As the fourth quarter began with Illinois trailing 45-28 against Mizzou on Saturday night, linebacker Martez Wilson fruitlessly waved his arms up and down in an attempt to pump up the Illini crowd. Unfortunately, there was just no energy coming from the orange-and-blue faithful.

And even though their No. 20 Fighting Illini were entering the last part of the game with no momentum and little hope for a comeback, none of the fans felt compelled to head home early. Instead, they just sat in their seats, confused about what was transpiring on the field.

Everything that was supposed to start off 2008happened. Vontae Davis was making plays all over the field like a NFL-caliber player, Arrelious Benn continued to be the YAC king and was nearly unstoppable after the catch, and Juice Williams was developing into the quarterback everyone dreamed he might be. Even the Marching Illini tramped all over Marching Mizzou like they were the 1982 Stanford marching band. Yet Illinois found themselves trailing big. It just didn’t make any sense.

“We are a better football team,” head coach Ron Zook said calmly after the game. “Unfortunately maybe we’ve been telling them that too much, and maybe they’ve been being told that too much.”

Not to take anything away from a solid Missouri team that proved why they are a National Championship contender, but Zook is right. The Illini are a better team than what we saw at the packed Edward Jones Dome. They are better than what the Fiesta, Cotton and Rose Bowl officials who were at the game witnessed. Maybe they are even better than what the coaches and the fans have been telling them all preseason.

But for every flash of greatness and for every big play, the Illini also exposed an area of concern that is keeping them stuck in the middle between being a good team and a great team. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the middle of the team’s offensive and defensive units.

Perhaps the most paramount weakness was at safety, where Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel and his “super fastball offense” (yes, he actually called it that) attacked the sophomore trio of Nate Bussey, Travon Bellamy and Bo Flowers. Daniel’s receivers enjoyed a nice cushion 20 to 25 yards downfield all game and were often tackled from behind after making the catch.

“They struggled at times,” Illinois co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch said of the young safeties. “They had some missed tackles and bad angles and we probably put them in some tough situations.”

As frustrating as it was to watch the Illini pass coverage suffer for most of the game, the much-heralded defensive line also struggled to stop Mizzou’s draw-heavy running attack.

With the Tigers featuring several spread offensive formations – something the Illini should know all too well – the Mizzou running attack was able to make big gains once they got through the defensive line.

“Honestly, I think the strength of our football team did not play very well,” Zook said in reference to the play of the defensive line.

The offense also struggled to move the ball through the middle of the field. Running back Daniel Dufrene was ineffective between the tackles and looked uncomfortable hitting the hole. Williams was forced to scramble to the outside, where his running lanes up the field became smaller and smaller.

Much of the offense’s success (I think we can call 42 points a success, right?) came from runs and passes to the sideline where the Mizzou defense didn’t seem to have the speed to keep up with Dufrene, Williams and Benn. But plays up the middle? Like say, the kind of things Rashard Mendenhall did last year. Not happening.

Now, like I said, not all was bad for the Illini. Juice did have a breakout game, throwing for 451 yards and five touchdowns. The star players made plays when they were supposed to, while new players (wide receiver Will Judson with 177 yards receiving) emerged with big contributions. There is progress to build on, which is why no Illini fan should be trying to find any high ledges at this point.

But much like last year, this game needs to be a learning experience for Illinois in order to have success later in the season. The team did learn that Juice can throw the ball, and that the defense needs help in the secondary. I fully expect Zook to do what he has to do to help this team adjust to its strengths and weaknesses, but learning how to close the gap between just being good and being great might be the difference between, oh, I don’t know, a good bowl game and a great bowl game.

Kyle Betts is a graduate student. He can be reached at [email protected].