After what may turn out to be the most exciting and frustrating game of the year against Missouri, the Illini faithful played witness to the drubbing over Western Illinois. It is hard to look too much into the game, due mostly to the play of Western, but it was great to see the defense dominate, and the running game play so well.

Guarded optimism, I suppose, is the best thing I can take away from the game.

I’m glad the team got into the win column, but the passing offense still left something to be desired in the effort.

Juice Williams had an acceptable 50 percent completion rate in the game, but he was more than erratic at times. His interception was a poor throw that sailed some and was clearly his fault.

Western did a surprisingly good job at pressuring Juice into throwing on the run.

Juice is a very adept scrambler, but if he would take a second to plant before his throws on scrambles, he might eliminate some of those errant passes. There is no debating his arm strength, but when he throws with just his arm, he takes away so much of that strength. Juice said during the offseason that he was working on passing more than running, but if he wants to do that, he’ll need to work on his mechanics more.

The passing may not have been at its peak in the game, but the running game was a force. Rashard Mendenhall spearheaded the 277 yard team total with 139 yards of his own.

Mendenhall just looked like he was on a different level from the Western defenders at times.

My only complaint with Mendenhall’s game is that he may have been too shifty at times when just running north-south may have been more effective. Mendenhall has more than enough ability to make cuts and jukes at will, but sometimes just running straight is more effective. Against a team like Western, you don’t really need to get too fancy.

The offense may have been inconsistent, but the defense was exactly the opposite. I understand that it is Western Illinois, but dominant defenses don’t play down to the competition.

One number that may best show the play of the defense was four. The Leathernecks only had four first downs – compared to Illinois’ 21. Two of those first downs came on the first drive when the defense was still getting settled, too.

The defense wasn’t statistically great: Leading tackler J Leman “only” had 11 tackles, giving him 31 on the season.

None of his tackles was bigger than when on fourth-and-one in the third quarter the Leathernecks went for the conversion, rather than a possible field goal attempt.

After Walter Mendenhall fumbled the second half kickoff, Western had great field position in Illini territory.

Western ran three plays that yielded nine yards and had a very reasonable chance to convert the fourth down. Leman came storming into the backfield and dropped Western’s Herb Donaldson for a two-yard loss. Rather than a possible 7-3 score, Illinois was up 7-0 and had the ball, along with momentum, after the stop.

Donaldson, arguably Western’s best threat, was never a factor in the game. While he may have been able to turn some of his runs into bigger gains against some teams, the Illini did a great job of limiting his yards after contact and swarmed to him well. This showed in the stats when you saw that his longest rush of the game was only six yards.

I joked with another writer during the game that Donaldson may end up with 40 all-purpose touches, but he only had 27 carries for a net of 59 yards.

After the game, senior safety Kevin Mitchell compared the defense stepping up to help the offense to the Chicago Bears defense doing the same thing for their offense. While there are obvious differences, if the Illini defense can continue to play well when Big Ten season comes around, there will be no need for guarded optimism. Just confidence that the team can do well in the postseason.

Daniel Johnson is a junior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].