In the third quarter, Illinois safety Taylor Barton set up perfectly,
snatched the ball from its intended receiver and proceeded to return it 49
yards to Western Illinois’s 35-yard line.

Barton played his part on the Illini defense. The third
quarter pick put his interception count at two for the day — part of a strong performance by the Illinois defense, which stepped up in the Illini’s 44-0 win over the Leathernecks.

Similar to last week’s season opener, Illinois started strong but saw slip-ups in the second half. Illinois fumbled the ball three times in the third quarter and didn’t manage to score in the period, despite putting up 30 points in the first half.

It was the first time since 2010 that an Illini recorded two
interceptions in a game. But the offense couldn’t fully convert on these
breaks: the Illini managed a field goal on one turnover, but freshman Ke’Shawn Vaughn fumbled following Barton’s second interception.

The Leathernecks managed four first downs and
recorded 89 yards of total offense largely due to the strong defensive performance.

The defense even got into the scoring act: Jaylen Dunlap blocked a punt in the second quarter that Marchie Murdock recovered and returned for six.

“We’re not the ‘85 Bears right yet, but I think our guys are
working hard,” co-defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “They’re playing with great
confidence right now and we understand that we’ve done nothing yet. It’s a one
game season each week. We got our work cut out for us.”

Quarterback Wes Lunt went 24-for-35 with 240 passing yards,
one touchdown and one interception. Allison led all receivers with 124 yards on
eight grabs, but didn’t score.

The Illini didn’t fair as well in the run game, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry as opposed to 9.6 average yards per pass.
Vaughn led Illinois with 15 carries for 55 yards and senior Josh Ferguson totaled 42 yards on 12 carries.

 “I think it’s one of those things where everyone has to be
hitting on all cylinders, from coaches to players,” Ferguson said. “As an
offensive lineman, you got to get on guys. As a running back, you got to read
the proper blocks, hit the hole and trust our schemes. Our quarterback does a
great job of getting us into the best run play possible, just got to execute
and fix the things we see on the film.”

With such a large margin of victory, the Illini took several fourth
down risks, going three-for-three, including converting on a 1-yard touchdown
run from Henry Enyenihi at the start of the fourth quarter.

In the team’s opener against Kent State, many Illini backups appeared in the game early — just a few possessions into the second half. On Saturday, Lunt
didn’t go out until the fourth quarter, replaced by redshirt freshman Chayce Crouch. Lunt’s backup went five-for-eight and threw a  five-yard touchdown pass with 8:48 left.

“You got to play fast for him to be successful, so that’s
why the tempo got moved up a lot more,” head coach Bill Cubit said. “(In the
touchdown pass) we had called something else, but he saw something on the
backside and checked it. So that means he’s thinking and understanding the
system.”

Illinois heads to North Carolina next week to face its first Power Five opponent of the season.

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