Juiced-up offense clicks by land, air

CHAMPAIGN -- Head coach Ron Zook and offensive coordinator Mike Locksley made two statements Saturday about Illinois' quarterback situation.

First, they named a fifth game-day captain for the first time all year. That enabled sophomore Juice Williams to be a captain -- an honor previously bestowed only upon seniors and juniors -- for the first time in his career.

Second, they kept redshirt freshman backup Eddie McGee on the bench for the second time this year.

Williams rushed for a season-high 99 yards and passed for a season-high 145 yards to direct the Illini to a 28-17 victory over Ball State.

"(Locksley and I) talked a long time about it last night," Zook said. "Barring any injury, we were going to let Juice run with it."

Illinois still tried to stick with Williams' strengths. After he overthrew Arrelious Benn downfield for an interception late in the first quarter, the Illini didn't have him throw to a receiver stationed across the line of scrimmage for the next five drives.

In fact, through three quarters, Williams' two completions to Ball State defenders had gone for more yards and more points (48 and 6) than his four completions to teammates (44 and zero).

But in the fourth quarter, Williams delivered a play-action pass to Benn over the middle that the freshman turned into a 56-yard gain.

Then, on the final drive that chewed up the game's last 8:41, Williams hit Brian Gamble for 30 yards and Benn for 15.

"I'll go back as soon as I can and watch film to see the things that I did," Williams said, "as far as balance and standing tall in the pocket. (Those are) the things I did to complete those passes and try to remember those things coming out the next week."

Williams also became the 34th Illinois player -- and first quarterback -- to eclipse the 1,000-yard career rushing mark.

"It's cool. It's something to talk about later on in life," Williams said. "But obviously, I want to be known for having more passing yards now."

Mendenhall returns to form: After consecutive poor Saturdays by his standards, junior running back Rashard Mendenhall piled up 189 yards and 2 scores to climb perilously close to the top of Illinois' record book. Not only did Mendenhall become the eighth player to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season, he needs just 218 yards the rest of the way to break Antoineo Harris' single-season record of 1,330 yards.

Mendenhall also owns 14 touchdowns this season, 1 shy of Howard Griffith's single-season record.

Illinois coach Ron Zook lauded Mendenhall's effort but also noted his fourth-quarter fumble and other issues.

"He had 189 yards, which is a pretty good day," Zook said. "But he left some yards out there. That's something a lot of times people don't see. He could've been over 200 today and probably another touchdown."