Illinois Football: Ohio State Gameday Preview

Illinois Football vs. Ohio State

Saturday, November 1st – at Ohio Stadium; Columbus, Ohio

• Kickoff – 7:12 p.m. (CST)
• Television – ABC
• Radio – Fighting Illini Radio Network | Sirius/XM Radio (113/195)
• Weather – Mostly cloudy, 38 degrees, 40% precipitation (via accuweather.com).
• Odds – Ohio State is listed as 29-point favorites.

Quick Facts

• 101st meeting, Ohio State leads series (66-30-4).
• Head coach Tim Beckman will be looking for his first victory against the Buckeyes. In four meeting, Beckman was 0-2 at Toledo and is 0-2 at Illinois against OSU.
• True freshman Mike Dudek can make Illinois history today. The young receiver needs just 38 yards to break Arrelious Benn’s school record for freshman receiving yards.
• Earnest Thomas III forced his seventh career forced fumble against Minnesota last weekend. He’s now tied for fourth on the Illinois’ career forced fumbles list.

Here are some quotes from head coach Tim Beckman’s press conference this week:

On enthusiasm:

“They asked me about that (Saturday) on the radio and I said I’m not going to bottle up any of that [momentum], we’re going to keep it. To me, that’s the way you play football. You play with great enthusiasm and I saw that. We made a tape just of our sidelines. I think that’s important for a young football team, because I think at times we look at things and we’re more reactionary instead of being proactive with it all, including that stuff on the sidelines. The eruptions that we had on the sidelines were unbelievable after a big play. After Mason Monheim’s interception, there was about four coaches that almost got trampled on by the players jumping up. Even Carroll Phillips, who wasn’t even suited up, but he’s jumping all over the pile and getting excited. That’s what the game football is about. We’re going to show this football team that’s the way you need to be if you’re playing or if you’re not.”

On Wes Lunt’s recovery:

“We feel like there’s a great possibility for him to be back after the (upcoming) open week. Our doctors are stating that he’s making great progress. We’ll sprinkle in and do some things throwing the ball, but, of course, not in a competitive atmosphere. I know our players will be excited about that, and the coaches, and I’m sure Wes [Lunt] will be, too.”

On facing Ohio State:

“[It’s a] typical Urban [Meyer] football team. A lot of the same things he’s done throughout a lot of his years as a head football coach: very talented, a lot of speed. Defensively, Luke (Fickell) and Chris (Ash) are doing a great job right now with that football team. They’re very, very athletic on defense, more than I’ve seen them. They probably have one of the top players in the country on defense, one of the best I’ve seen. No question it’ll be a challenge, but we’re used to challenges. We’ve played the likes of a Nebraska team that I think is good, a Wisconsin team that is very, very good. I think Minnesota is a very good team. All of these teams we play, [like] Purdue, are all good football teams and we know it’ll be a challenge and we look forward to it.”

(All quotes and video from Illini Productions and fightingillini.com)

 Gameday Thoughts

• Quarterback Reilly O’Toole is going to be the most important player on the offensive side of the ball for the Illini against OSU. O’Toole was able to make plays passing and running the football against Minnesota. He also kept the ball out of the Gophers hands. In order to grab a win against Ohio State, he will need to be just as good because there’s a good chance the Illini rushing attack will be limited against a high powered Buckeye defense.
• The Illini defense will be up against two players who can hurt opponents with their legs. Running back Ezekiel Elliott and quarterback J.T. Barrett both carried the ball over 20 times and combined for three touchdowns on the ground last week against Penn State. Illinois’ defense did a good job against David Cobb last week, especially in the first half. However, Elliott and Barrett can make the Fighting Illini pay if given the chance.
• This thought is a bit of a prediction. Everyone knows that wide receiver Mike Dudek is getting close to breaking a school record set by former Illini Arrelious Benn. Dudek will break that record today against the Buckeyes…on the first pass of the game for Illinois. It will be a 40 yard reception for Dudek that will get the record out of the way early and will let the team worry about upsetting the Buckeyes.

Injury Report

The Fighting Illini will be missing three players on the defensive side of the ball this week. On Friday, it was announced that Kenny Nelson, Jaylen Dunlap, and B.J. Bello will all miss the game against Ohio State due to undisclosed injuries. Dunlap and Bello are only expected to miss the one game. Nelson, on the other hand, will be out for the rest of the season.

Prediction

By: Staff Writer Austin Jabs

Illinois will make the first half close, but will stumble in the second half. This game won’t be as bad as the current point spread (28.5) is but the Illini will need things to go just right to have a huge upset in college football. All in all, Illinois will be respectable on Saturday under the lights, but alas, they will still take home a loss.

Final Score: Ohio State 42, Illinois 28

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