As a Chicago Cubs fan, I’ve had to convince a lot of people off the ledge recently. Now, after a 2-2 opening to the season, it seems like quite a few Illini football fans are getting ready to take the plunge as well. And because my experience as a Cubs fan and a college newspaper football columnist basically qualifies me to be a sports psychologist, I’m here to convince all of you to relax.

In the interest of the football team and Champaign-Urbana, I’d like to suspend my column for today and offer up my space in the Touchdown Times to describe my bailout plan for the Fighting Illini.

Perhaps Illinois didn’t get off to the great 4-0 start and maybe they aren’t playing like one of the most dominant teams in the Big Ten as so many of us dreamed about throughout the summer. So what?

“The thing we got to do is keep doing what we’re doing,” head coach Ron Zook poetically said about the team’s recent play. “There’s no reason to panic. That was a good football team (Penn State) that beat us and we’ll learn from it and go on.”

Sounds like the fundamentals of this team are strong to me.

Not convinced my friends? Listen to these stats. Illinois is putting up 444.5 total yards of offense and 33.2 points per game while holding its opponents to only 384.0 total yards of offense and 32.0 points per game. That’s a 60.5 total yards (a number surpassed on four separate drives by Penn State Saturday night) and a 1.2 points per game surplus. Two words come to mind to describe this: fundamentals and strong.

“There weren’t too many things that were stopping us. So we just kept running the ball,” wide receiver Arrelious Benn said. “Actually, we just kept running the same four or five plays.”

See, now that’s what I’m talking about. Everything is fine with this Illinois team. They don’t need to change strategy or adjust their game plans. They just need to put their heads up and do what they’ve been doing this whole time and things will work themselves out. Clearly, this early season problem with the team’s play isn’t the players’ or the coaches’ fault.

If anything, we should put the blame on the Green Street fat cats for getting greedy with expectations. The media members and the fans were exposed to so much success last season that they set the bar too high. This team gave the fans a little bit of hope for the future, but they selfishly dreamed of more. Now, reality is settling in, and things aren’t quite what everyone expected.

So here’s my plan to bail this team out and save the season.

First, the Illini have to keep throwing the ball. In fact, they probably need to throw it more. Like a lot more. Sure, the running game has been effective when utilized in the right situation (that is to say every game except for Missouri), but Juice is the leader of this team, and he is the quarterback. And a quarterback has got to throw, right? We saw a glimpse of Juice’s passing potential at the beginning of the season, and maybe if Zook keeps relying on his arm in big situations we’ll see that same Juice again.

Next, the coaches have to keep playing young, inexperienced players and let them screw up in real-game scenarios. How else are they going to learn to cover a receiver out of the backfield running a deep route if they don’t get burned every once in a while? A lot of these guys have the potential and it will bloom in time with persistence.

Finally, this team desperately needs undying support from you. It’s been documented that the players have a hard time getting excited for games, so the fans have to be the fuel for the fire. I can think of 700 billion reasons to cheer for this team, so get out there and do your part to get this team ready. We can all do a little more.

Does that make sense to everyone?

Well it shouldn’t, because this plan makes no sense at all. Actually, this sounds more like a cop-out than a bailout.

I’ll concede the point that the two Illinois losses were against some of the best teams in the nation, but combine that with two unimpressive wins and there is a very good reason to worry.

The core problem with this team lies within its fundamentals. At Penn State, I saw a team that couldn’t tackle, was undisciplined on defense and special teams, couldn’t complete simple passing routes and was calling plays that strayed away from the strengths of the team during pivotal moments.

There’s no doubt in my mind the Illini have the athletic ability to compete with almost anyone in college football, but it won’t matter who the opponent is if they keep falling apart from the inside.

It’s my belief that the coaching staff, not the fans, have become a bit presumptuous with the skill level and maturity of this team. They have pushed these players outside their boundaries and in doing so, have weakened the foundation on which this team succeeded last season: fundamental football.

What this team needs is a commitment to a running game that has proved to be its most successful offensive weapon. Juice has shown himself to be a deep threat, but his passes downfield should be limited and planned carefully. As much as penalties have killed drives for this team, so has incomplete passes on first and second down. When you have one of the best running quarterbacks in the game, you have to use him.

Defensively and on special teams, too many players are going for the highlight hits. The coaches need to reinforce wrap-up and gang tackling techniques. No, they aren’t sexy and won’t get you on ESPN, but it is how good teams win and contain explosive offenses.

To simply ignore the struggles of this team is ridiculous. Starting in Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend, Illinois’ schedule only gets easier from here, but underestimating Michigan and continuing to preach the same mantra isn’t going to work.

The only people who can bail out this team is themselves, and that starts by taking a long, hard look in the mirror.

Kyle Betts is a graduate student. He can be reached at [email protected].