Featured News
August 01, 2007
Illinois and Indiana Preview
By Apparao Prattipati
Speedy receivers, struggling offensive lines, and mourning the loss of a beloved coach. These are just a few of the things that tell the story of Illinois and Indiana this season.
Illinois
They finished 1 – 7 in the Big Ten last year, but that record is deceiving. Isaiah “Juice” Williams won a starting spot as a freshman and improved as the year went along despite early struggles. The defense also improved throughout the season. In games against Penn State, Ohio State and Wisconsin they lost by just an average of 9 points. The Illini return 18 players and add an impressive freshman class including super freshman wide-receiver Aurellius “Regis” Benn, for what is probably the Big Ten’s best dark horse candidate.
“Juice” Williams, Rashard Mendenhall, and Benn may be the Big Ten’s best offensive trio. Sound surprising? Just wait. The trio has the speed, skill, and versatility to scare the headsets off opposing defensive coordinators. The line will be average, but because of the quick paced nature of the offense that won’t really matter. The kids from Champaign will attack with a spread option that’s going to depend on big plays rather than time eating drives. They might not have the best offense in the Big Ten, but they will have the most exciting and fan-friendly.
Defensively, this team should be good despite the lack of a star packed roster. They made the Nittany Lions look silly in Happy Valley last year and held the Bucks to just 21 points. The best of the unit is cornerback Vontae Davis who will push for 1st Team All-Big Ten recognition in only his sophomore year.
This team should be 4–0 before a brutal four game stretch where they host three conference favorites as well as taking a trip to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa. The difference between simply being bowl eligible and going to a game after Christmas will depend the ability of Illinois to upset anyone in their most difficult stretch of games.
Indiana
Winning and losing won’t be the thing that dominates the thoughts of Indiana’s players and fans this year. The Hoosiers are dealing with the tragic death of their head coach, the very popular Terry Hoeppner. Offensive Coordinator Bill Lynch will take over as head coach this season.
Rising sophomore Kellen Lewis is the heart and soul of the offense, leading Indiana in passing and rushing. Lewis is a true dual-threat quarterback who has four returning starters on the offensive line and a legitimate NFL prospect at receiver in James Hardy. Unfortunately the team gets very little production out of its running backs (anyone remember when that one kid had 200-yards rushing against Penn state a few years back? What ever happened to him?) This offense will go as far as Lewis takes them, which isn’t a terrible thing if you’re a Hoosier fan.
Defensively, the best thing you can say is that they return experience (not that it’s necessarily a good thing) and they have linebackers who can run. The defensive line was among the worst in the NCAA in terms of defending the run last year, and the secondary wasn’t much better in defending the pass. At least their schedule helps them by avoiding Michigan and Ohio State.
As usual, the primary hope of Indiana will be to become bowl eligible. As usual, they will struggle to do so. They play three teams from the MAC conference on their non-conference schedule, and will probably be underdogs to everyone they play in the Big Ten. Indiana did do well last year which offers some glimmers of hope, but they will probably come away with only six wins this year.
Next up we’ll preview the Iowa Hawkeyes and Michigan Wolverines in the NittanyFootball.com Big Ten Previews.
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