Illinois head coach Ron Zook believes in giving as many players on his roster the opportunity to play as possible. Making lineup changes, tweaking things here, switching people there – whatever it takes to put the best Illinois team on the field.

This season, Zook has given several true freshmen the chance to get their feet wet in collegiate play. Against Penn State, freshman running back Jason Ford put up the first points of the game on a one-yard touchdown run in the first three minutes of the game.

Ford believes that’s exactly what he’s supposed to be doing for his team.

“Just playing my role, getting short yardage when they need me, goal line, score a touchdown when they need me,” Ford said of his first career touchdown.

Another freshman that has helped the Fighting Illini is Corey Liuget, a defensive lineman from Miami, Fla.

“(Liuget’s) a freshman and once again these guys, they get better and better as the season progresses, so we’re going to get them in there and be able to spell those guys a little bit, keep them fresher, and hopefully, end up playing a lot better on defense.”

Until Zook finds the perfect combination on both offense and defense, he and his staff will continue to juggle the lineups.

Hometown revenge

Ryan McDonald came to Illinois for several reasons. First and foremost, as an aerospace engineering major, McDonald has enjoyed a positive experience in Illinois’ prestigious engineering school. Secondly, family ties led the fifth-year senior to choose Illinois football – the same program his father Phil played for in the 1970s.

Even though he hails from Holland, Mich., McDonald is excited to face the Wolverines wearing the Orange and Blue because, after all, being an Illini is in his blood.

“Both my parents went to Illinois, so my dad actually told me he’d pay me to go to any school in the country except for Michigan,” the offensive lineman said.

Even though Holland sits approximately 150 miles west of Ann Arbor, McDonald is looking forward to silencing the Michigan elite.

“It’s good to go home. It’s a team that didn’t really recruit me, so it means a lot to me,” McDonald said. “My dad played football here in the ’70s, too. He wasn’t recruited by Michigan, so I don’t know, it’s just funny; it’s a game that means a lot just because (in my) hometown, you grow up with Michigan people around all the time.”

Night time, play time

As summer slowly slipped into fall, the football team did not let the changing of the seasons affect its practice time. Instead, the colder weather and darker practices have brought fond memories back to some of the players.

“If we wanted to go inside, we’d go inside the stadium, get some lights, but practicing out here reminds me of high school,” sophomore wide receiver Arrelious Benn said. “You know, practicing out in the dark, having fun. It’s kind of fun practicing out here with the cool weather. This is my type of weather. This is what I like to perform in.”

Benn obviously has no problem playing football long after the sun goes down. During the Illini’s loss to then No. 12 Penn State, Benn caught two touchdown passes from Juice Williams – his first two receiving touchdowns of the season. The game kicked off at 8 p.m. EST, only adding extra fuel to Benn’s touchdown scoring fire.

“I love night games, the cool weather out there, just playing, you know?” Benn said. “Night games are fun, reminds me of ‘Friday Night Lights.’ The atmosphere, there’s a big difference, you know? You feed off big crowds like that.”

But one thing the Washington D.C. native is not fond of is the constant presence of mosquitoes in the cool Illinois weather. Swatting at countless bugs during Monday’s late practice, Benn let out several exasperated sighs.

“Bugs, they’ve been stinging me all day!”

Big House, big expectations

Now 2-2 on the year, the Illini need to make a statement against Michigan to solidify their spot in the Big Ten. Regardless of the size of the stadium, Illinois is using what it learned at Penn State to be ready for the Wolverines.

“We’re going into the same hostile environment that we did last week,” Benn said. “We just got to come out and play, not put ourselves in a hole because of mistakes.”

Michigan is coming off a big win at home when they clipped then No. 9 Wisconsin, 27-25. Instead of being nervous about the Wolverine’s extra momentum, Zook hopes his players will feed off of it.

“The thing that I did say that I was glad that we’re playing Michigan early. I didn’t necessarily want to play them right after Penn State but play them early because they’re going to get better and better as the year goes on,” Zook said at Tuesday’s press conference. “I think the thing that they came back from being down 18 to nothing, and it gives them confidence, it gives them a little momentum. They feel good about themselves, they know that it’s a 60 minute game and they’re not out of it until it’s over.”

And that’s what Zook’s been preaching to his team all season: that it is a 60 minute game. Coupled with more heart, the players feel a win at Michigan is within their reach.

“We’re just trying to go in there and play our hardest,” senior defensive lineman Will Davis said. “Playing with a lot of effort and everything, but we could have a little bit more emotion.”