Opening line is Illinois -7. I would give the points on this. Despite Illini's struggles this past weekend, they are much deeper than Northwestern. Even with Dan Persa back, I'm going to say there is a little more rust after not throwing a pass in a gametime situation in almost a year.

But as always, I offer up a sig bet to my Illini friends... and I don't take points when I bet on my team. Dr. Ken? IB?

I will be at this game. I'm hoping the Illini can put it together.

I'm a bit troubled by Petrino's play calling. While he is eventually adjusting during games, he should be able to adjust quicker. Plus, the Illini are a running/option team. They should be running it constantly. Scheelhaase is not a passing QB, though he can throw.

That being said, the Illini's defense is top notch so far this year and I do not see any players on NU that would change that. Illini 38, NU 14.

They limited the option stuff in the 1st half last week because Scheelhaase was still working with an injured shoulder from the ASU game. They went back to it in the 2nd half and immediately scored.

Still, they've not had very good run-blocking (compared to years past) and Ford has been a disappointment. They needed him to be a punishing runner and take some carries but he just doesn't hit the hole with any authority. I think this past week is the beginning of a move to feature Young as the premier RB. Ford will probably continue to start as a Senior but he'll not get the carries that were expected.

Whatever the case, the run game needs to improve, consistently, to have the success that they should in the Big Ten schedule.

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Donovon Young is the real deal. He should be the featured back with Pollard spelling him. Ford just brings nothing to the table.

I think the run game would improve with more option looks to get the QB and RB's out on the edge. Scheelhaase needs to run more to help open holes for the RB's in the option. Illinois' team speed is pretty impressive this year.

Absolutely amazing and disgusting that this is the first time Illinois is 4-0 since 1951. By far the longest drought of any BCS school.

Ford is not the right running back for that system. Young will be much better once he starts getting more carries.

Pollard has been impressive. I didn't figure him into the mix this year but he's hitting the holes and running with surprising power, through some guys.

I think we'll see more option looks in the conference. I think they were using the non-conference to see how far Scheelhaase has come with his other skills (which I think is considerable). He's a real worker and I'm surprised he's progressed this far, this quickly, as a passer. He's still a run-first type guy but he has enough ability to make you pay through the air and nice touch on the ball as well.

I've been very impressed with Petrino. I think the guy has been a great OC so far in just over a year with a green QB.

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Don't get me wrong. I love Petrino and Koennig. What a difference they have made in two years. Illinois is now a legitimate football team that can compete on a weekly basis. I hope you are right with the play calling; I guess I would like to see them put it on the other team for a half before they start testing ability. Some of Saturday's game was tough to watch. No reason Illinois should have that much trouble with WMU.

I like AJ Jenkins. Not a Big WR but makes the catches.

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It's sad but he's bigger than just about every WR on the Bears.

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You know me like that.

And probably better too.

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I still owe you from the BC game.

I said to someone last week offboard that I was more worried about WMU than Northwestern. I reserve the right to sandbag later but I'm still not concerned.

If Illinois wins this game they will be bowl eligible by October 8th. Indiana is the worst Big Ten team I've seen since Illinois in 2003. Even Minnesota in 2007 was better.

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Fire Phil Emery

There has to be more to the Indiana story than just a lack of talent. Did you see the story that injured running back Darius Willis was participating in a wrestling show in Bloomington during the game?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

LOL. I saw he was out for the year somewhat mysteriously, but he had legal problems too so I chalked it up to that. There are some rumors of mass defections coming down the pike, but nothing that's risen to the level that I've believed them yet.

The scariest part is that they are getting whipped at the line of scrimmage. Just absolutely manhandled. And this is against MAC and Sun Belt teams (not even good MAC and Sun Belt teams, either). Minnesota has problems and they just lost by two scores to an FCS team but there's talent there and I think they have a genuine excuse with Kill's ongoing health problems.

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Fire Phil Emery

As for Illinois, I'm starting to really believe in them. Zook seems to have the extraordinary ability of having really good teams and really bad teams seemingly at random. I think this is a really good team.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I don't think this is a really good team. I think they are a 7-5 team who might--might--schedule their way to 9-3 and a nice bowl in Florida.

But I have found the overreaction to games amusing. Arizona State controlled the game against Illinois in many ways but lost, and people started saying "Illinois is the second best team in the Big Ten." Then they outgained WMU by 120 yards (Michigan outgained WMU by nine yards), but the score was close and now people are all depressed. The truth is in between.

One thing that annoys me is that because of the coordinators, Zook will never, ever get credit for anything. Whenver something goes right people say "man, Petrino and Koenning are making a huge difference!" and then when they go wrong, they say "LOL Zook." You can't have it both ways. Also annoying: when Zook makes unorthodox but completely correct decisions like the naked bootleg at the end of the ASU game while running out the clock to burn 10 seconds, or going for it on 4th down late against WMU, and people everywhere start laughing. Zook does many stupid things and will do more. People should stop making up extra ones.

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Fire Phil Emery

People got upset about those decisions?

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You know me like that.

Yes. I saw a lot of criticism on both Illinois boards and elsewhere.

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Fire Phil Emery

The ASU play actually won the game. Did people want him to punt? That's insane.

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You know me like that.

Actually, people were upset about the 3rd and 4th down play. They were saying "why don't you just kneel on it, he could fumble" for both, and they thought he should punt on fourth down. Not everyone, but some people, yes. And lots of people on other websites. These are the sorts of things that are just obvious decisions (I actually thought the bootleg was clever) but because it's Zook let's laugh and point.

Majority opinion for the WMU decision was "we should punt." It was 4th and 4 on the 33 yard line of WMU. If you punt, they're probably getting the ball at the 20. If you get the first down the game is over. It almost worked, it cost them nine yards, burned a few extra seconds, and WMU didn't have enough time to drive.

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Fire Phil Emery

I hear Mike Locksley is available.

Do you think Paul Petrino would be a better head coach than Zook? It seems like Zook has himself a reputation... and I'm not arguing it is deserved or not (I've only heard the same stories you probably heard). But it's pretty clear to me that his recent coordinator hires are a big reason for Illinois' improvement. Kinda similar to Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn, but the analogy doesn't exactly fit.

The new coordinators clearly make a difference. Zook is a great recruiter and a great motivator, but he is not the best coach. When he got to Illinois, his entire staff was recruiters and no coaches. He thought he could win on talent alone, but instead Illinois just got embarrassed.

Koennig and Petrino are really good coaches. This allows Zook to do what he does best: motivate and recruit. This will work out well as long as neither of the coordinators ever want to be HC.

I... don't know. Koenning was a head coach at Wyoming, which went poorly, but it was almost a decade ago and Wyoming is a thankless job. Still, they tanked pretty hard after he took over. There's a line of thinking that he doesn't really want to do it again, but he played at KSU and might be waiting for Snyder to retire. He moved his family to Champaign, which he hasn't done at other stops, FWIW.

Petrino definitely wants a head position; he left Arkansas and his brother so that he could prove he was doing the heavy lifting. Just thinking about logical places he could end up, Memphis is right in his recruiting area, but man, I'm not sure head coach at Memphis is worth it.

Gene Chizik was a legitimately great coordinator, so the analogy isn't exactly apt. But there are plenty of non-coordinator, CEO head coaches. In the Big Ten alone there is Fitzgerald, Hoke, and Fickell, plus I guess count Paterno if you want there, though that's a little different. If they want to keep paying SEC money for coordinators and let Zook be the face of the program, I have no problem with that.

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Fire Phil Emery

I have been watching some Illini & NU games this season but I will defer to the experts on here. Do any of you see NU winning? Has the NU "D" improved since last season's embarrasment at Wrigley? In this game,I usually root for the team that needs it most. Usually one team sucks,but so far not this season.

My prediction:

Illini 37 NU 27

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I've seen six of the seven games (I didn't watch the EIU/NU game). If Persa weren't playing Illinois would be a double digit favorite. And I still don't completely buy that he's going to play every snap or even 75% of them.

On talent, Illinois is better. The problem is that Northwestern's offense is perfectly designed to exploit Illinois's weakness with short passes. WMU did that well, and it's Northwestern's staple. Northwestern's running backs will not be successful, but Illinois did give up yardage last year to mobile QBs, and they haven't played one this year. Once again, however, how mobile is Persa, exactly?

I also wonder about how good Northwestern's pass protection will be. They have looked very good against Boston College and Army--Colter had all day to throw both games--but this will be a different beast. I don't know who wins that battle.

Northwestern's run defense is bad, but Illinois's running game has been hit or miss. WMU's run defense is no great shakes but it was good enough to stifle long drives. I'd like to see Illinois open up through the air a bit more and loosen up the front seven. We shall see.

I think Illinois wins this game 7 times out of 10 at home. That's not overwhelming but it is not insignificant. We shall see.

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Fire Phil Emery

Northwestern is getting two of its Defenseive linemen back for this game. Jack Dinardo (from Hinsdale, IL) and Brian Arnfelt. Is that enough to energize the defense a bit more? Probably not. Def Coordinator Hankwitz has been really shy about using blitz packages because I just don't think he trusts his linebackers or his corners for that matter. Safety play has been adequate, but too much poor tackling just makes this secondary plain bad.

I believe that the Illini's offense is better this year even without LeShoure and NU's defense may be worse. I don't buy a word of what Fitz says anymore about Persa. I'll believe it when I see it. Persa playing a couple series might energize the players a bit (he is true leader), however I don't know how you get over the fact that when the defense sees Persa they think "Pass" and when they see Colter they think "Run".

I hope I'm wrong, but this smells like the Wrigley beat down last year.

UI - 34
NU - 14

My head tells me that Illinois should win this fairly easily, maybe by 14-17 points but the vision of Len Williams has forever prevented me from ever predicting an Illini romp again.

But, I still vividly see the Illini running all over Northwestern only 5 or so games ago. Granted, much can change on a college team over a summer, but somehow I just can't see them fixing that huge of an issue that quickly.

I'm not sure if I can say I agree, though, that Illinois is a better running team this year - at least not yet. They are certainly a better throwing team, mainly due to AJ Jenkins stepping up his game and S'haase continued improvement.

I'll throw a knife through the heart of Len Williams and say -

ILL 31
NW 17

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I think Persa will have a good game. A lot of horizontal completions to the running backs and 3 yard passes to the wideouts. Colter will probably get 20-25% of the snaps.

If Illinois runs effectively (and holds on to the ball), they could steal this game.

NU: 24
Illinois: 17

I don't think the Illini need to run too effectively.

I'd be satisfied with 400 yards on the ground in this one.

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You know me like that.

Are they going to use both end zones for this game?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!