As the resident Hawkeye expert, I'll give the Hawkeye preview. I would expect someone who has watched the Illini season so far can give their two cents on the Illini.

Offense:The offense is led (I use this term loosely) by sophomore QB Jake Christensen. This is his first year starting and when he's not running for his life, he's shown some flashes of being a capable QB. The southpaw has amassed around 200 yards per game, completing 54% of his passes with 10 TDs and 2 INTs. He also can run a bit, getting 130 yards on the ground in gains. He has been sacked 25 times this season.

On the ground, the Hawkeyes have a pair of senior running backs picking up the load. Albert Young is a hard runner who is capable of having a big game. He's got 400 yards on the ground this year, averaging 4.7 per carry. Young also is a capable pass catcher out of the backfield, catching 12 balls for 120 yards. The home run hitter is Damian Sims who is a small scatback type. This years numbers are down for Damian but last year averaged 5 a carry and 10 the year before. Tom Busch is a very good blocking fullback who can catch the ball out of the backfield.

On the outside, the Hawkeyes are playing three redshirt freshman and a sophmore. DJK (Derrell Johnson-Koulinas) is the game breaker with good size and speed. James Cleveland has been the best numbers wise and Trey Stross is the best pure route runner. The tight ends have been decimated by the loss of junior Tony Moeaki. The starter is Brandon Myers who's a better blocker than pass catcher. They also play Tyler Gerstadt and Allen Reisner who give a bit more route running ability.

The line is the most disappointing point of the offense. To their defense, it's quite young, starting a junior, three sophomores and a redshirt freshman. But they have not gelled due to injuries and inexperience. In order for the Hawkeyes to succeed on O it has to start up front.

Defense:
This is the strength of the team. The defensive line starts two senior defensive ends in Bryan Mattison and Kenny Iwebema. Both should be playing in the NFL next year. Iwebema is more the rush end and Mattison is good in both pass rush and run support. He's a carbon copy of Aaron Kampman. The tackles are two undersized but very productive guys in Matt Kroul and Mitch King. Both are juniors and among the team leaders in tackles with Mitch King having 10 TFL and 4 sacks.

The linebackers are good run stoppers with Mike Humpal leading the team in tackles. AJ Edds provides good support as does MLB Mike Klinkenborg. Klinkenborg has been injured so expect to see either Jacoby Coleman (true freshman) or Bryon Gattis playing the middle Saturday.

In the defensive backfield, the best player is Charles Godfrey who leads the team with 4 INTs. The other corner is Adam Shada but has been switched to safety to make up for injuries. Devan Moylan, Brent Greenwood, Harold Dalton and Bradley Fletcher round out the defensive backfield.

Special Teams
The kicking game is horrendous. Ryan Donohue (who was a HS All American from St Rita) is the punter and gets alot of practice with 7 kicks a game. He averages around 40 yards a kick(net of 32), but is prone to shanks. The placekicking duties flip flop every game between Daniel Murray and Austin Signor. Neither seem to have a big leg with the longest FG being 41 yards. The return game is better with the kickoff team averaging 23.5 yards a return and giving up 18. The punt return average is 14 yards but since Andy Brodell has been injured in the Wisconsin game, the fill ins average a bit under that.

Any comment on the impact of the pink locker rooms and the newly refurbished Kinnick with a sea of Bumblebees? That's gotta be mentioned.

The Hawkeyes have lost 8 straight Big Ten games. They lost to an improving Indiana in Kinnick. The aura is gone.

That's pretty detailed there Vince. I'll give you my 2 cents...

QB - Juice's key is to not try to do too much. ILL is a running team, first, second, third, fourth, and fifth in that order. Juice is great at eluding a pass rush but can sometimes feel like he needs to fire up something deep on broken plays. That worked sometimes last year when we had nothing going offensively but, I think, he's better off tucking and running for 5-15 yards in those situations unless a guy is wide open. As long as Juice is not taking chances in the passing game, he's a difficult match-up for the defenses. McGee is capable, can run and is a more accurate thrower. But, McGee is no finished product either and can easily go in and go 0-for-5.

RB - Mendenhall. Dufesne has done well taking screen passes for big gains.

WR - Benn reinjured a shoulder last week. So far, I've heard he's fine. They have a hard time getting him the ball in the passing game due to the QB's inaccuracy. So, they often put him in motion into the backfield and give him the inside handoff or run the option to the outside. He's hasn't really broken anything big in the run game that I've seen. But, lately, they have gotten him some passes and he can break tackles, I mean really break tackles. His best routes have been crossing patterns over the middle.

Line - The O line I think has been unsung and has done a great job of opening holes against defenses stacking against the run.

TE - Hoosegonnatcatchtheball and Cumberland are both solid. Uh-Oh is the better pass catcher. Cumberland is a freakish athlete that I've read might be getting spread out to receiver.

D - I'm getting tired of typing. But, the weakness I think are the Safeties. I think the D is susceptible to passes over the middle and the corners sometimes take too many chances going for the ball. Vontae Davis, however, is a big time talent and I would be surprised if IA goes at him. Look for Wilson and Brent, both freshmen, to get more time as they have started to come on in recent weeks with increased playing time.

Special Teams - The punting remains atrocious. But, our kicker, Reda, is really solid in the Neil Rackers tradition. Benn was returning KOs but with the injury he probably won't be so that is a downgrade. Hudson has a tendency to fumble Punt returns.

Coaching - It's the Zooker.

_________________
https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

Zook what are you doing, idiot! If you have a 4th down decline the f'ing penalty.....2x!!

_________________
"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tough loss. He should of ran the ball in, looked like he plenty of space in front of him, instead of forcing that pass to nobody.

I give up. Zook is a boob. Where the fuck was Mendenhall for that last drive, or for the second half for that matter? Iowa can't stop the run up the middle for God's sake, so let's run 35 options to the outside! Great idea! Then, when we get to the 10 with 1:00 and 3 timeouts, we'll throw it over the middle! Great going! Watching that drive was like watching a replay of the Missouri game, and when I saw McGee drop back to pass on 1st down, I said to myself- this is an interception.

They had the ball on the 2 yard line on the first drive of the second half, and they only once try to right up the middle (that was, I think, the only time in the entire game they actually stopped Mendenhall up the middle.) Then they run that shitty option that didn't work all game. That doesn't work. Then they throw it incomplete.

What a load of bullshit. Twice- TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- he declines a penalty that would have forced 4th down. So what happens on the next two plays? 1.) TD, and 2.) 1st down.

They had a chance to make a statement. The game next week against Michigan could have meant something. Now it's just another fucking game where they won't be able to stop the fucking run or pass the fucking ball. GIVE THE FUCKING BALL TO MENDENHALL!!!!

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

pretty much what irish boy said, grrrrrrrr!!!!!!

_________________
"Stay out of courtrooms-but if you must go in be Well Armed and Don't compromise. You are innocent, remember that. They are guilty" -- Dr. Gonzo

I can't be too harsh on you guys. I'll give my analysis a bit later. I hit some big points in the douchebag post.

Wow Irish Boy. That Boob got you the best talent I've seen on Illinois in years.

Yeah, I know. Actually, I just had this conversation two weekends ago with Dr. Ken and we talked about how Zook is great for recruiting and the best that Illinois can hope for, but that there's almost always going to be a game or two that they lose that they shouldn't. That doesn't mean that it doesn't suck though. I put all my emotional sports investment in Illinois after the Cubs' meltdown and the Bears' suckage. Now, the next thing I have to look forward to is spring training and the NFL draft.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

When you hire Ron Zook, you know what you are getting. Great recruiter, poor in game coach. Illinois just hadnt had success before this so you expected more. Get used to it. Zook may cost you two games a year.

I know. I'm a little bit calmer about the situation right now.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

Take my solution. two shots of Cuervo Black, 8 oz coke, squeeze a lime. It's makes everything calmer.

So here were my general thoughts on the game yesterday (now that the Cuervo is wearing off)

1. Illinois was caught in a trap game. They didn't seem to have alot of emotion on the field like I saw in their games against Wisconsin, Penn State.

2. Illinois didn't blitz as much as they did in recent games. It's not like Iowa has a great downfield game, but they just did it on 3rd downs.

3. Iowa's line improved a ton between last week and this week. I think Jake went down twice for sacks and he wasn't pressured a ton as usual which gave him time to....

4. For the first time all year, Jake looked downfield in the intermediate to long routes. That opened up things underneath.

5. While the yards were not a ton, the running game for Iowa was tremedous. Not many negative yardage plays, most at least getting 2-3 yards which led to more short 3rd down plays.

6. The Iowa defense was tough. They knew how to attack the option and Juice looked lost.

7. When will Zook pull Juice for McGee? You have to think the rotation is hurting both guys at this point.

8. Why did Mendenhall only have 15 touches? If I have him in my backfield, he's getting it 20-25 times. I don't care is he gets 4 or less a carry, he could break one at any time.