If nice guys do finish last, Illinois is in trouble. By general acclamation, Illini football coach Lou Tepper is a genial, well-meaning and accommodating gentleman in a sport that frequently rewards bullies and is rife with bluster masquerading as wisdom.
So it was intriguing at his press conference this week that Tepper chose to turn his back almost rudely on two specific topics of questioning: How does Illinois (2-1) feel to be returning to the Top 25 rankings, and does he recall when any team has been national champion, let alone Big 10 champion, with an alternating quarterback system?
Tepper was unusually curt in his responses. After refusing to say anything about the new No. 25 ranking-just a few notches below the 21st spot the Illini occupied before a 10-9 season-opening loss to Washington State-Tepper was prompted again and grudgingly acknowledged: “I haven’t even mentioned it to the team. We’d just like to go play Purdue and go on from there.”
As for Johnny Johnson, who will start at quarterback for the first time since the upset by Washington State, Tepper was staunch but brief in explaining Scott Weaver still will play a key role, replacing Johnson in the first half regardless of the score.
“And we’ll play it by ear from there,” Tepper said. “A team normally has 12 to 13 offensive series a game, and the quarterback who starts should get four series before the other guy comes in. Unless the starter gets in trouble. Then the second guy could come sooner.”
Then, like all coaches trying to be evasive, Tepper fell back on the statistics. “We are averaging 413 yards a game on offense and are 23rd in the nation in passing efficiency, so I don’t care if we use four quarterbacks if we can get those kind of numbers.”
Take it from tight end Ken Dilger: Illinois’ players are keenly aware of being in the Top 25.
“Losing to Washington State took us out of the national championship hunt,” Dilger said, “but it’ll help us in the Big 10 season. We can learn from our mistake. But all the players like to be ranked, and we feel we are a Top 25 team.”
The Illinois defense is higher than that, still the No. 1-ranked defense in the country heading into Saturday’s game against Purdue (2-1). Linebacker Kevin Hardy knows that stopping the dangerous Purdue rushing duo of Mike Alstott and Corey Rogers is doubly important, because outsiders still aren’t giving Illinois’ defense its due.
“They don’t respect us on a national level yet, the way they did Arizona last year,” Hardy said. “They were known as Desert Swarm. We are still trying to establish a name.”
One memory that lingers for Purdue coach Jim Colletto from last year’s 28-10 loss to Illinois, and past setbacks, is that of constantly facing mission impossible on third down. But that’s nothing unusual for a Purdue bunch that went 0-8 in the Big 10 in 1993.
“One thing we haven’t done against them is stay out of third-and-long,” Colletto said. “Tepper’s defense hasn’t changed a bit since he’s been there, so I can tell our players where they are going to be and where they’ll be coming. But I don’t know if that’s going to help us block them.”
The most likely reason for Tepper to de-emphasize the touchy points of rankings and quarterbacks is that Illinois remains a team with promise and potential but one that has yet to experience consistent success and national recognition.
“Though not the strongest Big 10 test for us, Purdue is going to be a significant test,” Tepper said.
After padding its non-conference record with victories over weak opponents Missouri and Northern Illinois, you can easily argue that the season starts Saturday for the Illini.
