Illinois Fighting Illini vs Southern Illinois Salukis Football Recap

Illinois 35, Southern Illinois 3

The Illinois offense put on a show in its home debut on Saturday against the Southern Illinois Salukis.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase completed 14 of 18 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns.  Running back Mikel Leshoure ran for 115 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

A 54-yard touchdown pass from Scheelhaase to A.J. Jenkins on Illinois’ second possession put the Illini ahead 7-0. Leshoure’s pair of first-half touchdown runs helped Illinois take a 21-3 lead into halftime. Jenkins finished with five receptions for 114 yards for the Illini. Illinois was 8-of-13 on third down attempts, but turned the ball over three times.

On the other side of the ball, the Illini shut down the Salukis’ prolific offense, holding SIU to 46 yards on 29 rushing attempts.  Salukis running back Lucien Walker carried 11 times for 30 yards.  SIU was slightly more successful through the air.  Chris Dieker completed 19 of 35 passes for 168 yards.

Scheelhaase continued to progress as the Illini signal caller.  A week after being picked off three times in a loss to Missouri; Scheelhaase didn’t throw an interception against SIU.  Both Illini picks in this game were thrown by backup Eddie McGee.

Will this game completely turn around Illinois’ season? Of course not. Nevertheless, this was a reasonably crisp outing for Coach Ron Zook’s team. The Illini needed to re-establish themselves after a disappointing 23-13 loss against a ho-hum Missouri outfit. The loss was a setback not just because the game against the Tigers was a border battle and something of a backyard skirmish for both local bragging rights and potential recruiting leverage; the loss hurt the Illini football family because the offense got shut out in the second half. Even a few plays – not dozens, just three or four – could very well have been enough to get Illinois’ campaign off to a good start in 2010. That didn’t happen, so there was a real prospect of a letdown against Southern Illinois. Moreover, since FCS-based programs like the Salukis have already taken down the likes of Minnesota and Kansas and Virginia Tech and Akron (among others), the notion of Illinois losing this game was anything but laughable. An Illinois team that has been down on its luck over the past two seasons is simply not in a position to take anything as a foregone conclusion.

Zook and his coaching staff should be modestly yet genuinely happy with this clear-eyed and generally focused effort on the part of the Illini. Everyone around the program hopes this will continue to be true as the month of September moves along.

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