Saturday night’s Missouri vs. Illinois football game was one for the record books. Played in front of a sold-out crowd, the 66,441 person audience was the largest to see a college football game in the Edward Jones Dome since 2003. The previous record was 63,576, set during the 2003 Arch Rivalry game.

With few open seats, the dome was separated down the middle, with orange and blue on one side and black and gold on the other.

Juice stretches his throwing arm

Quarterback Juice Williams experienced some cramping in the warm stadium, but that did not affect his accuracy during the game.

Connecting on 26 of 42 attempts, Williams threw for 451 total yards with five touchdown passes to three different receivers. On the other side of the ball, Heisman candidate Chase Daniel completed 26 of his 45 passes for a total of 323 yards.

“We thought that Juice was making a lot of progress, I think everybody sees that now,” head coach Ron Zook said. “He’s becoming a guy he should become after being in your third year of starting. I’m proud of him, I’m proud of the way he hung in there, he was dead tired. He didn’t run quite as much, but when he did run he made some things happen, which was good.”

Punting is finally special for special teams

Anthony Santella solidified his position as the Illini’s top punter with his impressive performance against the Tigers. Punting eight times, Santella averaged 42 yards per punt, with his longest of the night measuring 56 yards.

“I felt like I did pretty good,” Santella said. “I had that one bad punt at the beginning of the second half, but I felt like my foot got stuck. Individually I felt good, but it doesn’t count unless we win, so I’m kind of disappointed about it.”

Zook sang Santella’s praises after the game, noting the punting game’s improvement since last season.

In 2007, Santella averaged 37.7 yards per punt. With his longer distances, the transfer from Utah was told of his starting roll during Camp Rantoul, getting the nod over fellow punters Jared Bosch and Kyle Yelton.

Santella didn’t falter knowing he was punting to Jeremy Maclin, one of the quickest punt returners in college football. The 6-foot-2 sophomore even managed to register a touchdown saving tackle against the 2007 First Team All-American.

“Just go in there and do your thing,” Santella said of his mindset facing Maclin. “It’s just all the little things, you know?”

Penalties, penalties, penalties

Across the NCAA, officials are making sure all players are showing sportsmanship – something that’s been out of hand for years now. Illinois definitely got a taste of the new officiating Saturday night.

After Williams connected with Will Judson for a 65-yard touchdown pass at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Judson’s celebration in the end zone got a little out of hand. Illinois was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct on the following kickoff.

“I can assure you that will not happen again,” Zook said following the game. “Sportsmanship is something the officials are going to make a big, big thing on this year.”

Unfortunately for the Illini, Judson’s touchdown excitement was not the only thing that gave Mizzou extra yardage. In the game, Illinois had eight penalties for a total of 80 yards lost, whereas Missouri only had three penalties totaling 20 yards.

From offsides calls to illegal procedures and personal fouls, the officials threw numerous yellow flags throughout the game.

The Lineman’s Dream

Illinois had the lead for only 13 seconds on Saturday, but that was long enough to give defensive lineman Derek Walker his first collegiate touchdown.

Intercepting Chase Daniel’s pass at Missouri’s 34 yard line, Walker ran into the end zone to put the Illini up 12-10 with 9:25 left in the first half. The extra point was good by place kicker Matt Eller to put Illinois up by three.

The Orange and Blue’s excitement was cut short when Maclin returned Eller’s kickoff for 99 yards to put the Tigers back on top again, and this time for good.

Although Walker spent all of his time in the trenches, his score was on Daniel’s only interception of the night.