Daily Illini writer discusses football, Illinois’ struggles

In advance of the IU football team’s Saturday game against Illinois, the IDS exchanged questions and answers with The Daily Illini’s Sean Hammond.

IDS In his second season, Illinois Coach Tim Beckman is 0-12 in the Big Ten. Is progress being made on the field?

HAMMOND Progress is definitely being made for Illini football. First-year offensive coordinator Bill Cubit has had the biggest impact. Last season co-offensive coordinators Billy Gonzales and Chris Beatty just simply didn’t get it done. Cubit has come in with virtually the same offensive roster and turned this unit into something that is at least respectable.

Defensively, the Illini have struggled, but they are also young. Only two seniors roam the field — linebacker Jonathan Brown and defensive lineman Tim Kynard. The secondary has struggled in Big Ten play but showed promise last week against Penn State. Given another year, this unit will be much improved.

Without a doubt, Illinois fans are restless. Don’t be deceived by the empty seats in Champaign’s Memorial Stadium, these Illini fans care about the football program. When Illinois is good, (which isn’t too often), they back the team. Fans need to be patient with Tim Beckman and give him another year or two before they start clamoring for change.

IDS Illinois started the season 3-1 with an impressive victory against Cincinnati. Since then, they’ve gone 0-4. What’s changed?

HAMMOND Illinois’ defensive flaws have been exposed. Like I said earlier, this team is young and inexperienced, especially in the secondary. They have struggled to tackle in open space, and it really shows.

The offense hasn’t been anything to brag about in the four losses either, but some of the credit has to be given to the opponents. Illinois’ first three conference games came against three of the better defensive teams in the Big Ten, those being Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan State.

It’s easy to see that the Big Ten losing streak (which is now up to 18 games) is wearing on these players. None of the previous losses in the past two years has affected these guys as much as Saturday’s overtime loss to Penn State. They want to get this monkey off their back, and Saturday visibly affected their demeanor postgame.

IDS Quarterback Nate Scheelhaase is second in the conference with 259.5 yards per
game of total offense. Is he the best QB you’ve seen in the Big Ten?

HAMMOND He’s certainly up there. Saturday may have been his best game this season. It wasn’t statistically, but he was able to keep the offense moving against a Big Ten opponent, which hasn’t happened very often.

He doesn’t have the arm of Christian Hackenberg, who will be a quarterback to watch over the next couple of years, and he doesn’t have the quickness of Braxton Miller or Devin Gardner. But he’s got a little bit of both.

Scheelhaase hasn’t run as much this year as he has in the past, but he hasn’t needed to. He’s really flourished in Bill Cubit’s offense, and it seems to be a style of attack that suits him.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put up big passing numbers against Indiana and Purdue coming up in the next few weeks.

IDS The Illini are 11th in the Big Ten in total defense (better than only Indiana). Has the defense looked as bad in person? Why can’t they get stops?

HAMMOND They simply can’t tackle when they need to. It’s not a problem of missed assignments — it’s execution. They have looked just as bad in person as one might imagine. There have been countless missed tackles and plays that should have been
made that weren’t.

Problems were cleaned up quite a bit against Penn State, and it’ll be interesting to see how they play against Indiana. A lot of it goes back to their youth. Give this unit more time, and it will improve in those areas.

IDS Who are some offensive weapons to watch?

HAMMOND Definitely keep an eye on running back Josh Ferguson. He is dynamic and incredibly fast in the open field.

Whether he’s getting the handoff or making a reception, he can make a play. The coaches also tried him out a little bit as a kick returner against Penn State. It’ll be interesting to see if they keep trying to get him the ball in those situations.

Ryan Lankford was Illinois’ biggest threat from the wide receiver position. A dislocated shoulder against Michigan State has sidelined him for the rest of his senior season. In his place, Spencer Harris stepped up and made 10 catches last week. He’s not deceptively quick, but he is consistent and reliable.

Follow football reporter Evan Hoopfer on Twitter @EvanHoopfer.