Nov. 7—Illinois is now bowl eligible after extending its winning streak to four with Friday night’s 24-13 win against flailing Nebraska. The picture gets clearer every week for our Scott Richey. Here’s 10 more things he thinks he knows about the Illini:
Nothing dates you more than when a cultural touchstone from your childhood is lost on the current generation. The play call for the fake field goal Illinois ran against the Cornhuskers was “Charlie Brown,” with Lars Rau the “Lucy” to Ethan Moczulski’s titular character. Rau played it to perfection, pulling the ball after the snap and taking off for a 29-yard rush that ultimately set up Jordan Anderson’s go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter. Illinois coach Bret Bielema said he showed a clip of Lucy yanking the football way from Charlie Brown to his team. Rau confirmed he’d never seen it before in his life.
Rau was named to the Ray Guy Award midseason watch list, making the Illinois junior one of 63 punters still in the running to be named the best in the country. Rau has punted 27 times, averaged 43.6 yards per punt and has pinned the Illini’s opponents inside the 20-yard line 10 times. A solid season in his first as Illinois’ No. 1 punter. Eight of his 27 punts came against Oregon — nearly matching the 10 he had in the previous six games. His volume is still up, comparatively, with nine total in his last two games, but anyone concerned about Katin Houser returning at quarterback (and there were some fans who expressed that notion) should take notice of how infrequently Rau has been needed with Houser at the helm.
It’s still almost unbelievable Houser has already returned as Illinois’ starting quarterback after breaking his throwing hand Oct. 10 at Michigan State. Nineteen days between surgery and his return at Maryland is stunning. Houser had some early struggles against the Terrapins, but he looked like his old self Friday night against the Cornhuskers. Ten chunk plays in the passing game, including five of at least 21 yards (and a 58-yarder to Collin Dixon) got Houser to 292 passing yards on the night.
Dixon claimed Illinois’ single-season record with a pair of touchdown catches against Nebraska. The senior wide receiver already set the Gies Memorial Stadium record with seven touchdowns in the first three games this season (before adding to it), and his three against Duke tied the program’s single-game high mark. What other records might fall? Dixon has the single-season record for 100-yard games in sight. Friday’s 129-yard effort was his fifth, with Brandon Lloyd and David Williams (twice) sharing the record at six. Williams’ single-season receiving yards record of 1,278 might be more of a stretch, but Dixon does have three regular season games and a bowl game to make up the 369 yard difference that would put him in the top spot.
Illinois rushing for 11 first-half yards and 84 for the game against Nebraska wasn’t exactly a surprise. For all of the Cornhuskers’ failings in their now four-game losing streak, they’re one of the best run defenses in the country. The real issue with the Illinois run game is now depth. Ca’Lil Valentine suffered a season-ending injury against Purdue on Oct. 3, and Javari Barnett had to be carted off the field Friday night with what looked like a serious leg injury. The Illini can’t afford for anything to happen to Aidan Laughery or Anderson.
James Kreutz walked off Zuppke Field on Friday night with a message for the assembled media taking in Illinois’ postgame celebration. The message from the fifth-year linebacker? Write about the Illini defense now. Kreutz isn’t wrong about the strides the Illinois defense has made since the split with first-year coordinator Bobby Hauck after four games. The Illini have gotten better. It’s a change that hasn’t been ignored. Just like the defense’s struggles in those first four games — like making tackles — wasn’t ignored either.
Matthew Bailey is Illinois’ defensive MVP. No debate. The fifth-year safety made a game-high 11 tackles against Nebraska, teamed up with Joe Barna for a sack on Cornhuskers quarterback Anthony Colandrea and also forced a late fumble (albeit with the ball bouncing out of bounds). Bailey has been the steadiest part of the defense this season, and with a multitude of NFL scouts in attendance Friday he’s only strengthened his draft stock.
Enjoying this article? Support our work with a small crypto donation.How close is Roger Cooper from getting the defensive coordinator title Bielema opted not to give him — even on an interim basis — after Hauck’s departure? The way the Illinois defense has improved with Cooper in charge of the defensive staff’s collaborative effort could make the offseason decision a little more interesting. Retaining linebackers coach Archie McDaniel and defensive backs coach Corey Parker is key, but Cooper has earned the trust of the Illini defensive players. That’s something Hauck didn’t manage.
Bielema isn’t imprecise when he’s speaking to the media, whether that’s during his weekly pregame availabilities or his postgame press conferences. He knows what he’s saying, so it wasn’t just a flippant comment when he said a 6-3 Illinois team that just beat what had been a 5-3 Nebraska would “be a top 15 team” if they were in the SEC. Let’s just say that thought has generated plenty of social media discourse.
Bowl eligibility seemed a million miles away when Illinois lost at home to Purdue. A disappointment that stung even more when you consider the Boilermakers had lost 19 consecutive Big Ten games before that early October victory in Champaign. Now, the Illini have a postseason game to look forward to that won’t be decided for another month, of course. No one’s asked me, but I would prefer to skip all the Dec. 26 games with Big Ten ties in favor of spending New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas.
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