Freshman Illinois running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn stood in the backfield during the third quarter of Saturday’s game between Illinois and Western Illinois, ready and waiting for a first-down handoff.

Vaughn got the ball from quarterback Wes Lunt and cut left, zig-zagging past the Leathernecks’ defensive tackle. As he moved upfield a Western Illinois defender careened towards him and popped the ball out of the freshman’s hands.

The turnover was Illinois’ third of the quarter and fourth of the game.

The sequence summed up the day Illini rushers had. While the other phases of the game impressed against an inferior opponent, the Illinois running game failed to create any momentum.

Although the poor rushing game didn’t affect the score in the Illini’s 44-0 win over the Leathernecks, players and coaches said they have plenty to fix during this week’s practices.

“We have a lot of things to fix as an offense, special teams wise,” Ferguson said. “I think we played well, we did what we wanted to do, not as early as we wanted to do it, but kudos to the defense, they play well.”

Illinois’ struggles with running the ball started with its top rusher. Josh Ferguson had trouble throughout the game, mostly rushing for small gains or getting knocked backwards. The senior finished with 39 rushing yards and one touchdown to go with 42 receiving yards. He sat out the second half of the game because of Illinois’ 30-0 halftime lead.

Vaughn sat out the next drive after his fumble but soon returned to the game. The freshman led the team with 55 yards on 15 carries and averaged 3.5 yards per rush. Junior-transfer Henry Enyenihi rushed for an entire drive during the second half and finished with 34 yards and a touchdown.

Illinois head coach Bill Cubit admitted that he put an emphasis on running the ball heading into Saturday’s game. He said he’d hoped to see some improvements after a week of practice but said it will take time to work out the kinks.

“We tried to get that thing (run) going,” Cubit said. “Fergy, we just kept him out of the second half, Ke’Shawn probably struggled a little but we put him back in and he ran it a little better Both he and Henry (Enyenihi) got some good work in.”

Cubit also mentioned that Western Illinois’ goal — any team’s goal, for that matter — was to stop the run. He commented that the Leathernecks put another player into the box to crack down on the Illini rushers’ abilities to find open spaces.

The rushing game has struggled during the first two games of the season. Ferguson, Vaughn and Enyenihi finished with 76, 43 and 13 rushing yards, respectively, during the Illini’s game against Kent State.

Illinois has struggled to start the season running the ball in past seasons. Lunt said that there is more pressure on the passing game when the rushers struggle to click to start the game. Although Lunt faced more pressure today, he knows how vital the running game is to the offense’s success.

“I think we have to get that rushing game going,” Lunt said. “It’s going to make it easier on me, the receivers if we get that going. But we’ll get it going.”

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