About all 62,870 people at Memorial Stadium were watching Matt Eller as he trotted out onto the field to attempt a potential game-winning kick against Iowa with only 29 seconds left. Well, maybe all except one.

“I wasn’t even paying attention,” said cornerback Vontae Davis, who decided to just put his head down on the sideline and wait for the crowd to tell him if Eller’s kick was good. “When everyone was cheering, I knew he made it and I just gave a fist pump.”

Perhaps in some ironic twist of fate, a game dominated for three quarters by the Illinois defense would be put into the hands of an offense that’s been struggling as of late. And while most people will remember the Eller field goal that sealed another much-needed victory for the Illini, it was the play of the defense that Iowa was watching wreak havoc in its backfield.

Doing their best impersonation of the 2005 Chicago Bears, the Illini defense dragged a lagging offense through most of the game and refused to break no matter how far the Hawkeyes would bend them.

While most of the Illini players and head coach Ron Zook were pleased with the defense’s performance after the game – especially in the first half – some of the highest praise came from the players who were on the other side of the ball.

“They came hard. I give them credit. They had lots of guys coming,” Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi said about an Illini pass rush that produced six sacks on the day. “They had some good blitzes that they came with. They didn’t stop rushing.”

The Illini brought pressure from, well, just about all positions on the field as at least one sack came from every level of the defense. The biggest one coming from defensive back Dere Hicks, who not only got the sack of Stanzi but also forced the fumble, recovered the ball and ran it in for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

“We gave up the offensive touchdown on the (Hicks) sack and (Illinois’) fans were going crazy in a hostile environment,” said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, whose Hawkeyes have never lost to a Zook-led Illini team until Saturday.

Even more impressive than the Illini’s ability to introduce Stanzi to Memorial Stadium’s turf on what seemed like nearly every snap was their containment of running back Shonn Greene.

Greene, the third highest rusher in all of college football this season, was held to only 32 yards on the ground during in the first half of the game.

“I think they did a great job,” Greene said of the Illini defense. “They had a lot of guards in the box. I think they were aware of me.”

Aware might be a bit of an understatement.

Any time Greene even looked at the football, there was an army of orange jerseys just waiting to pile on top of him. Clearly, taking the game away from Greene and putting it on the arm of Stanzi was part of the plan from the beginning, and it seemed to pay off. This is particularly true on third down, where Iowa faced third-and-long several times and were unable to convert on several throws, as evident by their 3-of-14 efficiency.

The defense was, however, not without its problems. Yes, they gave up a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter. Yes, they did let Greene eventually breakout for 103 yards and a touchdown. But they stood tall and played with attitude when it mattered most.

Case in point, look back to the middle of the second quarter. With the Illini up 7-3, Iowa started with the ball on Illinois’ 22-yard line courtesy of an interception off the hands of Illini wide receiver A.J. Jenkins. After Greene ran the ball down to the 1-yard line, the Illini defense denied Greene the end zone on third down and forced Iowa to accept a field goal. Keeping one of the best running backs in the game out from getting one yard was big, but the 4-point difference between a touchdown and field goal was even bigger. Especially since Illinois only ended up winning by three points.

Maybe everyone was watching Eller at the end of the game, and maybe that’s the one thing people are going to remember most, but in the coming weeks, I’m going to be keeping my eyes on this defense.

This was a new defense we saw Saturday. This was a defense that was playing with passion and energy. It was committed to stopping the run – arguably their biggest weakness all year – and the defense took advantage of their opponent’s mistakes with opportunistic turnovers.

Maybe earlier in the season we wouldn’t have paid attention to the Illini defense and instead opted to just keep our head down.

Now we might have something worth watching … or at least something worth fist pumping about.

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