It’s time to find out how well Illinois fans can stuff the ballot box. Juice Williams is a candidate for two national player of the week awards for his performance at Michigan.

One is the USA Today award, which involves voting on…

Sleight of hand can go a long way toward making the Illinois offense effective, and quarterback Juice Williams pulled off an instance of illusion against Michigan that ranks as possibly his best to date.

Some of the glory should also go…

How bad was the Illinois defense in the first quarter against Michigan on Saturday?

The Illini surrendered 146 yards to a team that entered the game ranked last in the Big Ten, averaging only 285 per game. The Wolverines had the…

2:23 p.m.

While this might not be a must-win for Illinois, it would be a huge setback if the Illini return home at 0-2 in the Big Ten and 2-3 overall. The first two losses were excusable, even expected. But this…

For my preview of the Illinois-Michigan game on Saturday, I’m writing about the Illini’s problems with kick coverage, which has been poor the last four years with the exception of 2007. This year they have allowed two kickoff returns for…

I realized long ago that I sometimes spend way too much time compiling statistics that never end up seeing the light of day. At least with a blog, I now have a place to dump some of my useless numbers…

Coach Ron Zook said this morning that he plans to use more players on defense this week against Michigan to provide more rest and hopefully shore up some holes that have developed.

He specifically mentioned reserve linebackers Sam Carson, who backs…

6:52 p.m.

Watch the south end zone where the students are sitting if Illinois attempts any field goals in that direction. Besides wearing white, they are all waving white pom-poms and using them to  do a wave that looks like it could be…

Illinois sophomore Mike Tisdale is likely to miss the start of practice next month after undergoing leg surgery Friday to repair a muscle hernia in his lower right leg.

What this means for the team’s situation at center is uncertain, but the Illini were…

Penn State coach Joe Paterno was vague about his plans for defensive linemen Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma, who surprisingly returned from suspension to practice Monday. He didn’t rule out the possibility that both could play against Illinois on Saturday…