Illini football players got an ultimatum this week: Prove you want to win or you are not going to Indiana.

Coach Ron Zook told his players that those who picked up the energy in practice this week would get seats on the bus to Bloomington, Ind., while those who slacked off would watch Saturday’s game from Champaign. The result has been the most intense four days of practice this season – and Zook’s hoping his demands pay off.

“What everybody wants them to seem like is all doom and gloom,” Zook said. “But we’ve still got a lot of football left to play.”

Players are taking Zook’s words to heart, attacking practice with the passion they want to bring to games.

“It’s pretty energetic. Guys are fired up out here,” cornerback Charles Bailey said after Monday’s practice. “We’re ready to hit on the defensive side. Offense looked like they were doing their thing. It was pretty fired up.”

Illinois heads to Hoosierville at the bottom of the Big Ten. Winless in the conference and 2-3 overall, the Illini are hoping to get back to .500 by the end of the weekend, but know that no Big Ten contest is easy.

“I’m looking at it as this is a game that we need to win,” Zook said. “I’m sure (Indiana is) saying the same thing. We got to win this game.”

Indiana comes into the game 0-1 in the Big Ten and 3-1 overall, after taking a 41-24 beating from Wisconsin last Saturday. But the Hoosiers celebrate homecoming tomorrow, and head coach Terry Hoeppner expects his team to be fired up for the game.

“I am looking forward to coming home,” Hoeppner said in his press conference Monday. “Crowds help win games.”

Zook said he is most worried about Indiana’s defensive line, which has seniority Ilinois lacks.

“In the last three or four years they’ve been going through what we’re going through now. These guys have played, they have experience, they’ve got some momentum going and they’re going to feel good about themselves.”

Hoeppner is in his first season with the Hoosiers, who struggled as much as the Illini in 2004. It will be the head coach’s first game against Illinois, which has won four of the teams’ last five meetings.

“(Hoeppner) is trying to do the same thing we are trying to do,” Zook said, “get the program to a level that is not only respectable but competitive in the Big Ten conference.”

But the Illini’s first focus is on turning this season around. After struggling through three tough games against ranked teams, the Illini could use the morale boost a win would supply.

“We wish we could have gotten those games back because we went back and saw the mistakes we made that cost us the game and some things we could have done that could have put us in a better position to win the game,” Bailey said. “We’re glad it’s over so we can look towards the next half of the season, but we wish we could have done better.”

While Illinois cannot get its last three matchups back, but it knows it has potential for success against Indiana. The team just has to come ready to play.

“I’m not worried at all,” Zook said. “We’ve got to do the things we’re capable of doing and play the way we’re capable of playing.”