As big days go, Illinois’ home opener Saturday didn’t push the emotion meter toward triple digits.
About 50 ex-Illini were on hand for the first game at newly renovated Memorial Stadium, and an orange-clad a crowd of 60,131 provided the environment for a rousing day. But it took the Illini a quarter to wake up against Eastern Illinois before they took control and rolled to a 47-21 victory.
“It may have been us thinking ‘Eastern?’ and we could have ended up playing to that level,” defensive tackle David Lindquist said. “But once we got that emotion going, we were able to shut them down.”
Wearing uniforms from the 1960s, the Illini (1-1) won with a style of play familiar to legendary middle linebacker Dick Butkus, who was on hand for the festivities. The Illini ran the ball and then ran it some more, eventually 53 times.
Juice Williams set a school record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 174 on just 16 carries and twice ran for scores.
Tailback Daniel Dufrene rushed for 99 yards, receiver Arrelious Benn ran for two scores and backup tailback Troy Polland for one.
Although the Illini need Williams to improve his passing game, running was the priority Saturday.
“Some of his big runs were scrambling, and we’re not going to tell him he can’t run,” coach Ron Zook said. “We had to get the option going. We needed to work on it, and we did.”
That’s just fine with Williams.
“I love to run the ball,” he said. “It’s what I grew up doing. I was blessed with the ability to be able to make plays with my legs, but as a quarterback you have to sit back in the pocket and try to make throws down the field.”
Williams did that with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Chris Duvalt that started the scoring, but he also threw two interceptions.
“He threw some ducks,” Zook said. “He can throw the football. We’re not going to dissect every route he throws. What happens is a receiver might not be where he’s supposed to be. He also put some good balls in there.”
Zook noted the flat start in a 7-7 first quarter but seemed to attribute it to a lack of excitement about the former players.
“They’ll appreciate [playing here] more when they leave; that’s normal,” Zook said. “When I played, the older guys came back and we didn’t know who they were.”
Illinois got into the game in the second quarter when the Panthers faced fourth-and-1 at the Illinois 6, trailing 13-7. Coach Bob Spoo decided to go for it, and Tavon Wilson and Brit Miller dropped Chip Keys for a 1-yard loss. The Illini then drove for a Williams touchdown and a 19-7 lead.
“If someone knew how to bottle emotion and sell it, they would be the richest man in the world,” Miller said. “When we made that fourth down stop, that’s Illini football.”
Former players like Brad Hopkins liked what they saw, including the state-of-the-art facilities.
“We might have had a couple of Big Ten championships if we had had this when we were playing,” said Hopkins, who left in 1993 and played in the NFL for 13 seasons with the Oilers and Titans.
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Illini 2-minute drill
Getting offensive: The teams combined for 575 rushing yards, including a game-high 183 for Eastern Illinois’ Travorus Bess.
On the defense: Illinois linebacker Brit Miller was in on 11 tackles, with 2 1/2 for losses, including a sack. Eastern safety Seymour Loftman was in on a game-high 15 tackles.
The number: 298. Yards of total offense for Juice Williams (174 rushing, 124 passing). Williams moved up to sixth on the Illini’s all-time list with 5,322 yards.
Sick bay: Miami Thomas, who started at cornerback, apparently tore his ACL on a punt and is expected to be out for the season. … Defensive tackle Josh Brent didn’t play for the second straight game because of what coach Ron Zook termed a “relapse of an illness.”
Audible: Eastern Illinois, No. 18 in its division, is 0-2 after losing to Central Michigan and Illinois. Said coach Bob Spoo: “We’ve paid our dues. … Now we get back to our level. There’s no question we’ve been outmatched these past two weeks.”
Looking ahead: Illinois hosts Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
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tabannon@tribune.com
