Published: October 12, 2008 12:44 am      

Gophers catch Illini

CHAMPAIGN — Before the season even started, Illinois football coach Ron Zook said the key this season for the Fighting Illini was senior leadership.

“We’ve got two classes of kids that think coming to Illinois means that you to the Rose Bowl,’’ said Zook during the Illinois media day event on Aug. 3rd in Rantoul. “We need the older guys to remind them of the work it took to get to that status.’’

After Saturday’s 27-20 defeat at the hands of the upstart Minnesota Golden Gophers before a homecoming crowd of 62,870 at Memorial Stadium, the entire Illini team got a rude wake-up call.

“It’s the same feeling that we had two years ago, when we 2-and-10,’’ said Illinois junior quarterback Juice Williams, who set a Memorial Stadium record with 503 yards of total offense. “We had a lot of momentum coming into this game (after a 45-20 win at Michigan), it was homecoming — and this hurts a lot.

“We knew the feeling that we had going through those times (2006 season), it was something we wanted to avoid.’’

While Williams did throw for 462 yards and pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns for Illinois, he was also guilty of committing two of his team’s three turnovers.

“There are plays that are constantly running through our minds. What if I did this? What if I did that?’’ Williams said. “That is the type of thing that you are going to experience when you lose tough games like this.

“We can’t turn the ball over within our own 20 yard line and we can’t have the interception that we had.’’

The Golden Gophers (6-1) turned both Illini fumbles into second-half touchdowns with Simoni Lawrence’s 9-yard return of a Williams’ fumble for a score provided the final margin of victory.

“Like our told our football team, we didn’t deserve to win that game,’’ Zook said. “That was a game where the offense, defense and special teams — all had their part in it.

“We had chances to make things happen to win and we didn’t capitalize.’’

One of the biggest misses for the Illinois offense came in late in the third quarter.

For the third time in the contest, the Illini drove the ball inside of the Gophers 20 yard line and they had first-and-goal at the Minnesota 5.

After gaining no yardage on first down, Williams ran down to the 1-foot line. Instant replay confirmed that he was short of the goal line.

On the next play, the 240-pound Illinois quarterback tried to sneak the ball into the end zone, but he was stopped.

Illini offensive coordinator Mike Locksley attempted a naked bootleg with Williams on fourth-and-1 and this time the junior reached the end zone.

Or did he?

Instant replay showed that he came up just short of the end zone and Minnesota had stopped the Big Ten’s best rushing offense the past two seasons on back-to-back plays from less than 1 yard.

“I thought that I crossed it, but obviously, my knee was down,’’ Williams said. “It’s the cost of technology. You can’t complain about instant replays. You don’t complain when you get stuff that goes your way, so you can’t complain when they don’t go your way.’’

Illinois junior offensive guard Jon Asamoah said he wasn’t sure what went wrong until he watched the tape, but it was something that should not have happened.

“We’re supposed to be able to punch it in there and we didn’t,’’ he said. “To have that touchdown taken away by instant replay was so frustrating, but it should not have come down to a replay.

“We were driving the ball on them, but we were just killing ourselves with negative plays, or penalties or just missed assignments.’’

Illinois wound up outgaining Minnesota 550-312, but yards don’t always correlate to points.

“We could move the ball, we just have to get the touchdowns,’’ Asamoah said. “We just couldn’t finish out drives.’’

All week long, Zook cautioned his players and the fans about a Minnesota squad that is now bowl-eligible after winning just one game a year ago.

“That is what worried all week, that this team would come in here and give it all they had — and they did,’’ he said. “Just because you go to Michigan and you win a game there, that doesn’t mean… Everyone in this league is out to get you.

“I thought we were ready. I thought the preparation was good, but we just didn’t get it done. This was a pivotal game for us and I was worried about what just happened.’’

Two years ago, Illinois pulled off a huge 23-20 win at Michigan State only to return home and lose to Indiana 34-32. That was the start of a seven-game losing streak to close out that season.

In an effort to remind this team about that season, Zook had former Illinois lineback J Lehman talk to the team on Tuesday.

“It’s hard when you’ve got a lot of guys that haven’t been through this,’’ Zook said. “You have two groups of guys that haven’t been through the tough times and you have two groups that have.

“I just told the young guys in there, we are going to find out what kind of team we are.’’

Up next for Illinois is the Indiana Hoosiers, who have lost four straight after Saturday’s 45-9 loss to Iowa in Bloomington.

But, Williams knows it doesn’t matter who the Illini face next.

“We are either going to lie down, accept defeat and keep getting beat. Or we are going to step up, be men, go out there make plays and win games,’’ he said.

Kickoff next Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign is set for 7 p.m.