Turnovers destroy Illini's chances

CHAMPAIGN - Brit Miller meant to offer a quick preview of next week's do-or-die regular-season finale at Northwestern.

But in doing so, Illinois' senior middle linebacker inadvertently went a long way toward explaining why things turned sour for the Illini against No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday.

"It's one of those games where I think Juice (Williams) will play well," Miller said. "Which means we'll play well."

But when Illinois' junior quarterback doesn't play well ...

Last year in Columbus, Williams played the mistake-free game of his life and threw 4 touchdown passes to lead Illinois to the upset of top-ranked Ohio State.

On Saturday, Williams committed 2 first-half turnovers that led to 14 points and an unsolvable deficit.

That, in turn, led to a fourth-quarter benching after the Buckeyes were well on their way to a 30-20 Big Ten triumph before 62,780 fans at frozen, windswept Memorial Stadium.

Now, Illinois (5-6, 3-4) must win Saturday's trip to Northwestern (8-3, 4-3) to have a chance to play in a bowl.

"We're going to beat Northwestern," predicted Illinois wide receiver Arrelious Benn.

Not if the Illini don't learn several lessons from their loss to Ohio State (9-2, 6-1).

"I think two things," said Illini coach Ron Zook. "You can't turn the ball over and have a chance to win. You can't give up 300 yards rushing and have a chance to win."

First, the turnovers.

On Illinois' second possession, Williams had the ball poked away from behind by linebacker Tyler Moeller at the Illinois' 19.

"He hit the ball right on the nose," Williams said. "That's still no excuse. I've got to hold the ball high and tight and protect the football."

Five plays later, freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor rolled out and scored from 1 yard out to give the Bucks a 7-0 lead.

Then, trailing 16-7 in the second quarter, Williams led a march to Ohio State's 12. He threw a crossing pattern to Benn, but safety Kurt Coleman jumped the route, bumped Benn and picked off the pass.

Benn leapt up and demanded pass interference, but received no satisfaction.

"From what I saw, Rejus had a step on a guy and when the ball was in the air, he got tripped up," Williams said. "The official made his call, which was no call. You've just got to live and die with that."

Or just die with it. The Bucks sped downfield as Pryor hit Dane Sanzenbacher for a 20-yard score on third-and-5 to make it 23-7 with 6:30 left in the first half.

From there, Pryor tried just 2 more passes the rest of the day.

With 25-mph winds making passing tricky - and Illinois never getting closer than 10 points - the Bucks became quite content to run.

Beanie Wells pounded 24 times for 143 yards (including a 25-yard run where he hurdled safety Donsay Hardeman) while Pryor scampered 13 times for 111 yards.

"It was a running back's dream," Wells said. "Cold and wet. What more could you ask for?"

Ohio State finished with 305 yards (the most against Illinois since USC's 344 yards in the Rose Bowl) and 3 scores on the ground.

Pryor's 10 attempts and 49 passing yards were the fewest by an Illini opponent since 2003, when Northwestern threw just nine times and ran for 444 yards in the season finale.

"You can't win games when you don't stop the run," said Illini co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch. "To me, that's it in a nutshell. It's not like they surprised us or anything."

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