Illinois sophomore defensive end Derrick Strong is ready to play some football Saturday.
“I’m pretty anxious to get back,” said Strong, who starred at Mt. Carmel. “Sitting around for a week without being able to hit somebody, especially a quarterback, has been hard.”
Strong and the Illini defense are eager to focus their minds on something other than last week’s terrorist attacks: unbeaten, 25th-ranked Louisville. The Cardinals are averaging 417 yards per game in total offense and overwhelmed their first three opponents by an average of almost 24 points per game.
For what it’s worth, Cardinals head coach John L. Smith doesn’t put much stock in his team’s victories over New Mexico State, Kentucky and Western Carolina or those numbers.
“Plus, we really haven’t played anybody until we play Illinois. So we don’t know how good we are,” he said. “We need a test–and this is definitely a test.”
Illinois head coach Ron Turner, though, didn’t need any last-minute cramming to know exactly how good Louisville is.
– Senior quarterback Dave Ragone, the Offensive Player of the Year last year in Conference USA, leads the nation in passing yards with 858.
– Ragone’s favorite receiver, senior Deion Branch, became only the fourth player in school history to top 1,000 yards in receiving last season with 1,016.
– Junior safety Anthony Floyd, who led Division I with 10 interceptions in 2000, is one of six starters back from a defense that ranked fourth nationally a year ago against the run.
– The Cardinals are already halfway to clinching a trip to their fourth bowl game in a row.
“They’re an explosive team that can score at any time,” Turner said. “But the biggest difference is that they’re a lot stronger on defense than they were two years ago.”
Two years ago, Illinois’ come-from-behind 41-36 upset at Louisville sparked the Illini to an 8-4 season and a trip to the Micronpc.com Bowl in Ft. Lauderdale. The teams combined for 1,044 yards in total offense, 54 first downs, nine touchdowns and five field goals that night and a similar shootout seems likely Saturday at Memorial Stadium. But Illini sophomore wide receiver Brandon Lloyd isn’t so sure.
“Two years ago it seemed like it was our offense against their offense,” Lloyd said. “We had to keep up with their offense to stay in the game. Now both teams are well-balanced. I expect this game to be a low-scoring affair.”
If it is, Illinois’ new attack-style defense would prove that the first two games–a 44-17 win over Cal and a 17-12 victory over Northern Illinois–weren’t flukes. The Illini are giving up 377 yards of total offense per game but have forced seven turnovers and their opponents haven’t forced any.
“I’m happy where we are after two games,” Turner said. “We have to a remember this is a new defense and we’re still making mistakes but overall I think we’ll be a good defense.”
Whether Illinois is a good team or just pretending to be one will be evident soon. The Illini struggled mightily to hold off Northern two weeks ago. If they can somehow upset both Louisville and Michigan, in their Big Ten opener Sept. 29, they could be on their way to a major bowl. Slip to 2-2, however, and it will be uphill the rest of the way to a postseason berth.
“This is a huge game for us to show what we can do,” Illinois quarterback Kurt Kittner said.
