Welcome to the fourth entry in our Getting to Know the New Guys series. We’ve passed the halfway mark (whew) with today’s entry: Myke Henry.  The 6’6″ 230-pound guard/forward from Chicago will be wearing #20 this year.

There is indeed another Mike on the roster who we shall visit later, but luckily the guys spell their names differently so it will be easier to keep them straight.

Myke Henry, whose full name is actually Mycheal, committed to Illinois in May of 2010, after whittling his choices down to Wisconsin and Illinois. When another B1G school is interested, it’s a big deal for the guy to choose to wear Orange & Blue rather than going to the enemy. Since Henry is a Chicago guy, it was even more important to keep the kid in state.

The third player to orally commit to the Illini class of 2011-2012 had this to say when interviewed by ESPN:

“It was down to Illinois and Wisconsin. It was the coaches, the players, the players coming in with me. I’m happy. It just felt like home.”

The article also states that a number of local analysts put Henry among the top-five players in the 2011 class, as he averaged 25 points and 11 rebounds as a senior at Orr Chicago. Henry was also an ESPNChicago.com All-Area selection. Ranked in the Top 100 on Scout, Henry is known to be a shooter.

Upon arriving at Illinois, rumor has it that Henry got a tad bit pudgy after his high school career ended. Since that time, Henry has hit the weight room and shaved off some pounds to fight off the other six freshman for some playing time.

In Italy, Henry averaged 15.2 minutes a game and shot .50% for FGs and .43% from behind the arc, putting him third behind Tracy Abrams and Sam Maniscalco. Henry had more blocks than anyone with a total of 7, and also had 7 steals. He averaged 6.9 ppg. His best game probably came against Castellanza Selezione, where he had 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals over 21 minutes.

During the Orange & Blue Scrimmage, Henry had 13 points and 2 rebounds, and went 1-4 from behind the arc. Perhaps it was nerves, but when I watched the Scrimmage, I can’t say that Henry was someone that particularly stood out to me.

I’m not really sure what to expect from Henry, because he sounds like as a recruit he really stood out, but I haven’t heard as much about him now that he is at Illinois. One problem might be that the guard/forward position is pretty much covered right now, so he isn’t as necessary to the team right away. However, if he can get out there and be consistent and be the shooter that everyone claims that he can be, then of course he’ll be quite valuable – especially if DJ Richardson or Brandon Paul hit a cold streak.

As always, here is Henry’s highlight reel!

Photo by Richard Paul Kane

Good for Joe Paterno. With his win against Illinois this evening he is now the most winningest coach in D1 college football. You know what would’ve been greater? If he earned that honor NEXT WEEK.

It was another stressful game for Illini fans, but this time the results went the wrong way.  The Illini had a chance to tie it up, but the guys just fell short. A 42-yard field goal from Derek Dimke – who went into this game perfect on FGs for the season – with time running out would’ve given the Illini a tie, and then who knows what would’ve happened. Sadly, Dimke missed his first FG of the year, and the Nittany Lions got the 10-7 win.

Let’s go back a few plays. If the Illini could’ve avoided a botched a field goal at the end of the first half, then this also would’ve been a different game. Coulda, shoulda, woulda – the Illini lost yet another game.

After starting off the season 6-0, the Illini have now dropped 3 straight in a row. Tonight it might’ve been a special teams failure, but if the offense had been doing its job, then it wouldn’t have mattered.

It was a snowy day, and thus there were a lot of mistakes. Each team had three turnovers, and no one landed on the scoreboard until 3:43 left in the third when Illinois’ Nathan Scheelhaase threw a TD to Spencer Harris. Penn State followed that up with a FG in the fourth, and then Silas Redd rushed 3 yards for a Penn State touchdown with just 1:11 to go in the game. Scheelhaase made it happen with time running out against Northwestern in just over a minute, but it didn’t happen tonight.

You can’t blame the whole game on Dimke, but this was really a FG that he could’ve made. However, even if Dimke had evened up the score that doesn’t mean the Illini would’ve pulled it out at the end. Scheelhaase had just 61 yards and 1 TD, and A.J. Jenkins had just 41 yards and no touchdowns. Jason Ford woke up during this game and had 91 rushing yards, but I think he could give us just a little more.

Next week Illinois is off, and perhaps they’ll have a chance to really think about what they’ve done. After that, it’s Michigan at home, a team that isn’t going to be a cake walk. Coach Ron Zook is going to have to perform a miracle to turn this team back around. True, they are already bowl eligible, but with the Rose Bowl out of the running, let’s try to avoid heading to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

On the bright side, basketball starts Tuesday night.

While the success of the Illinois football team has fallen off on the whole, individual players are still receiving some accolades. The newest list to hold an Illini name: the 2011 Rotary Lombardi Semifinalist List.

Eight defensive players and four offensive players are on the list of 12 semifinalists for the 42nd Rotary Lombardi Award to be held December 7, 2011, at the Reliant Center in Houston.

The SEC led with four players, including three from Alabama. Other conferences represented are the PAC-12 with three (including two from Stanford), two from the Big 10, and one player each from the ACC, Conference USA, and an Independent.

The 12 Semifinalists are:
Vinny Curry – Defensive End, Marshall, 6-4, 263, Sr., Neptune, NJ
David DeCastro – Offensive Guard, Stanford, 6-5, 310, Sr., Bellevue, WA
Dont’a Hightower – Linebacker, Alabama, 6-4, 260, Jr., Lewisburg, TN
Melvin Ingram – Defensive End, South Carolina, 6-2, 276, Sr., Hamlet, NC
Barrett Jones – Offensive Line, Alabama, 6-5, 311, Jr., Memphis, TN
Matt Kalil – Offensive Tackle, USC, 6-7, 295, Jr., Corona, CA
Luke Kuechly – Linebacker, Boston College, 6-3, 237, Jr., Cincinnati, OH
Jonathan Martin – Offensive Tackle, Stanford, 6-6, 304, Sr., Los Angeles, CA
Whitney Mercilus – Defensive Line, Illinois, 6-4, 265, Jr., Akron, OH
Manti Te’o – Linebacker, Notre Dame, 6-2, 255, Jr., Laie, HI
Courtney Upshaw – Linebacker, Alabama, 6-2, 265, Sr., Eufaula, AL
Jerel Worthy – Defensive Tackle, Michigan State, 6-3, 310, Jr., Huber Heights, OH

Let’s hope tomorrow the Illini act like a team that deserves recognition as they head to Penn State.

The B1G interview room... Check out Brandon Paul on the left in the bright orange shirt.

What I like about the Big Ten Basketball Media Day is that everyone is in good spirits. The season hasn’t begun just yet and so there haven’t been any losses or disappointments. Coaches can start fresh and new and feel optimistic about what the season has to bring.

The coaches press conferences are a nice way to get up to speed with everything going on in the conference, but I really enjoy the one-on-one time with the Coach Weber and players – in today’s case Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson – that have come along for the ride. The setting is much more intimate as coaches sit at tables waiting for reporters to come by and shove a recorder under their nose and ask the same questions over and over.

For Bruce Weber, that question was often who is going to lead the team, and what can we expect from the whopping seven new players? According to Weber, Tracy Abrams, Nnanna Egwu and Mike Shaw are the ones who could make a difference from the start. Abrams is a talented guy, but Weber thinks he needs to stop being a “bulldog,” and slow down a bit. At times, Abrams reminds Weber of Chester Frazier.

The Italy trip was hugely important to the Illini in terms of getting more practices in and getting some playing time. Weber noted that the coaches learned about the new guys, and the new guys learned about the team. There are no egos, and Weber likes the work ethic that he sees.

As for leadership, Weber confirmed that it is of the utmost of importance, but can’t state from where it will come. As the “stars” of the team, Richardson and Paul are in charge, but it isn’t always that easy. As a “social butterfly” Richardson is better suited for the job, and Weber stated that it wasn’t necessarily something that came naturally to Paul, but he’s trying. It seems the team as a whole needs that experience and that maturity before that ever so important leader will emerge.

When I spoke to Paul, I asked if this was really the case and he confirmed that maybe he wasn’t designed to be a leader, but he is working on leading by example.

Weber was asked a lot about “what happened to Richardson” last year, and he chalked it up to a sophomore slump. He also hinted that perhaps Richardson was comfortable with his role of Freshman Player of the Year in 2010, and thus backed off on the effort. However, Weber said as of late Richardson is doing better than anyone else in practice.

Richardson told me that it’s true he lost a lot of confidence last year, but he is working on fixing that problem. When I asked Richardson what games he’s looking forward to, he reminded me that he’s never beaten Missouri, Purdue or Ohio State since he’s been at Illinois. Purdue and Ohio State I get, but I was sort of shocked to think about the fact that this year’s juniors have never beaten Missouri.

The tender subject of Jereme Richmond (who recently returned to jail) came up a few times, and everyone agreed that it was a sad situation. Weber commented that he had reached out to Richmond but never heard back, though he had spoken to Richmond’s mother a couple of time. Richardson also commented that teenagers make mistakes and he hopes that Richmond will have a good future.

On the topic of Sam Maniscalco, Weber commented numerous times that if he stays healthy he is going to be extremely important. Maniscalco had ankle surgery, Weber is obviously fearful that something might happen to him. While he isn’t expected necessarily to lead the team, he is still the oldest kid out there and the only senior, and he’s running the point. Weber noted that a leader is someone you can trust to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game, and isn’t afraid to take that shot. In Italy,  Maniscalco was indeed that guy a couple of times. He was also that guy during the Orange & Blue Scrimmage with the last-second shot before halftime practically from the half court mark.

As for the more serious questions, I learned from Paul that Devin Langford is the funniest guy on the team, and of last year’s seniors Bill Cole is probably the guy he misses the most. Last season the guys were banned from Twitter, and it’s not clear if the same will be true for this year. The decree hasn’t fallen yet, because Paul was definitely Tweeting right before they headed to the interview room. While they all love tweeting, Paul acknowledged that if they have to stop they’ll stop, because the coaches know best.

Most important question of the day for Paul, who was rocking an awesome orange shirt, what about the mohawk, will it return? Sadly, it seems as if the mohawk will not appear this year because it is, “too much trouble.”

There you have it folks, some new information, but alas the season is still a bit of a question mark for the Illini. Weber continually stated that they have a chance to be pretty competitive, but there was a tentative lilt that made you wonder if it’s true. With a new AD in charge, someone asked if Weber felt more pressure to win, and he stated that he always feels pressure to win. It’s hard not to feel that some of the answers from the players – and at times coaches- are rehearsed, it’s still great to get that one-on-one time and try to throw them off just a bit.

Thanks again to the Big Ten for hosting a great media day! And to Coach Weber, Paul and Richardson for sitting at those tables and answering the same questions again and again and again.

Coach Weber at the B1G Media Day

What a whirlwind day! Even though it ended at 12, it started before 6am for this gal. Wisconsin’s basketball coach Bo Ryan said it best: “It’s great to be here with the idea that everybody is still undefeated and we’re all going to see what kind of mix we can put our teams into.”

Optimism was infectious today at the Big Ten Media Day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel O’Hare, as that’s how coaches always act at the beginning of the season. Some coaches (Thad Matta, Ryan) have more to be excited about than others (Patrick Chambers, Fran McCaffery) and then there are the coaches who have no clue what to expect (Bruce Weber, Tom Izzo).

The day began with Tubby Smith up first, and boy was he looking sleepy. While Smith has a guy on the preseason Big Ten Team in Trevor Mbakwe, it’s not clear what else he is working with, and he lamented over the loss of what he calls the team’s two best players in Devoe Joseph and Al Nolen. Regardless, Smith boldly stated that he expects for his team to be in the postseason this year.

Nebraska’s Doc Sadler was next, and he seemed pretty stoked to be part of the B1G and praised the way the conference welcomed Nebraska into the fold. He also commented that he might be more excited to play in some of the Big Ten arenas than his players. Sadler would also like to move into Big Ten states as much as possible and steal their recruits. Perhaps he didn’t say it exactly like that, but Nebraska will definitely be scouting some new states now that it has entered the B1G Conference.

Bill Carmody of Northwestern headed to the podium next, and as usual he had a smirk on his face as the lowly reporters asked questions. When asked about how the team will cope with Juice Thompson graduating, he started off on a positive note with this to say: “I never think about replacing a guy. I just think the dynamic changes every year: this guy gets better; this guy improves. You have freshmen coming in and how are they going to fit into the mix.” But then, he finished his statement off with these heartwarming words: “I’m forgetting about Thompson.” Okay, then.

When asked the inevitable question about whether there is added pressure to get to the NCAA Tournament because his team has never been, he had this to say: “I was hoping to get through this conference, press conference without that. But I guess five questions in it’s all right.”  He continued on to say that this year the team has a shot. Well, technically ever year they have a shot, no?

Penn State's New Coach

Ohio State took the floor next, and as much as I want to dislike Thad Matta, I can’t. He is clearly sitting pretty on the top of the Big Ten, but he was humble throughout the interview. He commented that Jared Sullinger is stronger, faster and a better player than last year, which is not something any other team wants to hear.

Penn State’s new coach Patrick Chambers is all of 12 years old, and not quite hip to the fact that PSU doesn’t have a prayer this year without Talor Battle. Regardless, he was giddy as a school boy to be up at the podium talking about his team: “Our message is we’re a great program, great institution, a young coach that’s going to be there for you and who is going to drive you but is also going to put an arm around you, love you up a little too.” I wracked my brain to come up with a question for the poor guy to stop the sound of nothing but camera’s whirring, but even I was at a loss to help him out.

Of course the Purdue topic of discussion was the return of Robbie Hummel: “A lot of times when you have guys that have success and they’re out for a little while, I think it gets a little mythical, like they had a cape when they played before,” Matt Painter commented. He also noted that the Mackey renovations didn’t affect the team, though I’m not sure why they would have.

Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan came next, and the seasoned professional is a pro at sitting at the mic and announcing his excitement for the upcoming season. Looks like Jordan Taylor will need to deliver because a lot of hopes are pinned on his PG shoulders. Best quote: “Bruesewitz was not a McDonald’s All-American, despite what he looked like with that red wig, with his red — I mean, not wig, his red hair. He was called Ronald McDonald at a few places.”

Coach Weber was next, but of course he’ll get his own special treatment in a different post.

Let’s be honest, after Weber my mind wandered a bit, but luckily good ol’ Tom Crean was up next to bring be back to reality. For one thing, Crean was all shades of brown/orange as if he went to the spray tanning booth especially for this event. Luckily, he was wearing a suit, rather than the track suit he showed up in at his first game in Champaign. Crean did a lot of talking about how the team has more experience and this is going to be the year that they break through, though I feel like he’s said that in the past. A lot of attention was paid to Cody Zeller, who may or may not be the second coming in Bloomington. Let’s take a look at this beautiful story from Crean about Zeller:

Northwestern's Carmody, right before the smirk.

“We were scrimmaging and we were playing some short games and he wasn’t touching the ball much, and the team that was playing with him wasn’t winning the game.  And stopped practice in a very emphatic way and said that the basket didn’t count — or we weren’t going to score unless he touched it. It didn’t mean he had to score it, but he had to touch it in a scoring position.” – No ego there!

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery took the podium next, and he still could be mistaken for a chemistry professor. Apparently Iowa has a lot of injuries this year. The room was slightly more animated than during PSU.

The Michigans were the last to go, with John Beilein going first. Everyone was very concerned with the loss of Darius Miles to the NBA, or rather to the lockout, but Beilein looked rather confident. Many people think that Michigan is going to be a surprise this year and some polls have them ranked in the top 25 for the preseason. My take, eh, we’ll see.

Last but never least was Tom Izzo of Michigan State. Like Illinois, MSU is in a year of transitions. Draymond Green is on the preseason B1G team, but the rest of the team is rather young. When introduced by the Bow Tie Moderator as having two returning starters, Izzo joked that he wasn’t sure who the second starter was. When asked if he enjoys uncertain seasons like this, Izzo remarked: “Hell no!” Though he pointed out that if the bad seasons are made up of winning 19 games, playing a tough schedule and getting a Tourney big, then it’s not all that bad. Izzo doesn’t like to be an underdog, but he is enjoying the challenge.

And that’s all the news that’s fit to report from the B1G Basketball  Media Day! Stay tuned for a report strictly on the Illini, and whether or not Brandon Paul will be sporting a mohawk again this season.

Crean's tan is easier to see next to bow-tie guy.

Sullinger was chosen as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year.

Here I am at the Big Ten Basketball Media Day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, and the first news of the day comes as no surprise: Jared Sullinger was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year by the Big Ten Media.

Considering the fact that Sullinger could have easily gone to the NBA last year as a top 10 (or top 5) pick, it’s no surprise that he was chosen to dominate the conference again this year. When you think about it, perhaps Sully was on to something by not ditching college for the NBA with this year’s lockout keeping everyone unsure of their futures.

With a player like Sullinger on your team, of course you’re going to be chosen as the conference favorite for the 2011-2012 season. We all knew that was coming as well, as the defending Big Ten Champions will look to repeat their success this season. They’re going to be hampered slightly with the absence of David Lighty and Jon Diebler, but they still have William Buford and last year’s other freshman phenom, Aaron Craft. But when you have a guy like Sullinger, you’re in pretty good shape to dominate.

The Buckeye forward averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds in his first season in Columbus. Along with earning Blue Ribbon Yearbook Preseason All-America honors, Sullinger is one of nine Big Ten players on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.

Joining Sullinger on the Preseason All-Big Ten team are Michigan State’s Draymond Green, Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe, Purdue’s Robbie Hummel and Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor. You’ll notice not one Illini has made the list, but that also comes as no surprise whatsoever. Green is one of those guys that feels like he’s been on the team forever, and Hummel has been playing for Purdue forever since last year was supposed to be the final year for him, but he was out due to injury. Mbakwe is the only player that anyone can name from Minnesota, and Taylor made Wisconsin what it was last year. Point is, all good picks. 

After OSU, Wisconsin was picked to finish second and Michigan State third. Again, you’ll notice no Illinois on that list either.

I didn’t even know Devin Langford had a finger injury at all, but word on the street is that today he had surgery to repair a broken finger today and the prognosis looks good. However, he will be out for 4-6 weeks. With the first exhibition game less than a week away, obviously Langford is going to have to do some benchwarming.The injury on his finger occurred in practice.

This is already Langford’s second injury, as he had a deep thigh bruise that kept him from playing during the Italy trip. Therefore, we haven’t really gotten to see much from the small forward out of Alabama.

This surgery, coupled with the thigh bruise and the fear that he wasn’t going to transition well to living in Illinois, makes me wonder if perhaps a redshirt is in Langford’s future.

Up next on our list, 6’11 center/forward Nnanna Egwu from Chicago. Egwu, who just celebrated his 19th birthday on October 22, will be sporting the #32 jersey this year. It’s going to be fun to hear sportscasters trying to pronounce his name, which sounds like henna with an “n” at the beginning instead of an “h”… as far as I can tell.

Egwu attended St. Ignatius, where he averaged 16 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks as a senior. Named Chicago Catholic League-North Division Co-Athlete of the Year, along with Mike Shaw, Egwu was ranked No. 67 by Scout.com and No. 69 by ESPN. According to Yahoo, he’s 14th at his position, and 97th overall. Top 100 in all lists works for me.

Egwu committed to Illinois in early October of 2009, and was the second recruit to orally commit after Tracy Abrams. It was down to Purdue and Illinois, but Egwu choice to be an Illini over a Boilermaker. Here is what he told the Chicago Tribune after making his choice:

“I would have loved to play for Purdue, but from an overall standpoint, I thought going to Illinois would make me the best I could be,” Egwu said. “To play for your own state school, there’s nothing better than that — to bring your own state a championship.”

Gotta love a kid with that hometown – er state – spirit. Aside from the fact that Egwu has a twin sister named Nnenna who is now at Purdue, what’s most interesting about him is that he just started playing basketball about four years ago.

The second player on the team who originally hails from Africa (Ibby Djimde is from Mali), Egwu’s family moved from Nigeria when he was 5. Egwu told the Tribune that he always watched basketball as a kid, but he didn’t have the opportunity to play at his school until he was older.

While of course natural ability (and height) are key to the game, Egwu’s inexperience will make him somewhat of a work in progress. With Meyers Leonard taking over the job of both Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale, it will be nice to have a backup in Egwu (or Djimde), but he won’t have to shoulder the responsibility himself. The big guy can learn the ropes this year, and start to make a mark necessary if need be. Additionally, I would guess Coach Bruce Weber is the kind of guy that would like to work with talented clay that hasn’t been improperly molded as of yet.

In Italy, Egwu averaged about 14 minutes, and 3.2 rebounds per game. He also averaged a respectable 7.4 points a game shooting 16-33. While he managed to get some buckets, what we’re going to need from Egwu is some rebounds. At the Orange & Blue Scrimmage, Egwu played 20 minutes in the first half, and then just 5 in the second – which could be a testament to the need to bulk up his endurance. He had 5 rebounds and 6 points in the first half, and just 1 rebound and 0 points in the second.

I’m guessing that Egwu won’t see too much playing time in the beginning of the season, unless something happens to Leonard. Over time if he develops the way that Weber wants, he could be a huge asset to the team.

As always, here are some highlights:

Meyers Leonard likes to dunk; Photo by Cary Frye

Today the Illini basketball team gave fans a glimpse of their stuff in this afternoon’s annual Orange & Blue scrimmage. Not that it actually matters who w0n since the guys changed teams throughout the day, but still Orange took the cake winning three out of four quarters.

The team was supposed to play four 8-minute quarters, but the last quarter was only 6 minutes long. The guys definitely showed some fatigue in the end, so perhaps that’s why the quarter was cut short. However, they’re going to need to work on that endurance because actual games are clearly longer.

What did we learn today? The guys can shoot, but I’m not sure about defense. I also learned that it’s going to take a while to differentiate between all the newbies. The freshmen all seemed somewhat interchangeable, though the little guys (Tracy Abrams and Myke Henry specifically) showed a bit more of their goods than the bigger guys (Ibby Djimde and Nnanna Egwu didn’t get a lot done). Mike Shaw and Devin Langford also faded in the background a bit, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens in a real game situation.

Sam Maniscalco was the main standout for the new guys, and as an experienced PG that’s  how it should be. He looked calm, cool, and controlled, which again is how it should be. He can also shoot, and plopped in a number of 3-pointers, including one from way behind the arc to end the second quarter and give his team the win.

Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson started off strong, but faded a bit in the end. This could be because they wanted to give the young guys a chance to get used to playing in the Assembly Hall. Both of them drained a couple of 3s, and as the elder statesmen I am anxious to see if they step up and lead. I want so badly for Crandall Head to succeed (there is a reason my dog is named after his brother), but this was not his game. He looked sloppy and had a number of bad passes.

Aside from Maniscalco, the scrimmage belonged to Joseph Bertrand, Meyers Leonard and Tyler Griffey. Leonard slammed down dunk after dunk, and Bertrand was everywhere contributing to the game in numerous ways. Griffey was successful at getting to the line and also had some impressive 3s. Stay tuned for some official stats…

It’s fun to see the guys get a feel for playing front of a crowd (which seemed pretty large) and also get some tine on the court, which by the way is sporting a new look. I’m not sure how I feel about the new court, but perhaps it just takes getting used to. There is now a big thick I in the middle of the floor, but it’s a tad too thick and I can’t help but be reminded of how much I hate seeing a certain bird in the center of the floor somewhere else.

I think it’s hard to really know what to expect just from watching a scrimmage. I recall Bertrand being awesome in prior scrimmages, but he’s never been able to contribute in games. Griffey also has trouble once game-time begins, but maybe now that they have to be in charge they can step out behind the shadow of the four seniors that have moved on? The team is just so different from last year I have no idea what to expect, so I will fear the worst and hope for the best.

We’ll get a more accurate look at the team on Nov. 1 when they host Wayne State at 7pm.

Losing to Ohio State is one thing. It could’ve been an honest mistake, but losing to Purdue 14-21? There is just no explanation.

Illinois was down 21 points going into halftime, which is horrific, but not a complete disaster. After all, they were down 18 to Northwestern and came back to win the game! Not the case yesterday. At least they got on the board with a Jason Ford rushing touchdown with just over 8 minutes left in the game. Then, Nathan Scheelhaase ran one in with just a minute to go.

Too little, too late, as time ran out on the Illini. The defense didn’t figure out what was going on until the second half, leaving Purdue scoreless in the third and fourth quarter. That’s all well and good, except the offense never got going and so the defensive efforts didn’t matter. If they had done their job in the first half, perhaps things would’ve gone differently. I’m certainly not blaming the defense, I’m blaming the offense.

A.J. Jenkins didn’t crack 100 yards and had zero touchdowns. The “star” of the game was Ford, who hasn’t done much this season, and didn’t really do much yesterday with 83 yards and a touchdown. I knew we had a problem in the second quarter when Purdue blocked Derek Dimke’s punt and he got pummeled. I honestly can’t remember ever seeing anyone block a punt before, but it sure did happen.

Two weeks ago they were sitting pretty undefeated, at the top of the Big Ten. Now they’ve got two losses and the future is uncertain. Next the Illini will head to Penn State feeling deflated and insecure – exactly what you don’t want. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if they come home with a third loss.

On the bright side, can’t wait to watch the Orange & Blue Scrimmage tonight.