While Illinois football was falling all over itself Saturday, punter Steve Weatherford made the most of an opportunity even he would have preferred to avoid.

Weatherford punted nine times for an average of 50.2 yards, including a 61-yard boot, his eighth career punt of more than 60 yards.

Weatherford’s kicks flew a total of 452 yards, a career-high. His average Saturday ranks sixth on the Illinois single-game list.

“There’s positives and negatives to every game,” Weatherford said. “Going out there and having a career night tonight, but getting beat like that, it’s still depressing and embarassing.”

Weatherford’s average going into the Penn State game was 41.0 yards. With the numbers he put up Saturday, though, his average rose to 43.24 yards.

“You’ve just got to go out there and do it, no matter what the score is,” Weatherford said.

INJURY REPORT

Illinois’ defense suffered a major setback when defensive end Xavier Fulton had to be carted off the field late in the first half. Zook said Fulton suffered an ACL injury, but the sophomore was back on the sidelines – with crutches – in the second half … Left guard Martin O’Donnell hurt his ankle but should be back for the Wisconsin game … Zook said wide receiver Jody Ellis will probably miss the rest of the season after cracking his collarbone in practice last week. He missed the Penn State game.

SAFETY SHOW

Illinois’s safeties stood out as one of the defensive highlights Saturday. Justin Harrison had seven solo tackles and assisted on four more, while Kevin Mitchell picked up five solos and one assist. Senior Kyle Kleckner added two solos and one assist and Morris Virgil had one solo.

“I’m not saying this just because I’m in the secondary, but I really think the secondary is getting better,” Mitchell said. “If you look at us these past two years, that’s where we were weakest. We were giving up long balls like that. I feel like this year, we’re really trying to get this thing right.”

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“If you look at this football team that we just played, three years ago they were in a very similar situation. They won three games, last year they won four or whatever. Well, those guys are still playing. In two years, these guys are still going to be playing too. If we’re still here in two years, then there’s going to be a problem. But I don’t think we will be.”

– Illinois head coach Ron Zook comparing his team to Penn State