Zook, Illini not about to look past Indiana
After Illinois lost its Big Ten opener at Penn State on Sept. 27, Ron Zook declared all of his team's preseason goals to be intact.
After the Illini suffered a stunning homecoming loss to Minnesota on Saturday, Zook could no longer claim the same.
At 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten, Illinois must win out and hope No. 3 Penn State loses three of its last five games to have a chance at the Big Ten's automatic BCS berth.
Clearly, that's not a logical conclusion to the final six weeks of the regular season.
"We're not completely all done with (our preseason goals)," Zook said Sunday, "but a couple of them we've got to do some work on."
The average fan would assume Saturday's 7 p.m. home game with Indiana (2-4, 0-3) represents Illinois' easiest game the rest of the way.
Don't tell Zook that.
Not after losing to Minnesota on Saturday - and not after losing two of his first three games with the Hoosiers.
"It's going to be a game just like (Saturday)," Zook said. "They'll come in here and play like the frickin' Indianapolis Colts. I just got done telling the staff we've got to make our guys understand that."
Juice's boost: Illinois junior quarterback Juice Williams has jumped to fourth place in the national total yardage rankings.
Williams, who piled up a career-high and Memorial Stadium-record 503 total yards in Saturday's loss to Minnesota, averages 353.7 yards per game.
He trails Houston's Case Keenum, Texas Tech's Graham Harrell and Missouri's Chase Daniel.
Williams also ranks fourth nationally - and first among BCS schools - in rushing yards by quarterbacks. He owns 445 yards in 101 carries.
He trails Kent State's Julian Edelman (623 yards), UAB's Joe Webb (588) and Nevada's Colin Kaepernick (565).
Northwestern drops out: After spending a week in the relevant Top 25 polls for the first time since 2005, the Wildcats took a solid tumble after Saturday's 37-20 home loss to Michigan State.
Northwestern fell from 22nd to 31st in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and 23rd to 31st in the Harris Interactive poll.
The Wildcats (5-1, 1-1) retain decent computer rankings, though, so they could still be in the unofficial Top 25 when they host Purdue (2-4, 0-2) Saturday for homecoming (11 a.m., ESPN2).
Senior wide receiver Ross Lane, who posted season-highs in catches (9) and yards (113) against the Spartans, was one of many Wildcats who figures there'll be no problem forgetting Saturday's loss.
"Plays were there, people were open," Lane said. "We just weren't executing. We've bought in to what the coaches have been telling us.
"It should be fine. We'll be fine."
Things will be a lot easier against Purdue if Northwestern doesn't suffer from such a disadvantage in field position.
Michigan State's average possession started at Northwestern's 49-yard line - and 30 of the Spartans' 37 points came on drives that started on MSU's 43-yard line or better.
Northwestern's average possession started at its own 18. That included drives that began at the Wildcats' own 8, 5, 2 and 2. Crazily enough, none of those ended in points.
Defensive dominance: Since surrendering 8 touchdowns in its first two games, Northern Illinois' defense has allowed just 1 touchdown over the last four games.
The Huskies' remarkable run makes them the No. 1 scoring defense in the Mid-American Conference (14.8 ppg) and 15th nationally.
NIU also leads the MAC in rushing defense (109.0 ypg) and total yards allowed (278.7 ypg).
These numbers have a good chance to improve as the Huskies (3-3, 2-1) welcome Toledo (2-4, 1-1) for homecoming on Saturday (3 p.m., CSN).
Though the Rockets are flying after Saturday's remarkable win at Michigan, their offense hasn't crossed the goal line in 178 minutes and 19 seconds.
In other words, they've gone dry since the opening two minutes of their home loss to Florida International on Sept. 27.
Northern Illinois gets things done with a defense long on experience and depth.
Reigning MAC player of the year Larry English leads the team in sacks (3.5) and shares the lead in tackles for loss (6.0), but 16 other Huskies also own tackles for loss.
Eleven Huskies have broken up passes while six have forced fumbles.
Interestingly, despite retaining 23 of their top 24 tacklers from last year, a defensive newcomer leads the Huskies in stops.
Former running back David Bryant, a senior who switched to free safety in the offseason, owns 36 tackles. He also holds the team lead with 2 forced fumbles.