WORSE, NOT BETTER
Extra week of prep doesn’t help Illini in ugly loss to Iowa
CHAMPAIGN — This is what Illinois football in November looks like? This is what having an extra week to prepare for a big game looks like? This is what nearly three full seasons into Tim Beckman’s run as coach looks like?
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. And, no, a massively one-sided 30-14 defeat against Iowa isn’t the least bit acceptable.
Not at this point for Beckman and a four-victory squad that’s desperately clinging to the distant possibility of reaching a bowl game. Not against a Hawkeyes team that was destroyed 51-14 at Minnesota one short week ago.
The Illini (4-6, 1-5 Big Ten) beat the Gophers this season, didn’t they? Hard to believe, but it’s true.
Athletic director Mike Thomas refuses to speak publicly about Beckman’s job status. From the beginning, all Thomas has said with regard to Year 3 is that it had to be better than Year 2.
He offered the same lame insight in Year 2: It had to be better than the 2-10 debacle that was Beckman’s first season. As though that would be hard to do. As though 4-8 really should be considered ‘‘better’’ than anything.
But now? A fifth victory — against Penn State next weekend or at Northwestern in the finale — most certainly wouldn’t be ‘‘better.’’ Neither Beckman nor Thomas could sell that to a frustrated fan base if he tried.
And what if Illinois beats the Nittany Lions and the Wildcats to finish 6-6? We’ll cross that bridge when it collapses.
‘‘As soon as they leave this locker room,’’ Beckman said of his players, ‘‘the focus has to be on Penn State and the focus has to be on how we can become a better football team.’’
Meanwhile, the Illini have the hideous numbers from Saturday staring them in their faces. They were outgained 587 yards to 235, with 89 of their yards coming on an all-but-meaningless late touch- down drive led by backup quarterback Reilly O’Toole.
Illinois punted eight times and committed eight penalties to Iowa’s two and one. Dropped passes? Don’t go there. Blown assignments? Let’s not even talk about it.
It was a coaching disaster for the home team. With an extra week of preparation and starting quarterback Wes Lunt back from injury, there was some hope for a successful day. Instead, Lunt led the offense nowhere. The Illini couldn’t run, couldn’t pass, couldn’t protect.
Defensively, they did what they could, making multiple fourthdown stops and taking advantage of some Hawkeyes mistakes to sneak into the half down only 9-7. But a weak halftime fireworks display at Memorial Stadium was brilliant compared with Illinois’ utter lack of fireworks in the second half.
‘‘We battled there for about three quarters, and then it just slipped away out of our hands,’’ Beckman said.
That’s one way of looking at it, anyway. Here’s another way: At the end of three quarters, the score was 16-7 and Iowa (7-3, 4-2) had about 31⁄2 times the yardage (442-132) of its gracious hosts. Yeah, this was bad. Can it get much worse?