If Tim Beckman wants to sleep easier at night, he may have to wait another week. The Illinois head football coach recently said he has lost 22 pounds since this tumultuous 2012 season began, but it doesn’t get any easier this week as the Illini head to Columbus, Ohio, to play the No. 6-ranked Buckeyes.

The only team Illinois (2-6, 0-4 Big Ten) has played who is remotely close to the caliber of Ohio State (9-0, 5-0) was Michigan, and the Wolverines spanked the Illini 45-0. Under first-year head coach Urban Meyer, this Buckeyes squad has elevated itself to the top of the Big Ten after a disappointing 6-7 finish in 2011.

“It’s a great challenge for us,” defensive tackle Akeem Spence said. “I’m not going to say it’s not. They’re undefeated, so we’re going to have to go out there and play our best game, as a defense and as a team.”

The defense will be the key for the Illini. With quarterback Braxton Miller making the calls, the Buckeyes offense ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring. The unit has broken the 30-point mark in all but two of its games and has scored more than 50 three times.

As good as they are, the Buckeyes are not unbeatable. They needed overtime to outlast Purdue at Ohio Stadium and narrowly avoided upsets in games at Michigan State and Indiana.

“We have to set the tone early with them,” Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase said. “Not let them feel good about what they’re doing, what’s going on. They’re just consistent. It seems like every year you play them, they make tackles in the open field and they don’t blow coverages or get out of position.”

Illinois has not fared well against Ohio State since upsetting the then-No. 1-ranked Buckeyes on the road in 2007. The Illini have lost four straight in the series (although the 2010 Ohio State victory was vacated) and seven of the last eight. Oddly enough, Illinois’ last four wins over Ohio State came in Columbus.

In last year’s meeting at Memorial Stadium, the Buckeyes outlasted the undefeated Illini 17-7 despite completing only one pass. Miller struggled in that game, but this is not the same Illinois defense that was ranked seventh nationally last year, or, for that matter, the same Braxton Miller.

“Last year, he was kind of young,” linebacker Jonathan Brown said of Miller. “Another year of experience helps out a lot. He definitely can pass the ball a little bit better than he could last year. He’s making smart decisions.”

Beckman coached under Meyer for two years at Bowling Green in the early 2000s, and the two remain friends. However, Saturday will be their first matchup against each other as head coaches. Illinois will have to play its best game of the season if it wants to bring the Illibuck, one of the more lopsided rivalry trophy games in college football, back to Champaign. But doing so would be an upset of even more staggering proportions than the one Juice Williams and the 2007 team pulled off.

Sean can be reached at sphammo2@ dailyillini.com and @sean_hammond.