The Illini defense held the Ohio State Buckeyes to their lowest point total of the season on Saturday but still lost 17-10 in front of an excited crowd at Memorial Stadium. The Illini trailed going into halftime 17-0 but quickly rebounded out scoring the Buckeyes 10-0 in the second half.

Coach Ron Zook explained that the big turn around stemmed from an improved attitude that the Illini took on throughout the second half, as he was proud of his team for making the adjustment.

“In the first half, we played tight. We played like we were playing the number one team and we just gotta go out there and have fun. We did that and that’s why I’m proud of them, we went out there in the second half and we played loose and played the way that we can play.”

The game came down to an on-side kick with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter that was recovered by the Buckeyes. Jay Leman, with 19 tackles in the game, was confident that the Illini would pull out a victory if the game would have gone to overtime.

“I think we were expected to get the on-side, and you know it was a good kick. We had a chance to get it and it didn’t happen, but if we would have gone to overtime and since the way our defense was playing the second half I don’t think we would have had a problem winning the game.”

Despite the loss, the team remains confident and looks forward to the remaining two weeks of the season. Kevin Mitchell, who had a late interception off Troy Smith, believes that the team’s record does not do them justice, but they must continue to learn from every game.

“It was so close, and the hard thing about this is that’s how it has been the last four weeks. We should be bowling right now, honestly, but then again like I said earlier a loss is a loss and we need to learn from the good and the bad.”

This coming Saturday the Illini face off against the Purdue Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium at 11:00 a.m. Saturday is Senior day and Dad’s day so the place should be rocking.