Mendenhall struts his stuff

PASADENA, Calif. -- There will never be an Illinois running back to equal Red Grange. Heck, he was just voted as the greatest player in college football history.

But if there were still questions as to the identity of the second-greatest running back in Illini annals, Rashard Mendenhall supplied all the answers in the 94th Rose Bowl on Tuesday.

The Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year flashed his speed on a 79-yard touchdown sprint early in the third quarter, then added a juking and tackle-shucking 55-yard pass reception minutes later that will be one for the time capsule.

Mendenhall finished with a game-high 155 yards on 17 carries. He also caught 5 passes for 59 yards in what could have served as his final game in an Illini uniform.

"I'm still not sure," he said. "There's a lot of things I have to assess. I still have to get things back from the NFL and still a lot of thought going into it."

"Obviously, I think he has NFL talent," said Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. "Whether or not (he's ready) maturity-wise or whether or not he's necessarily ready, that's something he and his family are going to have to decide."

If Mendenhall leaves for the NFL, he goes as the school's No. 7 all-time rusher with 2,539 yards. However, that's second behind Jim Grabowski among those who played just three years.

Mendenhall also set Illinois' single-season scoring record with his third-quarter touchdown sprint.

He delivered 19 touchdowns for 114 points this season. Arizona Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers posted 110 points in 1999.

One more record for Mendenhall's resume? His 1,999 all-purpose yards eclipsed Keith Jones' mark of 1,818 yards in 1988.

While all those numbers are special, Locksley thought Mendenhall's Rose Bowl statistics might turn out even better.

The Illini studied how USC defended Oregon's spread-option attack during a 24-17 Trojans loss in November and applied it to their own offense.

"We expected them to be a 'Bear' defense,' " Locksley said. "One of the things we thought would give us a chance against that type of front was to run some speed option.

"Get the ball pitched out on the perimeter, which we were able to do against Ohio State and some other teams that tried to pressure us.

"We were able to get the ball pitched, but we weren't able to get the play-side linebacker sealed and we had a couple breakdowns in the blocking scheme."

Remarkably, Mendenhall was tackled behind the line on six of his 17 carries. On some of those blown-up plays, Illinois' wide receivers couldn't block the cornerback and Mendenhall had nowhere to go.

"When you're running the option game, they're going to decide who they'll make be the runner," Locksley said. "They chose Rashard to be the runner and we were able to get the ball pitched or handed off, but the difference was our perimeter blocking.

"That's been one of the things we've done well all year, minus the Iowa game."