Illini defense, Mizzou offense on a big collision course

Ron Zook stood at the lectern Tuesday and let the facts rush from his mouth like a man hopeful his truth-telling will lead to a lighter sentence on judgment day.

Instead, Illinois' third-year coach simply built a case that Missouri might boast the nation's most explosive offense this side of Hawaii.

When the Illini take to the Edward Jones Dome turf for their 2007 opener at 2:36 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), they'll encounter a startlingly mature and productive Tigers offense.

Missouri finished No. 8 nationally in total yardage and No. 20 in scoring last fall. And from that group, as Zook couldn't help but note, the Tigers retain:

--99.6 percent of their passing yards, almost all of them by all-American candidate Chase Daniel as the maestro of Mizzou's Northwestern-style spread offense.

--You can tell he's a winner, Zook said. --We've had scouts mention that he reminds them of Drew Brees.

--95 percent of their rushing yards, largely due to the Big 12's top returning rusher in Tony Temple.

--88 percent of their receiving yards, which takes into account the contributions of a pair of future NFL tight ends in Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman as well as senior split end Will Franklin.

Perhaps it's an act, but Illinois co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch came off like a giddy schoolgirl with a crush when describing what he saw on Missouri's videotapes.

--What they do that's so cool that I like is they've got these two really good tight ends, Disch said. --Usually when tight ends are in the game, it's run formations and big on big. But what they do is move them around and play them as receivers.

Rucker and Coffman combined for 111 catches, 1,149 yards and 14 scores last season. Franklin averaged more than 17 yards per catch on the outside with 6 TDs.

Daniel, a gunslinger out of Texas, completed 63 percent of his throws for 3,527 yards and 28 scores.

In four of Mizzou's 13 games last fall, Daniel threw for at least 4 touchdowns.

Get the point? The Tigers are loaded.

But here's the fact Illinois' coaches have soft-pedaled going into the Arch Rivalry: They bring back at least as much experience and talent on defense as Missouri does on offense.

With the exception of cornerback Alan Ball (12 starts) and nose tackle Josh Norris (11 starts), the Illini retain every defender who made more than 5 tackles in 2006.

Now, anyone can stare at the stats and point out that Illinois ranked 91st nationally in scoring defense last year. But that doesn't take into account how Illinois' offense and special teams had a knack for throwing the team stats out of whack.

Opponents scored EIGHT touchdowns against Illinois last year when its defense wasn't on the field. Three fumble returns for scores. Two interception returns. Two kickoff returns. One blocked punt recovered in the end zone.

Throw out the 58 points surrendered by other units and Illini defenders gave up 21.9 points per game - good for the upper half of the Football Bowl Subdivision pack.

But let's go beyond numbers when assessing whether Illinois has the defense to slow down Missouri and the rest of its ambitious schedule.

Something happened in front of 108,000 fans at Beaver Stadium last Oct. 21 that, if Illinois becomes known as a defensive juggernaut, historians will pin it down as the turning point.

On a gorgeous fall afternoon in State College, the Illini allowed Penn State's offense to score just 10 points and amass 184 total yards.

The game went down as another loss because Illinois' offense and special teams coughed up 16 second-half points, but it marked a Thomas Alva Edison moment for the defense.

--We were like,'Man, we can actually play with these guys,' meaning the upper-echelon teams, said senior strong safety Kevin Mitchell. --That's why we did it the next week at Wisconsin. We held them under 100 yards rushing. And then Ohio State.

Illinois lost 17-10 to the top-ranked Buckeyes last November, but Ohio State nearly had its season ruined two months early as the tongue-flapping, bone-jarring Illini allowed 29 yards and zero points in 30 second-half plays.

Runaway Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith couldn't run away from the Illini, who sacked him three times and smacked him at the whistle several times more.

Said Smith afterward: --There were times where I really had to dig down deep and understand that this is where I want to be, this is going to be the situation I'm going to be in, and I'm going to have to take some of these hits to continue to play in the game.

Why dredge up that Smith quote? Because Mitchell likens Missouri's varied attack to that of Ohio State. And Illinois, which has added pass-rushing savants Martez Wilson and Jerry Brown into the mix, hopes to treat Daniel the way it dealt with Smith.

--Yeah, I'm confident, Mitchell said. --And the reason is because of our D-line. They've made tremendous strides over the last two years and they're only getting better.

--When there's pressure on the quarterback, that makes my job a WHOLE lot easier.