Freshman leads Illini past Hoosiers, 55-13
CHAMPAIGN - Remember how Illinois fans fled Memorial Stadium in the waning moments last week as if they were getting paid to leave?
The same thing happened again Saturday, but not because the faithful grew disgusted with Illinois' effort.
This time they left early knowing the Illini unloaded a week's worth of anguish on hapless Indiana.
Juice Williams accounted for 4 touchdowns and true freshman Jason Ford added 3 rushing scores as Illinois pummeled the Hoosiers 55-13 Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 62,870.
"After last week they understood we had to go to work," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "The season wasn't over."
In fact, Illinois' season just might have been revived by Minnesota's slap in the face.
Starting with the Illini's first play from scrimmage, when Williams hooked up for a 60-yard bomb to Will Judson, the hosts looked ready to roll from the get-go like no other game this season.
In addition to setting a Zook-era record for points and posting a season-high 563 total yards, the Illini (4-3, 2-2) earned the school's widest Big Ten victory margin since a 49-3 whipping of Iowa in 1993.
Ford, who had carried the ball just 19 times for 15 yards entering the night, gave the rushing attack a punch in the arm with his bludgeoning style.
The 6-foot, 222-pound Belleville Althoff product carried 19 times for 172 yards and TD jaunts of 5, 41 and 1 yards.
"The thing he brings, he's a low-center-of-gravity guy," offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said. "Today he made people tackle him. He made people miss tackles.
"I think he has some characteristics of being a back that I think will have a pretty good career here if he continues to come along."
Williams, meanwhile, took another stride in his accelerated maturation process.
The junior, who made his 28th career start, set a personal best for completion percentage as he hit 16 of 22 passes for 271 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Williams opened the scoring less than three minutes in with a 1-yard flip to tight end Michael Hoomanawanui on play-action.
He made it 14-0 with a 20-yard TD toss to a wide-open Jeff Cumberland on a post pattern, then rifled a 37-yard touchdown strike to Arrelious Benn (7 catches for 130 yards) to give Illinois a 28-7 bulge with 7:28 left in the first half.
Meanwhile, Illinois' defense feasted on an Indiana attack that didn't have third-year quarterback Kellen Lewis.
While Lewis stayed in Bloomington, Ind., to rest a high ankle sprain, sophomore Ben Chappell's first start turned into a royal pain for him and the Hoosiers (2-5, 0-4).
Starting with senior end Derek Walker's 9-yard sack on the third play of the night, Illinois rolled up 4 sacks and forced 2 fumbles.
"Lewis brings a lot of experience," said Illini co-defensive coordinator Curt Mallory. "He's a runner. We felt we could pressure the other guy a little bit more. So we did that early and tried to get after him."
"I didn't know until the first play," Walker said. "I got in my stance - on the handoff, I saw it was No. 4 (Chappell). I was like, 'OK. So (Lewis) is not back there.' And it let us get more after them."
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=243828">Freshmen getting the job done <span class="date">[10/18/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>