There’s No Defense For The Illini

Things were a little too easy for the Tigers in their 37-9 romp

The Big Ten came out strong on opening weekend with a conference 10-1 record, but it was that one loss that stays with me this Sunday morning.

Illinois went down to St. Louis for their annual game with the Missouri Tigers, and much like the previous meetings, the Tigers offense proved to be too much to handle for the Illini.

That was all well and good when it was a quarterback like Chase Daniel manning the helm for the Tigers with weapons in his arsenal like Jeremy Maclin and Chase Coffman.

This season, though…this season was supposed to be different.  With the Tigers’ biggest offensive weapons now gone and getting paid to play this game, this was supposed to be the year when Illinois finally solved Missouri.

Instead, it looks like its biggest weakness has yet to be  fixed, and that means the Illini defense is going to keep their team from meeting some high expectations placed on them this season.

I wasn’t really on the Illini bandwagon to begin with, even with Phil Steele predicting they were going to be strong in 2009.  Granted, they’ve only played one game and could still end up going 11-1, but I don’t think anybody who watched the Tigers pick apart the Illinois defense thinks that’s  plausible.

Blaine Gabbert was 25/33 with 358 total yards and 4 touchdowns in his first start

The Tigers marched down the field at will on Saturday, racking up 442 yards of total offense, 325 of which came through the air.  Illinois missed tackle after tackle and played like it had given up in the second half.  It was as though they knew they had no answer for a sophomore quarterback making his first start so they figured, why bother trying to stop him?

It wasn’t easy to watch.

“I feel sick for these guys,” Zook said. “I feel sick for them. I feel sick for the Illini Nation. It’s up to us to make sure we get that fixed.”

Pretty fitting, given I felt sick watching.

“I sure wouldn’t have thought we’d play like that,” Zook continued. “That’s not the kind of offseason we’ve had. That’s not the kind of camp we’ve had. That’s not the kind of preparation we’ve had. I’m embarrassed with it, but I’m definitely not getting ready to throw in the towel.

“We didn’t play the way we’ve practiced. Whether that’s because we’ve talked about how great a camp we’ve had and they thought we were just going to throw it out there and take care of it.”

Zook may not be ready to throw in the towel just yet, but his team seems more than prepared to do just that.  If they couldn’t make it through one game without quitting, who knows how they’ll react should word come back that Arrelious Benn’s injured ankle — which he hurt during Illinois’ first offensive series — is going to be keeping him out of action for a while?

It may only have been one game, but there’s plenty of reason to worry about the Illini.  They’re one of the few Big Ten teams remaining who schedule quality opponents in their non-conference schedule, and that could end up biting them in the butt.  While they should pick up a win against Illinois State in Champaign next week, the Illini then have to travel to Columbus to face Ohio State before returning home for Penn State and Michigan State in consecutive weeks.

It’s possible, hell, it’s likely that the Illini are going to start their season 1-4.  Can you see them beating the Buckeyes, Nittany Lions or Spartans playing the way they did on Saturday?  I sure can’t.

With the way their defense played on Saturday, I can’t see them beating anybody.