Zook: QB Williams able to practice

Juice Williams shouldn't miss any practice time because of the injury that knocked him out of Saturday's 40-34 loss to Missouri.

According to coach Ron Zook, Williams sat out the final 40 minutes with blurred vision because of blood in his left eye.

"He's 90 percent better today," Zook said Sunday. "The doc thinks he'll be 100 percent tomorrow. I expect him to be practicing tomorrow."

That means Williams, a true sophomore, will make his 11th consecutive start when Illinois hosts Western Illinois at 6 p.m. Saturday.

That also means redshirt freshman Eddie McGee returns to backup duty despite his intriguing relief appearance in St. Louis. McGee led Illinois to 28 points over the final 40 minutes, but he also lost 2 fumbles that led to 13 Mizzou points and threw 2 fourth-quarter interceptions that stopped drives.

McGee played with a tender left (non-throwing) shoulder for the final 20-plus minutes. He took a hard shot from safety Del Howard on a draw, then took another on defensive end Stryker Sulak's sack.

McGee felt enough pain that offensive coordinator Mike Locksley had third-string quarterback Phil Haig, a true freshman, warming up.

"We've seen the way Eddie executed (Saturday), the good things he did, that we've been seeing most of the summer," Locksley said. "He did what a No. 2 quarterback is supposed to do. Minus the turnovers, I'd say he played a pretty good game for us. There are no excuses for turning the ball over."

Clippity clip: When Missouri's Jeremy Maclin returned a Kyle Yelton punt 66 yards for a score Saturday, it marked the sixth special teams TD against Illinois in Ron Zook's 24-game era.

But upon review of the tape, it was clear Maclin benefited from some illegal activity by his teammates. Joe Morgan of Illinois was shoved to the turf from behind just as he was headed into the path that Maclin took for the score.

"Yeah, I saw it," Ron Zook said. "There were two of them. When it's that close to the football, it stings you a little bit."

Top of the world: Senior middle linebacker J Leman's 20-tackle performance gives him a share of the national lead with Colorado's Jordan Dizon. The Champaign native owns 295 tackles for his career. If Leman averages 10 tackles per game for the rest of the regular season, he'll pass such studs as Dick Butkus and Scott Studwell to claim sixth place on Illinois' all-time list.

Flipping quarters: His master plan foiled, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is back to square one with the quarterback situation.

After the Irish got pounded by Georgia Tech, Weis said Sunday all three of his quarterbacks -- sophomore Demetrius Jones, junior Evan Sharpley and freshman Jimmy Clausen -- remain in contention to start this week at Penn State. The coach will announce a starter Tuesday.

Jones started the opener and struggled, fumbling twice and rushing 11 times for 28 yards. Sharpley had decent passing numbers (10-for-13) but was sacked seven times. Clausen entered late and eased doubts about his surgically repaired throwing elbow with 4 completions, but he didn't wow anyone.

"Now all bets are off," Weis said. "Everyone's fair game as far as what we're going to do. I'm going to let you know on Tuesday."

Evaluating Jones could be tricky since the sophomore attempted only 3 passes against Georgia Tech.

"He's not incapable of throwing it," Weis said.

Notre Dame finished with minus-8 rushing yards, 4 more than its all-time low against Michigan State in 1965. The Irish had 18 of 63 offensive plays (28.6 percent) go for negative yards.

"The offense hung the defense out to dry," Weis said.

Inches to go: Northern Illinois freshman running back Chad Spann didn't touch the ball Saturday against Iowa after being pegged to get some carries. Spann, who earned a scholarship Aug. 23 after coming to NIU as an invited walk-on, was listed on the participation report. … NIU place-kicker Chris Nendick tied John Ivanic for second place on the school's all-time field goals list Saturday with his 46th kick, a 33-yarder. Steve Azar holds the record with 73 field goals. … Charlie Weis praised the play of safety David Bruton, who tied for the team lead in tackles (9) and had a 10-yard sack against Georgia Tech. "Bruton was all over the field," Weis said. … NIU defensive tackle Craig Rusch has at least 1 tackle for loss in 12 consecutive games after dropping Iowa's Jake Christensen for a 6-yard loss Saturday.