IU football to play Illinois

The IU football team’s dreams of bowl eligibility ride on defeating a team that hasn’t won a Big Ten game in more than two years. But the last conference opponent they defeated was IU.

With four games remaining on their schedule, the Hoosiers (3-5, 1-3) need to win three of their final matchups to earn bowl eligibility. This journey begins at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at home against Illinois (3-5, 0-4).

While the Hoosiers seek to advance to a bowl game for the first time since 2007, IU Coach Kevin Wilson said the impact of victories goes well beyond a single season record.

“It just solidifies what you’re doing and keeping the energy of your fan base and recruiting,” Wilson said.

Wilson acknowledged many people have written off IU’s year with one-third of the regular season remaining.

“Prognosticators would say everything’s over,” he said. “But in our world, there is a lot of football to play, lot of things we can accomplish. Best thing to do, our constant goal is consistent improvement, constant improvement.”

When Wilson looked ahead to Illinois, he drew a comparison between the Fighting Illini and the Hoosiers.

“I expect Illinois to come much like us, hungry teams,” he said, referencing Illinois’ three wins and its pursuit of its first conference win of the season.

The Fighting Illini haven’t defeated a Big Ten opponent since Oct. 8, 2011, when they topped IU 41-20 in Bloomington.

On offense, senior quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase leads the Illinois offense. In his final year of eligibility, Scheelhaase is on track to have the best passing statistics — yards, completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdowns and quarterback rating — of his career.

Despite having only one more pass attempt than carries this season, the majority of Illinois’ yards come through the air.

Redshirt sophomore running back Josh Ferguson leads the Fighting Illini in rushing and receiving. The Naperville, Ill., native has 829 total yards of offense and seven touchdowns in his first season as a full-time starter.

IU Defensive Coordinator Doug Mallory said Illinois’ skill players on offense impress him. He said the Fighting Illini play with greater tempo under first-year Offensive Coordinator Bill Cubit.

“They’ve got two quality running backs, they’ve got three or four tight ends who are going to play and I think they’ve got good skill on the perimeter,” he said.

Illinois’ offensive weapons will provide a challenge for IU’s defense, which ranks 116th in the country in points allowed per game.

“We’ve got to keep building on that,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to keep fighting and playing in there.”

Wilson said IU has been close to victory against good teams in its past two games, but the Hoosiers have been unable to get over the hump.

“We’re at that part of the race where you can keep pushing or stop, and we’ve come too far to stop pushing,” Wilson said.

Follow football reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittryIDS.