2011 illinois

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WITH SPECIAL GUEST DENARD ROBINSON. FOR THE WHOLE THING! Big thanks to Bryan Fuller for setting that up. Please listen to Part 1 first if you haven't already.

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Previously: 1879, 1901, 1918, 1925, 1932, 1940, 1947, 1950, 1964, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1985 p.1& p.2, 1988, 1991, 1999, 2011 p.1

Special Guests: Craig Roh, author of The Pass Rush Bible and Denard Robinson

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

Previously: Western Michigan, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, San Diego StateMinnesotaNorthwesternMichigan StatePurdue, Iowa

Illinois

Schedule:

  • Arkansas State, 33-15 (W)
  • South Dakota State, 56-3 (W)
  • No. 22 Arizona State, 17-14 (W)
  • Western Michigan, 23-20 (W)
  • Northwestern, 38-35 (W)
  • @ Indiana, 41-20 (W)
  • Ohio State, 7-17 (L)
  • @ Purdue, 14-21 (L)
  • @ No. 19 Penn State, 7-10 (L)
  • No. 24 Michigan, 14-31 (L)
  • No. 17 Wisconsin, 17-28 (L)
  • @ Minnesota, 7-27 (L)
  • UCLA, 20-14 (W), Emerald Bowl

Record: 7-6 overall, 2-6 B1G, 5th place Woody Division

Stats:

  Offense Defense
Rush: 171.7 ypg, 41st 123.8 ypg, 25th
Pass: 184.0 ypg, 91st 162.3 ypg, 3rd
Total: 355.7 ypg, 85th 286.2 ypg, 7th
Scoring: 22.6 ppg, 91st 19.6 ppg, 15th
T/O Margin:  -6, 95th

Recap: Ron Zook’s last season at Illinois was the mirror image of Rich Rod’s last season at Michigan. Instead of a stellar offense trying to keep pace with a defense that kept giving up free touchdowns, it was a stellar defense trying to hold up long enough for the offense to maybe fall forward into field goal range.

The offense wasn’t that horrible at the beginning of the season. At least, it wasn’t supposed to be. The Illini returned QB Nathan Scheelhaase, who had a breakout freshman season of sorts in 2010. They lost RB Mikel Leshoure to the Lions, for whom he couldn’t play because he tore his Achilles tendon (but hey, who’s bitter about that), but they had seemingly quality options behind him in Jason Ford and Troy Pollard. At receiver they had a quality deep threat in A.J. Jenkins, who finished 6th in the Big Ten in yardage the previous season.

  

Scheelhaase, Ford, Jenkins

(more after the jump)

I said I would write a final opponent watch to recap the season. This is not it. I'll have that one next week.

About Last Saturday:

Bad guys - 0, Good guys - a billion

HELLO.

(more after the jump)