After beginning its season 2-0, Illinois has lost three of its last four games and will visit Madison Oct. 11 amidst an absolute free fall.
The Fighting Illini (0-2 Big Ten, 3-3 overall) topped Youngstown State 28-17 and Western Kentucky 42-34 to get off to a promising start to its 2014 season, but then ran into a wall at Washington Sept. 13.
The Huskies jumped out to a 38-12 lead at halftime and easily cruised to a 44-19 win over Illinois. The Illini were able to skirt by with its porous defense in its first two games, but Washington pounded out 464 yards of total offense, including 245 yards rushing against a weak Illinois front seven.
The Illini bounced back the following week, outlasting Texas State 42-35, but they were then annihilated by Nebraska Sept. 27.
Without star quarterback Wes Lunt, who was a late scratch with a knee injury, Illinois managed just two touchdowns against the Cornhuskers and were held scoreless in the second half. Nebraska was able to pull away by scoring 24 points in the second quarter en route to a comfortable 45-14 win.
Its most recent, and by far most humiliating, loss came at the hands of Purdue Oct. 4 in Champaign. The perennially inept Boilermakers grinded out a 38-27 victory by wearing down Illinois on the ground.
Purdue gained an astounding 349 yards rushing, good for 7.8 yards per attempt and four touchdowns. The Boilermakers saw runs of 54, 62, 53 and 44 yards from four different rushers, who extended drives and kept the ball out of the hands of Lunt, who returned to action after sitting out against Nebraska.
Lunt was 27-of-39 for 332 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but he exited the game early in the fourth quarter after breaking his leg. His backup, Reilly O’Toole, managed to pass for 118 passing yards in the fourth quarter alone, but all three of his drives fell short of the end zone.
Illinois will look to scrape itself off the floor when it takes on the Badgers, who are also coming off an embarrassing Big Ten loss, but it will be challenging given its injury situation on offense and inability to defend the run.
The Illini have allowed an average of 249 rushing yards per contest, and have managed to force just seven turnovers through its first six games.
With Lunt sidelined for four to six weeks, Illinois will have to find other sources of scoring in order to spark its offense. O’Toole will have to start against the Badgers, but his 1:4 touchdown to interception ratio is a liability that could prevent the Illini from sustaining drives and putting points on the board.
Leading rusher Josh Ferguson has been serviceable, but the junior running back has found the end zone just five times, and he is averaging a very modest 72 yards per game.
With its offense dealing with a new quarterback and its defense still figuring out how to clamp down against the run, Illinois may be in for a long day at Camp Randall Stadium.
