The Indiana offense was turning heads through the first three games this season. But the Hoosier attack finally met its match.

The Hoosiers entered Saturday’s game averaging 44.3 points per game and sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis was 15th in the nation in total offense. Ron Zook even called the Hoosier offense “scary good.”

But Saturday the Illini defense clamped down on the Indiana attack and tallied seven sacks, one interception and four forced fumbles.

The defensive line pressured Lewis all day and junior Will Davis recorded four sacks for a loss of 18 yards.

“Coach Sims and the D-line did a great job,” Zook said. “(Indiana) had some problems trying to protect (Lewis).”

Lewis did break free at times and threw for 263 yards, but James Hardy, Lewis’ 6-foot-7 wide receiver, was silenced for most of the day by Illini defensive back Vontae Davis. Hardy managed to get enough separation in the second quarter to catch a two-yard touchdown pass.

“In my opinion (Lewis) is a great football player,” Zook said. “I thought we contained him just about as well as he can be contained.”

Davis finished the game with nine tackles and clinched the game for the Illini late in the fourth quarter when he intercepted Lewis’ pass intended for Hardy in the Illinois end zone.

“(Hardy) is a good player but coach teaches us that receivers don’t like when we get your hands on them,” Davis said. “So my thought process the whole game was I got to get my hands on him and frustrate him a little bit to get him off his route.”

A special day

The Illini had all three facets of their game working Saturday. The special teams even blocked a punt and controlled the dangerous return. Place kicker Jason Reda gave the Illinois the early lead on two field goals from 45 and 38 yards, respectively.

Reda pulled double duty and kicked off four times. Reda and Michael Cklamovski combined to neutralize the dangerous kick-return man Marcus Thigpen. Reda employed short kicks directed away from Thigpen and Cklamovski kicked twice, one for a touchback.

Thigpen runs a 4.3-second 40 and led the nation a year ago with three kick-return touchdowns, one of which came against the Illini. Anthony Santella averaged 41 yards on six punts and placed two inside the 20.

“It was a pretty good day,” Santella said. “(I wanted to) give the time for coverage to get down there and kick like we normally do because we know we have athletes all over the field and they’re going to bring them down.”

Skokie Swift

Rashard Mendenhall fought and spun his way to a career day. The junior notched a career high 214 rushing yards, averaged 7.9 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns. His performance has made him a finalist for the AT&T; National Player of the Week Award.

“I’ve always had confidence in myself, and I feel like teammates always had confidence that I can play and play with some of the best in the league,” he said.

Mendenhall, a Skokie, Ill., native, became the first Illini to rush for more than 200 yards since Rocky Harvey posted 215 against Middle Tennessee State in 1998.