Touchdown Times: September 26, 2013

A publication of THE DAILY ILLINI Thursday, September 26, 2013

TouchdownTimesBuilding a winner

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Jonathan Brown wants to change the way

Illinois football is viewed.

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Thursday, September 26, 2013 THE DAILY ILLINI | www.DailyIllini.com2

Miami (Ohio) Illinois

PassingAustin Boucher

PassingNathan Scheelhaase

RushingAustin GearingScott Dawan

RushingDonovonn Young Josh Ferguson

ReceivingRyan LankfordMartize BarrJosh Ferguson

DefenseKent KernDayonne NunleyChris WadeJosh Dooley

DefenseJonathan BrownMason MonheimEaton SpenceEarnest Thomas IIIAustin Teitsma

C-A-INT21-52-3

C-A-INT63-98-2

Yards 268

Yards 884

TD1

TD7

TD112

Long47

Long72

Long723053

Carries209

Carries35 22

Catches10107

Tackles34242323

Tackles3830252116

Sacks0000

Sacks1.51.0000

TFL3

0.520

TFL2.52.500

1.0

INT0100

INT00000

Yards5958

Yards128 125

Yards225119185

Avg3.06.4

Avg3.75.7

TD00

TD20

OffenseNathan Scheelhaase 2 QB

Josh Ferguson 6 RBRyan Lankford 12 WR

Miles Osei 8 WRSpencer Harris 80 WR

Evan Wilson 89 TESimon Cvijanovic 68 LT

Michael Heitz 74 LGAlex Hill 52 C

Ted Karras 69 RGCorey Lewis 70 RT

DefenseTim Kynard 59 DEJake Howe 95 NT

Austin Teitsma 44 DTHouston Bates 55 LEO

Jonathan Brown 45 WLBMason Monheim 43 MLB

Mike Svetina 34 STARV’Angelo Bentley 2 CBEarnest Thomas 9 SS

Taylor Barton 3 FSEaton Spence 27 CB

OffenseAustin Boucher 16 QB

Spencer Treadwell 22 RBSteve Marck 87 TE

Rokeem Williams 6 WRDawan Scott 25 WR

Alvonta Jenkins 85 WRTerry Davis 53 LT

Trevan Brown 65 LGMarcus Matthews 75 C

John Anevski 67 RGZach Lewis 71 RT

DefenseWes Williams 9 DEAustin Brown 90 DTMitch Winters 99 DT

Bryson Albright 95 DE Chris Wade 48 LBKent Kern 43 LB

Josh Dooley 51 LBDayonne Nunley 3 CBBrison Burris 35 SS

Jay Mastin 14 FSHeath Harding 24 CB

ReceivingSteve MarckDawan ScottRokeem Williams

TD100

Long174547

Catches654

Yards599182

Schedule Games in bold are at home

Sat., Sept. 14vs. No. 16 Washington (Soldier Field)

L 34-24

Sat., Sept. 28vs. Miami (Ohio)

11 a.m. | Big Ten Network

Sat., Oct. 5@ No. 23 Nebraska

11 a.m.

Sat., Oct. 19 vs. No. 23 Wisconsin

7 p.m. | Big Ten Network

Sat., Oct. 26 vs. Michigan State

2:30 p.m.

Sat., Nov. 2 @ Penn State

TBD

Sat., Nov. 9@Indiana

TBD

Sat., Nov. 16 vs. No. 4 Ohio State

TBD

Sat., Nov. 23 @ Purdue

TBD

Sat., Nov. 30vs. No. 17 Northwestern

TBD

Sat., Aug. 31 vs. Southern Illinois

W 42-34

Sat., Sept. 7 vs. Cincinnati

W 45-17

THE DAILY ILLINI | www.DailyIllini.com Thursday, September 26, 20133

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Illini get chance to top 2012 in 4th gameBY SEAN HAMMONDSENIOR WRITER

What’s the difference between being 2-1 this year and being 2-1 last year for Illinois linebacker Jonathan Brown?

“The chance to be 3-1 this weekend.”The Illini started 2-1 after wins over Southern Illinois

and Cincinnati and a loss to Washington. But 2-1 in 2013 feels a lot different than 2-1 did in 2012.

“We have more of an identity,” quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase said. “It’s more just a comfort of knowing what type of team we want to be each Saturday when we walk out there.

“I don’t necessarily think we felt that last year.”The Illini have a chance to get that third win — some-

thing they never did in 2012 — Saturday when Miami (Ohio) comes to Memorial Stadium.

The Redhawks (0-3) come into this weekend following a 14-0 loss to the same Cincinnati team the Illini over-powered three weeks ago in a 45-17 victory.

Head coach Tim Beckman said the opportunity to watch Miami on tape against a team his squad has already faced does have some advantages.

“Knowing the talent that Cincinnati has and just play-ing against them (helps),” Beckman said.

Beckman is also familiar with Miami quarterback Aus-tin Boucher from his days at Toledo. He and his staff recruited Boucher to play for the Rockets. Boucher actu-ally turned down an offer to play for Ohio State, although with the talent the Buckeyes have under center, it’s not likely he would have played.

The Redhawks use a run-based option attack similar to what Georgia Tech and Air Force run. There’s likely to be running backs in on every play, sometimes multiple running backs.

Miami has run the ball 106 times through three games,

compared to just 53 attempted passes. The Redhawks also have 11 different players with a rushing attempt. In com-parison, the Illini have only 8.

“Any time you play an option offense, it makes guys have to be assignment-sound,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “We’re working extremely hard to prepare for all of the cut blocking that you’re going to see, and just making sure everyone knows who they have every snap.”

Despite the willingness to try something different, the option hasn’t brought the Redhawks much success. Miami has been outgained by opponents 1635 yards to 448, and outscored 85-21. Against Cincinnati, the Redhawks offense managed only 87 yards and four first downs the entire game.

Boucher is 21-for-52 passing on the year with one touch-down and three interceptions. The Redhawks leading rush-er, Austin Gearing, has a total of 59 yards on the season.

Even with the poor numbers, senior defensive end Tim Kynard said the young Illinois defense isn’t going to over-look Miami.

“We’re just telling (the younger players) not to look past them,” Kynard said. “We’re not trying to downplay their team or players. We’ve got to contain their running attack.”

Coming off a bye week — or as Kynard says the coach-ing staff likes to call it, a “better week,” because it’s a chance for the team to focus on itself, not an opponent — the Illini have had extra time to prepare for the Redhawks.

And Saturday will give Illinois a chance to do what it couldn’t do last year.

“Just to be 3-1 and having the chance to win football games is tough,” Kynard said. “We talk about it every day, taking it day-by-day and week-by-week.”

Sean can be reached at [email protected] and @sean_hammond.

BRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINIIllinois’ Nathan Scheelhaase runs the ball against No. 19 Washington at “Chicago Homecoming” at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill. on Sept. 14. Illinois lost 34-24.


A BORN LEADER

THE DAILY ILLINI | www.DailyIllini.com Thursday, September 26, 20135

A BORN LEADERBrown leads, mentors, anchors young Illini defenseBY STEPHEN BOURBONSTAFF WRITER

Jonathan Brown is used to being an older brother.

Growing up, he was the oldest of six sib-lings — three between his father Rod Brown and mother Candace Kinley, and three more from his mother and stepfather.

“It’s hard being the oldest,” Brown said. “Leadership is something my parents instilled in me from a young age. Doing the right things and making sure you’re on top of your game so you can bring every-body with you ... that’s something I’ve always had to do.”

He’s gone from being the oldest of six siblings to being one of just two seniors on the Illinois defense. He has had to be a leader his whole life, and it’s that lead-ership that defi nes the linebacker’s career at Illinois.

Brown was a special player dating back to his pee-wee days, and he developed a love for the game that Rod, a high school football coach in the Brown’s home-town of Memphis, Tenn., noticed right away.

Jonathan chose to play collegiately at Illinois and was rewarded with bowl appearances in his fi rst two sea-sons in Champaign, where he played in all 24 games, including a monster sophomore season in which the linebacker notched 108 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.

With high expectations riding into 2012, both person-ally and for the team, the Illini fell short. Brown was hampered most of the season with a shoulder injury, ultimately missing the fi nal three games as Illinois limped to a 2-10 season and dropped its last nine games. To make matters worse, the Illini lost nine starters on defense to either graduation or the NFL Draft, leaving uncertainty on that side of the ball.

“Of course he was hurt last year, but he could have bolted and tried to leave the program,” Rod said. “But he wanted to stick around and see it through. So hope-fully he’s going to be rewarded for his endurance stay-ing to the course.”

If last year was the low point of Brown’s career, he’s rebounded just as high this season.

Brown, fully healthy now, has played with a fi re in

the fi rst three games of the 2013 season, backing up preseason hype that put him on awards watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year), Dick Butkus Award (most outstanding lineback-er) and the Bronko Nagurski Award (defensive player of the year).

Brown is leading the Big Ten in total tackles with 38, despite playing in one less game than second-place Anthony Hitchens from Iowa. His 12.7 tackles per game rank third nationally.

This season has not only been a success for Brown, but for the team. A close win over FCS foe Southern Illinois and a blowout over Cincinnati gave Illinois two quick wins before losing to No. 23 Washington at Soldier Field .

“You got to stay through the tough times, so when you get to the fun times, we’re here together,” Brown said. “That’s something I really wanted to instill in not only the defense, but the team. No matter what happens, we got to stick together. We got to be a unit. Because if we’re a unit, nothing can come against it, nothing can break it.”

“He has come back with a vengeance this year,” Rod added. “He’s really trying to show the doubters and the people that wrote Illinois off, he’s trying to play a part in that to get things turned around.”

But while his play on the fi eld has been exceptional, it is Brown’s leadership on a young team that garners the most attention from his supporters — despite describ-ing himself as “not the most talkative guy.”

“The thing I’m most impressed with is his overall leadership skills,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “Not only is he a senior showing great leadership for us, but he’s one of our better players doing it. So he has some substance behind what he’s telling them to do.”

Even in last year’s train wreck of a season, Brown was still mentoring freshmen linebackers Mason Mon-heim and Mike Svetina, who were pressed into service for most of last year.

The results have been noticeable.Monheim ranks second in the Big Ten in tackles

per game this season, behind only Brown, and Svetina starts at the STAR (linebacker-safety hybrid) position,

after playing weak side linebacker all of last season.But despite Brown’s play, the Illini defense has strug-

gled to slow down opposing offenses, ranking 113th in the FBS for total defense. The unit’s best performance, Week 2 against Cincinnati, was still shaky. Illinois sur-rendered 456 yards, but a stop at the goal line in the third quarter turned the tide in the 45-17 contest.

“I’m really proud of the way my guys performed out there,” Brown said after the Cincinnati win, adding a little emphasis on the word “my.”

“We stood up when it mattered.”Sometimes it feels like it is Brown’s defense on the

fi eld. Including Brown and defensive end Tim Kynard, there are only two seniors on the defensive depth chart. The rest, mainly freshmen and sophomores, are learn-ing as they go along.

While he might have been one of the only leaders ear-lier in the season, Brown feels as though he can take a step back and let some of the younger players fi ll nich-es. He made sure to point out that it was always “our” defense, referring to the group as a “band of brothers.”

“The guys are growing up, we’ve got a lot of young leaders out there,” he said. “It’s kind of a situation where at the beginning I had to take control, but now I’m starting to see more guys take command and step up and fi ll the roles that need to be fi lled.”

Going into Saturday’s game against Miami (Ohio), the Illini are 2-1 — exactly the team’s record three games into the year in 2012.

This year, however, has a different feel in it — and there is hope to surmount last year’s dismal campaign.

“It’s a good feeling,” Brown said. “I’ve said this from the beginning of the season but this team has a unique feel to it. There’s a closeness tied to this team that I really enjoy.”

His dad, at least, holds hope for the rest of the season and the remaining games of Brown’s career.

“I think he’s going to leave his imprint on Illinois and people can say that he never quit and he left it on the fi eld and he left Illinois as a winner.”

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.

PHOTO BY DARYL QUITALIG THE DAILY ILLINI


BY ELIOT SILLSPORTS EDITOR

Matchups to watchIllinois’ offense, defense could have a field

day against weak Miami (Ohio) team

Bill Cubit vs. Miami (Ohio) defense

Jonathan Brown vs. Miami running game

Illinois fans staying vs. Illinois fans leaving

Illinois’ defense has allowed an atrocious 1,478 yards through three games this year, but Miami’s even worse, having given up 1,635. Bill Cubit likely sees this as an opportunity to impose his complete and utter will against a weak unit. Miami did hold Cincinnati scoreless through 55 minutes of action last week, but if Cubit can break the Redhawks’ will early, he can get them to revert to more of the team that allowed two touchdowns in the remaining five minutes. Expect Scheelhaase and Cubit to shoot for the stars together.

The senior linebacker has 38 total tackles through three games. And those are from games against teams that passed all over Illi-nois — and over the heat-seeking helmet of Brown. Miami has passed just 53 times this season, and run 106 times. Compared with Illinois’ 100 passes and 105 runs, it’s evident that Miami just doesn’t run many plays, but a two-to-one ratio is quite notable. Masters of the three-and-out, Miami’s various ball carriers will be running right into Brown’s wheelhouse. As he’s been named to various watch lists and is currently listed atop most statistical categories, expect Brown to have a field day.

The improved offense and the win over a viable opponent in Cin-cinnati should lead to a boost in attendance numbers for Illinois. But Illini fans, used to leaving halfway through one-sided blow-outs, will likely have something different to watch Saturday. Would Block I and the rest of Illini Nation be willing to sit through a blow-out in which Illinois is the one running up the score? Pay atten-tion to the crowd, and whether it’s entertained by Cubit’s offense enough to actually stay and finish out the day. Also worth noting is that it’s Dad’s Day. Will dads want to stay and watch a game that’s “over”? Dads are generally old school dudes, who stay to the end no matter what. We’ll see whether a late game annexa-tion occurs or if the Illini faithful stick it out to the end. Hope-fully for the Illini, the actual game will have long been decided by the time it ends.

MICHAEL BODJA THE DAILY ILLINI

Offensive Coordinator Bill Cubit will get the opportunity to show what he can do against one of the worst defenses in the country.

DARYL QUITALIG THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois’ Jonathan Brown has been one of the top linebackers in the nation so far, and he could wreak havoc on the Miami (Ohio) running game.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN OLSEN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Miami (Ohio) runs twice as often as it passes, and it will be running right into Jonathan Brown this weekend.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LAUREN OLSEN THE MIAMI STUDENT

Cornerback Dayonne Nunley and the Miami (Ohio) defense have struggled so far this season.

BRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINI

If Illinois gets up big on Miami (Ohio), will the Illini faithful stay in the stands? Or will they go home early?

Eliot SillSports editor

66 - 14

26 - 24

33 - 17

21 - 14

28 - 24

42 - 7

35 - 24

38 - 35

17 - 14

21 - 20

52 - 17

27 - 24

49 - 21

20 - 13

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42 - 10

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Miami (Ohio)vs.

Illinois

No. 23 Wisconsin

vs.No. 4

Ohio State

Arizonavs.

No. 16 Washington

No. 14Oklahoma

vs.No. 22

Notre Dame

No. 6LSUvs.

No. 9Georgia

Sean HammondSenior writer

Stephen BourbonStaff writer

Torrence SorrellAssistant sports

editor

Erik PradoOn-air reporter

Michael WonsoverVideographer

OUR PICKSTHE DAILY ILLINI | www.DailyIllini.com Thursday, September 26, 2013

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THE217.COM

Saturday, Sept. 28

Miami (Ohio) @ Illinois11 a.m. | Big Ten Network

Northern Illinois @ Purdue11 a.m. | ESPN2

Iowa @ Minnesota2:30 p.m. | ABC

No. 23 Wisconsin @ No. 4 Ohio State7 p.m. | ABC

(16-4) (14-6) (15-5) (16-4) (13-7) (15-5)

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L isten, I could give you a breakdown of why Illinois is likely going to trounce Miami (Ohio) this weekend. But I think

it’s easier for both of us if I just tell you that it’s going to happen. So Illinois looks to make a lasting impact by exhibiting a dominating performance over a weaker team.

What will it take to be one of the biggest Illinois blowouts in recent history? Let’s look at some of the Illini’s most mercilessly domi-nating performances from the past.

For fun, I pored through “The Daily Illi-ni” archives to see how we previewed these blowouts-to-be.

Illinois 44, Charleston Southern 0 (Sept. 15, 2012)

This was the beginning of the Reilly O’Toole era in Champaign. It was also pretty much the end of it, but that’s beside the point. It’s crazy that for as bad as Illinois was last season, there was still a team in the realm of college football that was this much worse than Illinois, even if it was an FCS squad. It was a red herring of optimism for Illinois under Tim Beckman. In fact, this wide mar-gin’s effect of ballooning expectations maybe was more harm than good for the program.

Not to be outdone, the 2012 Illini were blown out four weeks later 45-0 by Michigan.

From the DI: “If the Illini scheduled oppo-nents to actually better themselves, fans wouldn’t need to research their opponent to fi nd out that Charleston Southern hasn’t won a game since Nov. 13, 2010.” -Dan Welin, foot-ball columnist

Illinois 56, South Dakota State 3 (Sept. 10, 2011)

The Illini hadn’t won a game this big since 1944, and why would they have? This was at the beginning of a fantastic 6-0 stretch by Ron Zook in what would be his last year, and gave Illinois fans something to get excited about heading toward the future. Of course, the tailspin occurred, 0-6, Zook fi red, Fight Hunger bowl, Beckman, here we are. As was the case with Charleston Southern, no one put much stock in the nature of the win — we see this regularly in college football.

From the DI: “With the fi rst team off the fi eld and visions of Appalachian State and James Madison safely put to rest Saturday, freshmen backs Donovonn Young and Josh Ferguson will assume the limelight.” -Gordon Voit, football columnist

Illinois 34, Louisville 10 (Sept. 22, 2001)

Heading back to the golden days of Kurt Kittner and Brandon Lloyd, this was one of Illinois’ biggest wins in a year where it made it to the Nokia Sugar Bowl. Louisville, mean-

while, lost one game other than this one dur-ing the entire year as they went on to win the Liberty Bowl over Brigham Young. Kittner threw for 301 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Lloyd had just three catches for 28 yards. This win provided Illinois with some credibility outside the Big Ten, back when it wasn’t absurd for a Big Ten team to win a national title.

It was an important win, yeah, but when I looked back at the archives I found that it would have been hard to get excited for the game itself.

From the DI: “Illinois has decided to play Saturday’s football game at Memorial Sta-dium against Louisville after considering cancellation because of the terrorist attacks on the United States.” -Larry Hawley, senior writer

Illinois 63, Virginia 21 (Dec. 30, 1999)

In what was probably just a misjudgment of talent across conferences, Illinois was matched up with Virginia in the Micronpc.com Bowl. A younger Kittner-Lloyd com-bo connected for a touchdown pass, but in the reverse of what you’d think, as Lloyd hit Kittner on a 30-yard pass to give Illinois a 21-7 lead. The Illini held a young Thomas Jones to 110 yards on 23 attempts, while sur-rendering fewer than 150 passing yards to Dan Ellis.

From the DI: “If they can contain Jones to under 150 yards and shut down the pass-ing attack, it will be a very happy new year.”

-Dave Johnson, football columnist

Illinois 48, Minnesota 14 (Nov. 18, 1995)

In a season in which Illinois had wins of 9-7 and 7-0, this offensive anomaly was by far the Illini’s best performance of what was a terrible stretch for Illinois football. It was the last win before Illinois went through a stretch of two wins in two full seasons in the mid-90s. Illinois followed this game with a 3-3 tie against Wisconsin.

From the DI: “Illinois is searching for a strong showing from its offense, and Minne-sota’s defense might be able to provide that. The Gophers have allowed 169 points in their last four games, including 52 to Michigan and 49 to Ohio State.” -Steve Johnson, senior writer

So, those are the games Illinois has to com-pete with from recent history. A 53-point blowout is the biggest margin of victory since 1944. I would guess Bill Cubit and Tim Beck-man want to gun for that margin.

With it being Dad’s Day and all, expect Cubit and the offense to dial things up and put on a show. Illinois is a team with some-thing to prove, and an opportunity to prove it.

But boy wouldn’t it just be such a shocker if Miami somehow, some way...

Nah. Illinois’ got this.

Eliot is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EliotTweet.

Revisiting big blowouts in recent Illini football historyELIOT SILL

Sports editor

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Touchdown Times: September 26, 2013