for a 41-yard TD. It was inspiring
to see Rashard Mendenhall rumble for a couple of TDs. McGee did
a good job of finding open receivers, and the Mike Losksley
offense looked pretty good for major stretches of the game.
-
J -- Need I
say more? How about a nice 20-tackle start to the season for the
linebacker from Champaign? Not bad for a Champaign Central kid
(I went to Centennial). J is an absolute stud and is making a
strong case to play on Sundays next year.
-
Big Plays! --
If one thing has been absent in the Zook era up to this point,
it might be big plays. College teams many times live and die by
the big play, and it was wonderful to see Vonte Davis block a
punt and score a touchdown for Illinois' first score of the
game. It was awesome to see Jerry Brown come oh so close to an
interception as Missouri was trying to salt away the game -- it
was a great play and forced Mizzou to kick a field goal.
Finally, Illinois forced a fumble and found themselves with the
ball at the Missouri 4-yard line trailing by 10 late in the
game. Keep the big plays coming!!
-
Receivers --
By my count, only one drop all day long -- that alone is a huge
improvement. Regis Benn is the real deal Lucille! Kyle Hudson
defies the image most have of a kid from Mattoon -- he makes big
play after big play. And how about Brian Gamble -- the true
freshman was a defense back three weeks ago, and he made a
couple of huge catches for the good guys! Now, we need to get
the tight ends involved and the Illini might just have
something.
[to top of second column]
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Not so positives:
-
Turnovers --
You can't commit five turnovers and win games -- bottom line.
Illinois has to hold on to the football! McGee gets a pass in my
book due to his youth and lack of experience, but this must
change and in a hurry.
-
Defense -- It
was way too easy for the Tigers -- Illinois needs to tighten up
and do it in a hurry before Big Ten games begin.
-
Special Teams
-- Let's stop putting Kyle Yelton in the game to punt -- his
only punt was returned for a TD. Let's go ahead and make every
extra point -- OK? And whatever we do, we cannot fumble kickoff
or punts ever.
-
The Fans --
Way too much taunting and inappropriate behavior by both fan
bases. I'll admit, I've really enjoyed the beat-downs we've
given Mizzou in basketball over the last seven years. I
know many Tiger fans who couldn't wait to win the game on
Saturday. But come on, get control of the language and cut down
on the liquid courage -- it's just a football game, and I
witnessed several incidents that went beyond the "fun at the
dome" definition.
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The Officials --
You're probably thinking "You can't read a Greg Taylor article
without hearing about the men in stripes," and you are more than
likely correct, but how in the world was there no penalty when
Juice was hit helmet to helmet and then had his face mask
grabbed? One more thing: Zook said after the game there were a
couple of obvious clips on the Missouri punt return right in
front of officials. It was far from the best officiated game
I've witnessed and something the Big 12 should deal with (the
crew was from Missouri's conference).
Up next is the Western Illinois versus Illinois game on Saturday
at 6 p.m. If you have the Big Ten network, you are in business. If
not, why not go the game -- good tickets are still available -- and
support the Illini. I think 2007 could be a much different season
for Illinois football.
[Greg
Taylor]
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