Illinois has put its 52-13 victory over Florida A&M in perspective in preparing for Saturday’s game with UCLA in Memorial Stadium.
Destroying a Division I-AA team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is one thing. Merely defeating a team from the Pac-10 is quite another.
“We know we’re playing a team in a different league than the one we just played–one that’s so much better and so much more powerful,” coach Ron Turner said.
A 6-3 loss at UCLA last year was easily the Illini’s best defensive performance of 2003. However, it was a typical offensive performance in a season of Illini giveaways galore–three interceptions and one lost fumble.
Against Florida A&M, the Illini didn’t fumble and they didn’t throw any interceptions. Instead, they got two interceptions from cornerback Kelvyn Hayden–equaling their total for the 2003 season–and they recovered a fumble.
“If we keep winning the turnover battle, we’ll win games,” said quarterback Jon Beutjer, who completed 16 of 18 passes for 228 yards and one touchdown.
UCLA lost “the turnover battle” in its opener and lost its sixth straight game, falling to Oklahoma State 31-20. Quarterback Drew Olson donated two interceptions and the Bruins lost two fumbles.
“We’re disappointed with the turnover issue, which was the difference in the game,” UCLA coach Karl Dorrell said.
“If we would’ve just done a little bit better in that area, we would’ve scored a lot more points.”
Take away the giveaways and UCLA–which has all five starting offensive linemen back–put on an extraordinary offensive display. With Olson, flanker Craig Bragg and tailback Manuel White in the forefront, the Bruins piled up 443 total yards, more than they amassed in any game last season.
“They’re ahead of where they were at any point last year,” Turner said. “They’re a team that can be explosive and also can come out and pound you if they want to.”
But, as the Oklahoma State score suggests, UCLA’s depleted defense is its window of vulnerability this season after the departure of three seniors who were cornerstones last year, the defection of a standout to the NFL and the season-long loss of another because of an injury.
Of the 10 redshirt freshmen, nine true freshmen and three junior-college transfers who appeared in the Oklahoma State game, 17 played on defense.
Oklahoma State completed only 2 of 8 passes, but the Cowboys’ ground game was relentless, shredding UCLA for 426 yards.
Turner doesn’t believe his team is capable of doing what Oklahoma State did running the ball.
“Oklahoma State has one of the best offensive lines in the country,” he said. “We have to run our offense–which has balance.”
It’s very likely his game plan calls for E.B. Halsey and his alternate, Pierre Thomas, to try to establish the ground game and then exploit Beutjer’s passing ability.
