Hoosiers, Illini have followed different paths

Two seasons ago, Indiana and Illinois were among the Big Ten bottom-feeders with conference records of 1-7 and 2-6, respectively.

The Hoosiers’ lone conference win that season came against the Fighting lllini, a 27-14 homecoming victory in Bloomington.

Fast forward two seasons.

IU is tied with Minnesota for the worst record this season in the Big Ten at 1-4.

The Illini, though, are a perfect 5-0 and fresh off a 38-35 comeback victory against Northwestern in their conference opener after a 7-6 season and bowl win last year.

With the win, the team rose five spots in the latest AP poll to No. 19 and six spots in the USA Today Coaches Poll to No. 16.

The 5-0 start is the team’s best since snagging a share of the national championship in 1951.

So, what’s the secret?

IU Coach Kevin Wilson attributes the recent improvement of IU’s adversary Saturday to several coaching changes that have had time to pay dividends.

“You go back and look a couple years ago, they make some decisions at coordinator with a defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator,” Wilson said. “They’ve got some stability. They have hired a couple good coaches, and their packages have gotten sound and clean.”

Unlike IU, which has Wilson as a first-year head coach, Illinois has had consistency with its head man. Ron Zook is in his seventh season in Champaign-Urbana.

As it happens, Wilson is contracted for seven years with the Hoosiers.

Coinciding with Illinois’s rise is the emergence of sophomore quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, a highly sought-after player out of high school who Wilson recruited while offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. Scheelhaase is in his second season as a starter for Illinois and has 1028 yards and seven touchdowns on the season.

“They have developed their quarterbacks,” Wilson said. “Their quarterback now is in his second year in that system. The offensive line’s come along.”

The hot start for the Illini comes in spite of the loss of three players drafted in the first three rounds of April’s NFL Draft, two on defense.

Sophomore quarterback Dusty Kiel said the Illini have been able to reload effectively, though.

“They’re really similar, just different guys doing the same thing,” Kiel said. “They do a really good job of disguising coverages and bringing blitzes. They really fly around and play fast. They play well together.”

Senior wide receiver Dre Muhammad said he remembers one aspect in particular from playing Illinois in the past and expects no different on Saturday.

“They were very physical last year and the year before,” Muhammad said. “They still are physical. There’s no difference from last year. They probably lost a couple key players, but that’s about it.”

Wilson said he believes that, coupled with the consistency they have established, the Illini’s schedule this season was ideal for a breakout season and momentum heading into Saturday.

“Where they have stayed the plan, stayed the course, along the way (they have) recruited some good players, developed some good players,” Wilson said. “They’ve got decent size, decent speed.

“That being said, the schedule is set up where they have played well. They have gotten confident. They have had success. It’s kind of snowballing and they will come in as a pretty good football team, so we need to play awfully well this week to get them.”