Illini 31, Wisconsin 26

Zook. Juice. Benn. Vontae. Kevin Mitchell. Josh Brent. McGee. Leman. Dufrene. And, of course, Mendenhall.

What a pack of beasts.

A solid, confident performance by the Illini on Saturday. A few things that jumped out at me were these:

- When Juice (or McGee) goes to the option with Mendenhall on the outside I don't recall feeling so confident about a play succeeding since just about every time Luther Head lined up for a three in Spring 2005. That play is difficult to stop, especially when the Illini can mix it up with Benn as well.

- Mendenhall's 32 yard touchdown run in the first quarter (7:25) was sprung by a great block on the outside but I neglected to write down who made the block. Did anyone catch that?

- Reda is looking good. He had the wind with him (according to the TV guys) but his 50 yard field goal in the second quarter (11:01) seemingly needed no help in splitting the uprights.

- Wisconsin's Travis Beckum is a good receiver. He consistently got open and made big plays over the middle despite the fact that ... the Illini have some excellent defensive backs. Kevin Mitchell and Vontae Davis are playmakers who make plays. Both made big interceptions in the second half. Davis' in particular was a huge grab on the sideline (4Q, 10:53), the result of some blanket coverage on Beckum.

- The Illini engineered two identical touchdown drives in the second half. The first started at the 10:00 minute mark of the 3rd Quarter, consisted of 9 runs and 0 passes (5 runs by Juice, 4 runs by Mendenhall) and culminated in a 5 yard Mendenhall touchdown run at the 7:10 mark. The second drive started at the 10:00 minute mark of the 4th Quarter, consisted of 9 runs and 0 passes (3 runs by Mendenhall, 2 runs by Juice, 3 runs by Dufrene and 1 run by McGee) and finished with a 5 yard McGee touchdown run at the 6:05 mark. Bielema probably thought he was seeing double.

- Arrelious Benn is the first person I've seen injure himself by stiff arming a guy on an end run. It was a violent stiff arm that didn't result in any extra yards. Benn played on and hopefully won't miss time.