The second-week jump never came
College teams are supposed to improve most between game one and game two. Illinois went the other way. A 42-23 win over UAB in the opener was followed by a 31-27 home defeat to Duke, and the scoreline was the least instructive part of the afternoon.
Seven penalties for 71 yards. Missed assignments that let Duke run for 170. An interception thrown by Katin Houser that the Blue Devils turned into a touchdown, on a day the quarterback otherwise threw for 271 yards and three scores. Bret Bielema spent his week talking about detail rather than scheme, which tells you which category he places the loss in.
The Fighting Illini (1-1) close non-conference play on Saturday afternoon in Champaign against Southern Illinois, and the margin they win by matters less than whether the flags stop.
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The Salukis have a quarterback worth the bus ride
Southern Illinois (2-1) make the three-hour trip north off a 34-20 win over Southeast Missouri State in which they scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. DJ Williams, back from a knee injury that cost him the previous week, threw for 286 yards and a touchdown and ran for 67 more with four rushing scores. Three of them, from 2, 13 and 30 yards, arrived inside the last eight minutes.
Williams accounted for 40 touchdowns last season, 22 through the air and 18 on the ground. He had FBS offers, Northwestern among them, and turned them down to play a final year at Carbondale. Nick Hill has built the offence to let him do whatever the situation asks.
The FCS record here is not a formality
Southern Illinois have beaten FBS opposition three times since 2019, and one of those wins came at Northwestern in 2022. That is a thin record over seven seasons, but it is not zero, and Illinois were outgained and out-disciplined by a Duke team that did nothing exotic.
Big Ten play starts after this. Bielema would rather find the answers on Saturday than in October.
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