Redshirt freshman Brad Bower will take the field at Memorial Stadium on Saturday against Western Michigan for his first start of his collegiate career. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Jon Beutjer, the Illini’s usual starting quarterback, took a hit to the chest in last Saturday’s game against UCLA. His status has been uncertain all week.

“Jon, he’s better today, so we’ll see what kind of progress he makes, but he hasn’t had many reps or anything,” head coach Ron Turner said. “So we will go with Brad, Brad has had a good week. I think the team has a lot of confidence in him.”

Turner is unsure whether Beutjer will even suit up for the game. Doctors have not cleared him to play due to the fact that he is not healthy enough yet and could risk further injury.

Turner isn’t the only one confident in having Bower leading the offense. His team has had confidence in him since he took his first snap in Illinois’ first game against Florida A&M.;

“Jon’s a great leader and a great quarterback for us,” right tackle Bucky Babcock said. “If he’s not able to go on Saturday, we can’t go into the dumps and not be able to play. Brad proved when he came into the game last Saturday that he was ready to go. He came in and played well, made some errors, but who doesn’t?”

Bower saw limited playing time against Florida A&M.; He completed 5 of 9 passes for 30 yards. Against UCLA, Bower played the whole second half, completing 11 of 15 passes for 102 yards and an interception. He also rushed for 39 yards.

“He’s got a toughness about him,” Turner said. “He carries himself like you want a quarterback to carry himself. He’s definitely the fastest quarterback. He has good football speed. He has a really good quickness and good change of direction.

“It took him a while to learn what it takes to be a quarterback, what it takes to be a student of the game. He’s put in the time and and he’s very confident.”

Facing the Broncos

Although this weekend is the Illini’s last non-conference game of the season, they are not looking past it to their Big Ten opener against Purdue.

“We are going to do everything we can to win this game,” Turner said. “This is not the NFL where you have four preseason games that don’t count. These all count, and when you play 11 of them, they are all impact games.”

The MAC considers a game with a Big Ten team like a mini superbowl. Tuner won’t let his team take the Broncos lightly, even though they lost last week, 63-0.

“I put on the film on of Western Michigan, and if you look at the score, Virginia Tech 63-0, (you think they are a) terrible team,” Turner said. “The score was 63-0 but if you put the film on and watched and didn’t know what the score was, you’d have a hard time guessing. Their defensive line is very good – three seniors, one junior starting, backed up by a couple of juniors and seniors.

“We better have a great plan and we better come to play and play as hard as we can play and improve on the areas where we needed to improve.”

Since both teams have come off a loss, the Illini to UCLA 35-17, Babcock knows how important it is to be focused for this game, since both teams will be hungry for a win.

“We both desperately need a win right now,” Babcock said. “I don’t think it’s even in the back of my mind to overlook them.”

Series standing

Illinois and Western Michigan will play each other for only the second time in school history. The two teams first faced off in 1947, when head coach Ray Eliot’s team defeated the Broncos 60-14 in Champaign.

The Illini are hosting only their second MAC opponent under Turner. The Illini beat Northern Illinois 17-12 in 2001.

The Broncos have 17 players on their roster from Illinois, mostly coming from the Chicago area. Illinois has six Michigan natives on its roster.

Western Michigan holds a 4-25 lifetime record against the Big Ten.