Florida A&M evacuated before Hurricane Frances came ashore. But there was no escaping the fury of Saturday night’s Illinois tornado at Memorial Stadium.
The frustration that built steadily last year when the Illini lost 11 of their 12 games was unleashed in an awesome offensive performance that blew out their mismatched Division I-AA opponent 52-13.
The scoring rampage–in which Jon Beutjer completed 16 of 18 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown and E.B. Halsey and Pierre Thomas each ran for two scores–ended the Illini’s losing streak at 10 games.
Kelvin Hayden, last season’s leading receiver who was shifted to cornerback in the hope he would solidify a porous defense, was another impact player. His fumble recovery started the drive for the game’s first touchdown, his first interception led to a field goal and a second interception punctuated by a 23-yard return produced the seventh touchdown.
Hayden’s two interceptions equaled the team total for the entire 2003 season.
“It was nice to get some turnovers,” coach Ron Turner said. “We got three and we didn’t turn the ball over.
“We’re still a work in progress. We’re going to continue to get better. If we keep flying around and hitting like we did today I think we have a chance to have a pretty good defense.”
The Illini didn’t do much to excite the crowd on their first possession and, after advancing to their own 43, they had to punt.
But on Florida A&M’s next possession the alarm clock finally went off when Hayden tackled Maurice Demps after he caught a pass at the Rattlers’ 43 and Mike O’Brien recovered the fumble for the Illini.
“We expected a no-huddle offense but we didn’t expect them to pass [almost] every play,” Hayden said. “There was no doubt in my mind we were going to hold them. I just wanted to go out and make plays.”
After the fumble recovery, the Illini drove for a touchdown, led by Halsey’s running.
Until the fourth quarter, when Turner went deep into his bench, the Illini were virtually unstoppable. They scored 31 unanswered points in the first half, and with 5 minutes 54 seconds elapsed in the second half they were on top 52-0.
“I was proud of our offensive line,” Beutjer said. “They were giving our running backs big holes to run through and giving me plenty of time to throw.”
Halsey carried 16 times for 79 yards and caught two passes for six yards, while fellow sophomore Pierre Thomas, who is his backup, ran 14 times for 143 yards.
“We felt running the ball would open up everything, and it did,” Halsey said.
Not only was the offense a study in efficiency, the Illini also showed the ability to make the big play–both in the air and on the ground.
Thomas had the game’s longest run, a 60-yard jaunt in the second quarter that took the ball to the Florida A&M 13-yard line and set up Beutjer’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Melvin Bryant.
Beutjer’s longest completion was a 52-yard fling to Kendrick Jones in the second quarter that put the ball on the Rattlers’ 5-yard line, setting up Thomas’ first touchdown on a 1-yard run. Thomas’ second touchdown came on a third-quarter run of 24 yards.
“I give all my yards and touchdowns to the offensive line,” Thomas said. “I can’t do it all by myself.”
Turner was pleased with his team’s performance.
“They had the same kind of energy, enthusiasm and focus they showed all spring, all summer and all training camp,” he said.
“It was hard to hold them back in the locker room. They were very antsy.”
