Illinois uses turnovers to hold off Indiana, 43-13

Illinois talked all week about two keys to the Indiana game: blunting the effectiveness of quarterback Ben Chappell and finding a way to separate the Hoosiers from the ball.

If you can do the second, it turns out, the first one will take care of itself.

The Illini picked off Chappell three times Saturday and forced the Hoosiers (4-3, 0-3) into five total turnovers in a 43-13 rout that, with representatives of the Texas Bowl in the press box, pushed Illinois (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) closer to the six victories needed for a shot at the post season.

"A turnover is one of the most important plays that you can have on defense," pass-rushing specialist Justin Staples said. "It can change the momentum of a game. You can go from being down two scores to getting a turnover and scoring_then it's a completely different game."

In this case, a lot different than the final statistics indicated it should have been.

Indiana had 388 yards of offense to Illinois' 289, ran 83 plays on offense to the Illini's 53 and held the ball for 34:58, more than nine minutes more than Illinois.

"We just can't turn the ball over like we did and expect to win a Big Ten football game," Indiana coach Bill Lynch said. "We just weren't efficient enough to expect to score (more)."

Why didn't all those stats add up to a win for the Hoosiers?

The explanation starts with Staples, and a first half the Illini couldn't have drawn up much better.

Chappell averages just shy of 310 yards a game and is almost never sacked. He spent the first 30 minutes Saturday under pressure and, while sacked just once, he was hurried and hit often.

"I thought we'd get pressure," Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said. "He's such a good quarterback at throwing the ball off his back leg and still being accurate, and he usually gets rid of the ball right when somebody gets there. I think we got him looking a few times."

The Illini forced three first-half turnovers, two of them Chappell interceptions and all of which led to points.

The first was a pick by defensive back Tavon Wilson deep in Hoosier territory that set up a Derek Dimke field goal for a 3-0 first-quarter lead.

Then Staples went to work.

First, he stripped the ball out of backup quarterback Dusty Kiel's arms, wrestling it away for linebacker Ian Thomas to grab at the Indiana 23. The Illini turned that into a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase to Jarred Fayson and a 17-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

Minutes later, Staples hit Chappell as the quarterback threw the ball, forcing it off target for backup defensive back Patrick Nixon-Youman to pick off on the run. Nixon-Youman glided 68 yards down the left sideline for another TD and, with 7:07 to play in the first half, a 24-7 lead.

A pair of late field goals made the score 27-10 at the half.

Illinois padded its lead at 29-10 with a third-quarter safety, blocking Chris Hagerup's punt in the Hoosier end zone.

Indiana pulled backed to 29-13 on Mitch Ewald's 21-yard field goal with 1:53 to play in the third quarter, but the Hoosiers never looked like they had the pieces still missing from a comeback in them.

Their last four possessions ended with a punt, a pair of interceptions — one of them another return for a touchdown, this one 75 yards by Jonathan Brown off Kiel — and the end of the game.

"I think the secondary did some things to disguise the defense that might have forced (Chappell) to hold on to the ball a little bit," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "But (the defense) had a great plan. They didn't do a lot of things, but they executed the things that the coaches implemented."

Chappell finished 26-48 with 279 yards and a touchdown, but his three interceptions buried the Hoosiers. Receiver Ted Bolser had four catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.

Scheelhaase turned a quiet 123 yards of passing into a pair of touchdowns and Illinois rushed for 166 yards, including tailback Mikel Leshoure's 77 yards — 36 less than his season average — and one touchdown.

Bowl eligibility is within the Illini's reach, with a humbled Purdue, beaten 49-0 by Ohio State Saturday, coming to town in a week and a home game left with Minnesota.

Indiana's path is tougher, with games left against Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State and the Boilermakers.