Early in the second quarter of Saturday’s 17-3 loss to Minnesota, Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase had no one open on the short side of the gridiron, so he decided to reverse the field.

With 10 Golden Gophers pursuing Scheelhaase, Illini fans erupted with “oohs,” sensing a play reminiscent of the elusiveness he showed in gaining 1,492 yards entering this season.

Problem is, Scheelhaase didn’t see the safety holding his zone over the top, and he, of course, thwarted the play that seemed as if it was going to put Illinois on top 10-0. Instead, Scheelhaase was rushed out of bounds with only a 5-yard gain to show for his efforts, and a crowd begging for excitement was reserved to “aahs.”

Fans tried once more in the third quarter, as Minnesota appeared to muff a punt and Illinois appeared to get the ball back. It was such a bang-bang play that amid the cheers, Illinois fans didn’t realize that Minnesota punt returner Marcus Jones regained possession and gained 19 yards. But the “oohs” turned to “aahs” when the crowd did.

Whether it’s simply the window that just wasn’t open wide enough or Minnesota’s gaffe-turned-gain on the punt return, the 2012 Illinois football season can be defined by the crowd’s reactions on those two plays.

Heading into the season with doubts at wide receiver and offensive line, the offense was in question, but the defense — rated as the nation’s seventh-best last season — would be in flux soon enough.

Senior defensive end Michael Buchanan recorded 7.5 sacks as a junior, so progressing his senior year before becoming a first-round pick in the NFL was a foregone conclusion. Especially when he’d be lining up alongside the likes of Akeem Spence, Glenn Foster and the rest of the bunch.

But through 10 games, Buchanan only has 2.5 sacks and the team only has 18, compared to last year’s 41.

The defense of course misses the production of last season’s unanimous All-American Whitney Mercilus, but the drop off is too steep to blame on one player’s departure.

To ignore the lack of talented depth on this team would be like saying Tim Beckman’s hair isn’t gray.

The signs have been there all season, we just didn’t interpret them like we should’ve.

The mirage was that the 2012 Illinois football team was supposed to get better under a new coaching regime. Where there were problems under former head coach Ron Zook, a coach with an established pedigree at previous stops arrived to accept the challenge.

The Illini first were blown out by Arizona State and Louisiana Tech, but we were all just like: “Eh, they can’t keep up with those fast-paced spread offenses. Things will get better when they go back to the Big Ten.”

Then Illinois was bullied by Penn State, punched in the mouth by Wisconsin on the road and destroyed by Michigan at the Big House.

The Illini were 2-5, and bowl eligibility was but a sliver of hope.

Ohio State remained on the schedule, but we were like: “They can beat some combination of Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue, with an upset at Northwestern somewhat attainable. This team will win about two more games, right?”

Wrong. Here the Illini stand 2-8 (0-6 Big Ten), now having lost to both Indiana and Minnesota, something they haven’t done in the same season since 2003.

Saturday’s battle for the Big Ten basement doesn’t have the same allure now that Purdue betrayed Illinois with its win at Iowa over the weekend. The Illini are all by themselves as the only winless team in the conference. In fact, they’ve now lost 12 Big Ten games in a row.

A comical “ooh” of watching a game between two teams winless in conference has even evaporated into an “aah” of watching a team that can’t meet any expectations.

Dan is a senior in Media. You can reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WELINandDEALIN.