For a second straight year, the Illinois football team has lost six games in a row. The difference between this year’s team and the 2011 squad is that this year’s Illini don’t have six wins on their record to boast. Their hopes at a school-record third straight bowl appearance are dashed. And with a 5-4 Minnesota team coming into Memorial Stadium on Saturday, there’s no guarantee that the losing streak will end at six.

The 52-22 loss to Ohio State over the weekend was disheartening, but the Illini (2-7, 0-5 Big Ten) showed more life than they did in Michigan’s 45-0 drubbing three weeks prior. Illinois head coach Tim Beckman doesn’t want his seniors’ last win in an Illini jersey to be the 44-0 victory over Charleston Southern.

“It’s not for me,” Beckman said in his news conference Monday. “We’re in this game for the players because that’s what this game is about. We wouldn’t be here, none of us, if it weren’t for the players. I want these seniors to win. I think they need to experience what it’s like to win again in the Big Ten.”

Beckman says his job is about the players, and he was certainly glad to see his former players at Toledo making headlines this week. Coming off a bye week, Toledo jumped into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2001. The 8-1 Rockets’ only loss came in their first game against Arizona, and on Oct. 20, they knocked off then-undefeated Cincinnati.

“Those are my boys, those are my sons,” Beckman said. “Those kids that are playing there now were all a part of what we’re trying to get established here now. I’m proud of them and I’m going to tell them just as I always do: Keep winning, keep working to win.”

Even in Toledo, Beckman never lost more than seven games. Illinois’ next two opponents, Minnesota and Purdue, have a combined 1-9 record in Big Ten play, and Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill, like Beckman, got his FBS head coaching career started in the Mid-American Conference.

After a three-win 2011 season, Kill has nearly doubled Minnesota’s win total in his second year at the helm. The Golden Gophers, who have not been bowl eligible since 2009, moved quarterback MarQueis Gray to wide receiver this season to get him more touches in open space. 

“They’re a pretty explosive offense,” Illinois defensive back Ashante Williams said. “It will be another tough challenge for the defense. It’s sort of like preparing for Braxton (Miller). He’s a mobile guy. MarQueis can get the ball in his hands and make guys miss.”

Williams said he hasn’t watched enough film to decide whether Gray is a better quarterback or wide receiver. Gray will be a challenge to guard, and Beckman expects the Gophers to be as tough as their coach.

“(Kill) is a guy that fights every day of his life,” Beckman said. “His football program is run just like his life is. You know that what he does is the reason why the success at Minnesota has come this year.”

If Beckman wants to see similar improvement in his team, it would start with breaking this losing streak.

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.