I Temporarily Recant My Negative Words About The Illini

Heading into last night's game against Michigan St., I was very down on the Illini. They have talent but they are inconsistent in applying it. They seem to lack focus and effort at times. They drop their shoulders when faced with adversity, and can't close out when they have big leads.

Last night against Michigan St., particularly in performances by Brandon Paul and Jereme Richmond, the Illini set aside those issues and pulled out a clutch home win. They now sit in second place in the conference heading into Saturday afternoon's showdown with Ohio St.

True, had the Spartans shot better I might be in a very different mood this morning. But the Illini defense played at least a part in forcing the Spartans to settle for so many jump shots. And strong rebounding in the second half prevented at least a few Spartan put backs.

Bring on Sullinger, Lighty, Diebler and the rest.

Invading East Lansing

The Illini take the field in East Lansing in about 45 minutes time.

Can the defense stop the MSU running game? Can Martez, Bussey, and the boys get to the MSU quarterback? Can the Illini corners protect against the deep ball? Can Scheelhaase complete the majority of his passes and limit turnovers? Can Dimke and Santella maintain their elite kicking games? Can the three-headed monster - Leshoure, Pollard, Ford - find running holes and gallop for huge chunks of yardage?

So many questions.

Let's get this dun.

Eddie McGee Is Starting The Homecoming Game During Juice's Senior Season

This can't be how Juice envisioned things a few weeks ago. The team struggling, the offense unable to move the ball, and he riding pine for the Homecoming game against the Spartans.

A shame. It was nary a month ago this Illini season was filled with so much promise.

The Illini can still turn things around - with games at home against Michigan St. and on the road against Purdue and Indiana, three straight wins are a possibility - but for the time being they'll attempt to do so with Eddie McGee at the helm.

Either way, I just want the Illini to win football games.