Ohio State at Illinois, Saturday 3:30

Ohio State travels to Champaign this weekend to take on Illinois, then will follow up with another road game at Northwestern before the big game.

What can you really say about the Ohio State-Illinois game from last year? Ohio State won that contest 40-2 last November, in what was a truly beautiful afternoon in Ohio Stadium.

For Illinois, there was nothing beautiful about that afternoon at all. The Illini offense never possessed the ball inside the Ohio State thirty yard line, and a Ted Ginn muffed punt was their best chance to score just before halftime when Ohio State's lead was only 13-0. Illinois subsequently had to to punt after losing yards on their offensive posession, and it was never a game from there on out.

OSU's offensive stars from that game were RB Antonio Pittman who had 2 TDs on 22 carries and 96 yards rushing. The passing game had a field day as well, as Troy Smith went 13 for 21 and 298 yards, and three of those 13 went for touchdowns. This was a definite case of Illinois not being able to keep up with the OSU team speed, as Ted Ginn had 138 yards receiving and one touchdown. Ginn's receiving touchdown was a 73 yarder in the third quarter that sent most of the Ohio Stadium crowd back to their tailgates.

So really there isn't too much to discuss about what this Illinois team will bring at OSU this weekend. Illini coach Ron Zook is doing a better job of bringing in talent, and he landed big time recruit Isiah "Juice" Williams last year. Most D-I programs that offered scholarships wanted to make Juice a running back, but convinced that he was a quarterback Juice selected Illinois because Coach Zook promised him a shot to be the QB in Champaign. It didn't take long for Juice become the starter, as his first start was the Illini upset over Michigan State five weeks ago.

Williams represents the majority of the big time talent that resides in Champaign. Zook has the program on the upswing, however, and taking back Chicago (where Juice is from) is high on the priority listing for Illini recruiting. There won't be much of a battle on Saturday when OSU takes on Illinois at 3:30, although injuries will be the issue of importance as we approach the Michigan game. Ohio State left tackle Alex Boone is questionable with a tweaked knee, and Quinn Pitcock probably won't play either (concussion). Anthony Gonzalez didn't play in the second half against Minnesota, but will probably gain clearance to play at Illinois. Roy Small is progressing nicely from his concussion, and will probably be held out of Saturday's action. I'd like to see Gonzo held out of the game, and give as many reps to Hartline, Robiskie and Roy Hall (along with Ginn) to get them as comfortable as possible as we head towards November 18th.