Illini offensive coordinator Paul Petrino had a few choice words for those who don’t agree with his dual-quarterback system.

“I couldn’t care less what they’re saying,” Petrino said. “We spend 16 hours a day up here coming up with a game plan, coming up with a way to win and we’ve been pretty successful. I believe in myself and I believe in our other assistant coaches, and we’ve done a pretty good job of coming up with plans. Some guy who’s sitting on a computer who don’t know his head from his ass, I really couldn’t care less.”

In the third quarter of last Saturday’s game against Western Michigan, Petrino inserted freshman Reilly O’Toole, who then completed his first two passes for a first down. In six plays, Petrino switched between O’Toole and starter Nathan Scheelhaase three times before a Derek Dimke field goal gave the Illini a 20-13 lead. In O’Toole’s third appearance in the Illini’s first four games, he finished three for six for 34 yards.

“We had a plan for Reilly,” Illini head coach Ron Zook said. “Reilly is going to get in there. Once again, we have to get the guy some experience. He’s going to play more and more. There was a point in time where I said, ‘Paul, put him in there. Let’s get him going.’”

The predetermined decision to play O’Toole was due in part to a sore shoulder that Scheelhaase has been nursing since the Arizona State game on Sept. 17. With the high volume of running plays designed for Scheelhaase, Petrino wanted to relieve his starting quarterback.

“Obviously, Reilly got a few more reps with my shoulder sore this week,” Scheelhaase said. “Part of the game plan. He went in there and executed, and when I was in there I was doing the best to execute as well. It’s not a threatening thing at all, just kind of a change of pace thing. There’s some things he does really well and helps our offense out.”

Scheelhaase and O’Toole both said they weren’t sure if a similar game plan would be used in conference play. Petrino told Scheelhaase that he wanted O’Toole to receive some meaningful experience prior to Big Ten play rather than play during garbage time. Scheelhaase compared preparing O’Toole to Jeff Allen’s situation against Western Michigan, when the senior left tackle was ejected at the end of the first half and redshirt freshman Simon Cvijanovic was asked to fill his role.

“It was good to see him execute and stuff like that because you never know throughout the season,” Scheelhaase said.

“Everybody has to be ready, all 22. Eleven (starters) and the backups.”

Petrino was impressed by his freshman quarterback’s poise despite nearly throwing an interception on his third pass of Saturday’s game.

Depending on what plays are working against specific defenses, Petrino said O’Toole could see increased time under center.

When Petrino and Illini quarterbacks coach Jeff Brohm coached together at Louisville, Brohm’s brother, Brian, was used during his freshman year in a manner similar to O’Toole. Brian Brohm grew into a record-setting passer for the Cardinals.

“He’s a pretty special individual that can go in there and play a couple plays and come out and go in there 10 minutes later and play a couple plays, so that’s a good thing to have,” Petrino said of O’Toole. “We definitely got to make sure we can run the football with him in there. That’s something that we have to continue to do. There’s a lot of things he does well. He’s a lot more athletic than people give him credit for. They better not think that because he can run our option game too.”

O’Toole is familiar with playing off the bench. At the start of his junior year of high school, he was in a similar situation as he is now.

Eventually, he won the job outright and had an award-winning senior year at Wheaton Warrenville South, passing for 3,187 yards and 42 touchdowns.

“It’s not too bad. I thought it would take some getting used to, but it’s not anything out of the ordinary,” O’Toole said. “At the beginning of my junior year I did that before, so it’s not something I haven’t seen.”

Scheelhaase, O’Toole, third-string quarterback Miles Osei and Brohm watch film together every week. O’Toole said because Scheelhaase is just a redshirt sophomore, he “feels like the older-brother type, but not really at the same time.”

The Illini rank sixth in the Big Ten in scoring offense, averaging 32.2 points per game. Scheelhaase credited the coaches for the quarterbacks’ success so far.

“You got to realize it, Coach Petrino and Coach Brohm have coached a lot of different quarterbacks in their day,” Scheelhaase said. “That’s what’s so great about it. We knew that coming in that they’d be able to help anyone with any style they had. Obviously, they’re doing a great job. Hats off to them because I don’t know if I could coach a group that’s so diverse.”