Editor’s note: This article is a part of The Daily Illini’s Semester in Review issue. Regular publication will resume Friday, Jan. 11.

Third-year Illinois starting quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase’s first completion of the 2012 season was a 64-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ryan Lankford. Things went downhill from there. It’s safe to say nobody expected this Illini squad to have double-digit wins and play in a January bowl game. But nobody expected this.

“A New Era BECKons.” That’s what the 2012 Illinois “Loyal-Tee” shirts designed before the season said in block letters across the front in reference to the arrival of first-year head coach Tim Beckman. With a new coaching staff and momentum following two straight bowl victories, there was optimism in Champaign.

But after a 2-10 season, one would be hard pressed to find an Illini fan wearing the 2012 “Loyal-Tee” shirt proudly.

Nothing went right for the Illini on the field. Their lone victories came against a bottom-feeder MAC team and a sub-.500 FCS team. They lost all eight Big Ten games (14 straight dating back to 2011) and finished the season on a nine-game losing streak. The Illini ranked second-to-last in the FBS in both points per game and total offense.

As with any team sport, fingers can’t be pointed at just one person. There was an abundance of dysfunction.

While he was injured for a couple of games, Scheelhaase threw for only 1,361 yards and four touchdowns on the season. His opening touchdown was Illinois’ longest play from scrimmage the entire year (a season that fittingly ended with a safety on the last offensive play). As a team, the Illini rushing attack barely eclipsed the 1,500-yard mark. The defense wasn’t much better, surrendering more than 32 points per game.

“You want your kids, just like you want your sons, to experience winning, and we didn’t experience winning this year,” Beckman said. “It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through.”

“We’ve just been kind of in a bind that we’re not able to crawl out of,” Scheelhaase added. “It’s been tough. (I’ve) got one more year left, don’t want to have that feeling again.”

It was not the start any new head coach hopes for. While the Illini suffered their ninth losing season since 2000, Northern Illinois finds itself preparing for the Orange Bowl and Northwestern — or “the team upstate,” as Beckman calls it — won nine games and will be playing Jan. 1.

The outlook for 2013 is bleak. But fans shouldn’t forget that Ron Zook began with back-to-back two-win seasons before leading Illinois to a Rose Bowl appearance.

“Huge evaluation time right now,” Beckman said. “You utilize December, and to be honest with you, I haven’t utilized December much. I’m usually practicing for a bowl game. So we have to now utilize this month of December under NCAA rules and the number of hours you’re allowed to use. Every one of our coaches will be evaluated. Every one of our coordinators will evaluate our offensive coaches and vice versa.”

The Illini will return all the key offensive weapons from 2012. The defense is another story. Gone will be defensive linemen Michael Buchanan and Glenn Foster, along with the entire starting secondary: Terry Hawthorne, Justin Green, Supo Sanni and Ashante Williams. Juniors Jonathan Brown and Akeem Spence have decisions to make. There will likely be some interest from the NFL. Spence said in October that he wasn’t worried about how such a catastrophic season might reflect in his draft stock. He said his primary concerns were graduating and playing football. He said losing would not influence his decision either way.

While other teams prepare for bowl games, Illinois looks ahead to 2013. With Cincinnati and Washington on tap, the nonconference schedule is no cakewalk. It’s difficult to know what type of performance the Illini will follow 2012 with. But one thing is for certain: With four years remaining on his contract, the Beckman era is here to stay. It just may not be beckoning as strongly as some had hoped.

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