Touchdown Times: November 14, 2013

A publication of THE DAILY ILLINI Thursday, November 14, 2013

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Battling the Buckeyes

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With No. 3 Ohio State in town, Illinois

will need a great game just to keep up

Thursday, November 14, 2013 THE DAILY ILLINI | www.DailyIllini.com2

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Ohio State

PassingBraxton MillerKenny Guiton

PassingNathan Scheelhaase

RushingCarlos HydeJordan HallBraxton Miller

RushingJosh FergusonDonovonn Young

ReceivingJosh FergusonSpencer HarrisSteve Hull

DefenseRyan ShazierCurtis GrantC.J. BarnettBradley RobyDoran Grant

DefenseJonathan BrownEarnest Thomas IIIMason MonheimZane PettyEaton Spence

C-A-INT108-149-375-108-2

C-A-INT199-305-8

Yards 1,316749

Yards 2,420

TD1514

TD15

TD413

Long5890

Long72

Long533260

Carries967987

Carries9279

Catches373428

Tackles7348424037

Tackles8876744844

Sacks42000

Sacks40100

TFL123.5010

TFL10.52.04.500

INT00123

INT10000

Yards701519410

Yards485330

Yards483301565

Avg7.36.64.7

Avg5.34.2

TD782

TD43

OffenseNathan Scheelhaase 2 QB

Josh Ferguson 6 RBSteve Hull 9 WRMiles Osei 8 WR

Spencer Harris 80 WRJon Davis 3 TE

Austin Schmidt 57 LTMichael Heitz 74 LG

Alex Hill 52 CTed Karras 69 RGCorey Lewis 70 RT

DefenseTim Kynard 59 DE

Austin Teitsma 44 NTTeko Powell 93 DT

Houston Bates 55 LEOJonathan Brown 45 WLBMason Monheim 43 MLB

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

Zane Petty 21 FSEaton Spence 27 CB

OffenseBraxton Miller 5 QBCarlos Hyde 34 RB

Jeff Heuerman 86 TECorey Brown 10 WRDevin Smith 9 WR

Evan Spencer 6 WRJack Mewhort 74 LT

Andrew Norwell 78 LGCorey Linsley 71 CMarcus Hall 79 RG

Taylor Decker 68 RT

DefenseJoey Bosa 97 DEJoel Hale 51 DT

Michael Bennett 63 DTNoah Spence 8 DE Ryan Shazier 2 LBCurtis Grant 14 LBJoshua Perry 37 LBBradley Roby 1 CBCorey Brown 3 SC.J. Barnett 4 S

Doran Grant 9 CB

ReceivingCorey BrownDevin SmithEvan Spencer

TD863

Long589025

Catches413821

Yards547542209

Illinois

Schedule Games in bold are at home

Sat., Sept. 14vs. Washington (Soldier Field)

L 34-24

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

W 50-14

Sat., Oct. 5@ Nebraska

L 39-19

Sat., Oct. 19 vs. No. 17 Wisconsin

L, 56-32

Sat., Oct. 26 vs. No. 14 Michigan State

L, 42-3

Sat., Nov. 2 @ Penn State L, 24-17 (OT)

Sat., Nov. 9@ IndianaL, 52-35

Sat., Nov. 16 vs. No. 3 Ohio State

11 a.m. | ESPN

Sat., Nov. 23 @ Purdue11 a.m. |

Big Ten Network

Sat., Nov. 30vs. 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, November 14, 20133

Bowl hopes on the line for Illini against BuckeyesBRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois wide receiver Steve Hull catches a Nathan Scheelhaase pass during the game against No. 25 Wisconsin at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 19. The Illini lost 56-32.

BY SEAN HAMMONDSENIOR WRITER

Steve Hull and Jonathan Brown were watching film on Sunday of Illinois’ 52-35 loss to Indiana when they decided the team needed to meet without the coaches. Hull and Brown passed word to Miles Osei and Ryan Lankford. From there word spread.

The Illinois football team held a players-only meeting Sunday night. It was short, maybe 10 minutes.

“We know that it’s very easy for younger guys and guys that might be role players to kind of bag it up,” Hull said. “We talked about that and we made sure that everybody knew that this is a serious game.

“This is a game that we’re going to fight and compete just as much as the first game of the season.”

The Illini are going to need to fight hard if they want to compete. No. 3 Ohio State pays

a visit to Memorial Stadium on Saturday to face an Illinois team in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

Illinois hasn’t won the Illibuck trophy since 2007, when Juice Williams’ Illini pulled off the upset of the No. 1 Buckeyes. It would be an even bigger upset if the Illini pulled it off in 2013.

But the Illini (3-6, 0-5 Big Ten) have a lot working against them. The young Illi-nois defense has surrendered 34.7 points per game this season. Ohio State (9-0, 5-0) ranks fifth in the country with 48.2 points per game. And Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller has been a large part of that.

So how can the defense stop him?“Oh man, that’s a good question,” defen-

sive coordinator Tim Banks said.“He’s dynamic,” Banks continued. “Every-

one he’s played against, he’s made some plays. I told the defense: It’s going to take a

collective effort, team defense. Everybody doing their job.”

Even with the mobile Miller moving around in the backfield, it has been the ground game that has propelled the Buck-eyes. Running backs Carlos Hyde and Jor-dan Hall have combined for more than 1,200 yards. Miller has added another 410 rushing yards. The trio has 17 rushing touchdowns.

“Ohio State doesn’t vary too much from an Indiana type of offense,” Brown said. “They have a lot of weapons, similar to Indiana, and they’re rolling right now. We’re a little extra fired up because we need this one. We’re in a must-win situation.”

The must-win situation is referring to the three wins Illinois needs in its final three games to reach a bowl game. A loss Satur-day will take much of the meaning out of Illinois’ final two games.

If the Illini want to keep up with the Buck-

eyes, Illinois will likely need to put a lot of points on the board. Ohio State has impressed Illinois head coach Tim Beckman on the defensive side more than anywhere else.

“Some new faces have come in there,” Beckman said. “And Coach (Luke) Fickell and Coach Everett (Wilson) are doing a great job with that defense.”

Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes rank eighth in the nation in points allowed, at 17 per game.

Ohio State poses plenty of challenges for Illinois. But Hull, Brown and the seniors aren’t shying away from them. They know what this game means.

A win will make national headlines and means a potential for a bowl game for Illi-nois. A loss will mean a quiet exit from Champaign two weeks from now.

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


“I wanted to ask you about Corey Lewis and what stands out to you most about him and his comeback ordeal.”

Frank Bodani, a reporter in Pennsylvania, had called into Illinois football head coach Tim Beck-man’s weekly press conference asking about right tackle Corey Lewis. This week the oppo-nent was Penn State, and Lewis’ hometown of Cresco, Pa., is less than three hours from State College.

“Well Frank, I hope you’ve got some time because I could talk about Corey Lewis for-ever,” Beckman said. “And I have. These guys in front of me are going, ‘Oh, another Corey Lewis story.’”

All of the reporters laugh. Most of them have already asked Beckman and those around the Illinois football team similar questions.

The story borders on legend at this point around Champaign. Corey Lewis: the come-back kid.

An offensive lineman whose body failed him for two-and-a-half years before finally return-ing to the field as a sixth-year senior as the Illi-ni’s starting right tackle.

Lewis had a promising start to his Illini career as he played in four games as a true freshman and all 12 the season after. In the spring of his junior season, things went awry.

During spring practice, Lewis tore the ACL in his left knee — an injury that sidelines play-ers for a whole year at a time. It was just the beginning of the trials that he would face.

“If God is with me, then nothing can be against me.”

Lewis based his comeback on a variation of the Bible verse Romans 8:31, which reads: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The scripture is tattooed on the 23-year-old’s hulk-ing right bicep, a constant reminder of Lewis’ close connection with God that helped him through the grueling rehab process.

“He definitely lives the life that he believes his Christian faith follows,” freshman offen-sive tackle Austin Schmidt said. “He’s a great mentor.”

Spring 2010 was Lewis’ first knee surgery, but it wouldn’t be his last. Over the next two-and-a-half years, Lewis would have four more opera-tions on his knees. He tore his same ACL twice more and fought off an infection from surgery, which forced him to go under the knife once again and caused him to miss all of the 2011 season and most of 2012.

“The hardest part for me was sitting back and watching and seeing that we went to back-to-back bowl games and knowing that I could have been a part of that,” Lewis said. The Illini made the Texas Bowl in 2010 and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl the year after — winning both contests.

Watching his teammates on the field while being stuck in rehab over and over and over again wore on Lewis; although, the thought of

giving up never crossed his mind.He couldn’t quit.“I couldn’t let 2009 be my last year, my last

game,” Lewis said. “I just wanted the opportu-nity to come back even if it was for one play. I just continued to fight for that one play.”

So Lewis kept at it, day after day, month after month, year after year. With his family, team-mates and faith in God, Lewis made the climb back toward the field despite so many setbacks. It paid off. Late in the 2012 season, Lewis finally made it back to the field.

Facing Ohio State on the road, Lewis trotted onto the field in pads for the first time in over two years. He was back.

“I’m going to continue to play football until they say that I can’t anymore.”

Going into this season, the oldest guy on the offensive line was the least experienced.

The 23-year-old Lewis had never made a start in an Illini uniform before 2013, unlike the other four starters on the line. He had played in the final four games of the 2012 season in a reserve role — low reps, not trying to push things too much. Those could have been the last plays as a collegiate athlete, but the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility, only reserved for those who suffer “an incapacitating injury over the course of a season,” according to NCAA rules.

With another year in Champaign guaranteed, the start of the new season was different. His

name was in bold on the depth chart.No. 70, Corey Lewis. 6-foot-6, 315 pounds.

Starting right tackle.It’s what made all of the grueling rehab nec-

essary, all of the years spent watching help-lessly as his teammates succeeded and failed, it was finally here.

Trotting out of the tunnel for the 2013 season opener against Southern Illinois was a rush of emotions for Lewis.

“It was an emotional moment for me,” Lew-is said. “It was a great opportunity for me to finally display all the hard work that I put in behind closed doors for so long.”

The first start went off without a hitch, no setbacks, no doubts in the knee that had held back his football career. After finally getting his first start, Lewis has started all nine Illini games and remained healthy.

“Just as he said in my office yesterday, he could have easily said, ‘No, I’m done,’” Beck-man said. “He could have easily said at the end of last year: ‘No I’m done.’ But he wanted to be a part of this.”

One of the highlights of the season for Lewis, for any offensive lineman, came against Indi-ana last Saturday.

With the Illini down 35-28 to the Hoosiers, running back Josh Ferguson took a handoff from the 2-yard line and dove over the pile looking for the touchdown. As he extended the ball near the goal line, a Hoosiers defender knocked it free into the end zone putting a live ball up for grabs.

A scrum formed over the loose ball, but it was No. 70 in white who left the pile with the ball in the end zone. It was Lewis’ first touchdown since high school.

“I waited six years for that,” Lewis said. “I don’t know if you watched Monday Night Foot-ball but tackle eligible Donald Penn dunked on the goalpost, so I thought about that, but I didn’t quite get to that. I didn’t want any flags or anything.”

“I was really happy for him especially in his last year, his senior year,” Schmidt added. “He was able to score a touchdown, something every single lineman always wants to do.”

As for the lack of a touchdown celebration, Schmidt cited poor planning.

“You always got to be ready for something like that,” he said with a laugh.

“He’s a great kid, well not a kid anymore, a great guy.”

In his sixth year at Illinois, Lewis has made Champaign his second home. He’s no longer the 17-year-old kid that walked onto campus.

“It still feels like yesterday for me,” Lewis said of his arrival in Champaign. “Time flies, man. You think six years from now, where are you going to be? You have no idea and six years ago, I had no idea that I would still be here six years later, but I am, and I’m happy about it.”

In the interim, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications and a Master’s in sports administration. His goal is to someday be an athletic director. His leadership has

already been on display, being one of just 12 scholarship seniors on a young football team. Off the field, Lewis is the president of the Illi-nois chapter of Uplifting Athletes — a program that organized the team’s “Lift for Life” event over the summer to raise money for the fight against rare diseases.

But right now, Lewis isn’t satisfied with only playing out the final games of his senior sea-son. He wants to continue his dream of play-ing professionally and will give the NFL a shot in the spring.

His mentality of not quitting goes all the way back to 2010, when Lewis refused to give up on his dream of playing football, just as he won’t right now.

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

SIX YEARS OF PERSEVERANCECorey Lewis overcomes injuries to !nd success

BY STEPHEN BOURBONSTAFF WRITER

“I just wanted the opportunity to come back even if it was for one play. I just continued to !ght for

that one play.”COREY LEWISRIGHT TACKLE

DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTOCorey Lewis of Illinois and Brendan Beal of Minnesota stand together after the game at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 10, 2012.


SIX YEARS OF PERSEVERANCE

DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTOCorey Lewis of Illinois and Brendan Beal of Minnesota stand together after the game at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 10, 2012.


BY MICHAEL WONSOVERSTAFF WRITER

Matchups to watchOhio State’s Braxton Miller brings high-octane offense to Champaign

Braxton Miller vs. Illinois defense

Carlos Hyde vs. Illinois defense

Josh Ferguson vs.Ryan Shazier

Braxton Miller is an ultra-efficient quarterback in his third year as a starter in Columbus, Ohio. Miller is third in the nation and first in the Big Ten in adjusted QBR at 83.8. Illinois has strug-gled to defend the pass, allowing 243.1 yards per game, which ranks 88th in the country. Miller is also a threat on his feet, as he’s rushed for 22 touchdowns in his career.

Illinois’ pass defense has been subpar, but its rush defense has been nonexistent. Only eight teams in the nation have allowed more yards per game on the ground this season than Illinois. It doesn’t get any easier with running back Carlos Hyde coming to town. The senior has already rushed for 701 yards and seven touchdowns on 7.3 yards per carry (ranking 10th in the country). Hyde rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-22 win over Illinois in Columbus, Ohio, last season.

Josh Ferguson has been one of the few bright spots on a strug-gling Illinois team. Ferguson leads the team with 485 rushing yards and is second in the nation among running backs with 483 receiving yards. He also has eight combined touchdowns. Ryan Shazier, a first-team all-Big Ten linebacker from a season ago, will be looking to stop Ferguson in both the run and pass game. Shazier leads Ohio State with 73 tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.

DARYL QUITALIG THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois’ Jonathan Brown makes a tackle during the homecoming game against Michigan State at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 27.

KYLE ROBERTSON MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE

Buckeyes quarterback Braxton Miller drops back for a pass in the first quarter against Penn State at Ohio Stadium on Oct. 26.

FOLAKE OSIBODU THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois’ Josh Ferguson evades Penn State defense during the game at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., on Nov. 2. The Illini lost in overtime, 24-17.

CHRIS RUSSELL MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Ohio State linebacker Ryan Shazier (10) and safety Christian Bryant (2) combine to stop Florida A&M running back James Owens in the first half at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 21.

FOLAKE OSIBODU THE DAILY ILLINI

Illinois’ Devin Church tackles Penn State’s Bill Belton during the game at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., on Nov. 2. The Illini lost in overtime, 24-17.

BARBARA J. PERENIC MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Ohio State running back Carlos Hyde is tackled by Purdue defensive backs Taylor Richards and Frankie Williams at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind., on Nov. 2.

THE DAILY ILLINI


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48-14

56-32

20-10

36-17

35-14

45-14

38-35

24-20

35-24

42-38

63-14

70-42

20-17

28-17

33-31

45-10

45-28

17-13

27-21

28-24

52-21

42-17

17-10

27-24

20-17

49-10

45-14

24-21

41-31

34-31

Sean HammondSenior writer

Stephen BourbonStaff writer

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editor

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Michael WonsoverVideographer

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Purdue @ Penn State11 a.m. | Big Ten Network

Indiana @ No. 17 Wisconsin11 a.m. | ESPN2

No. 3 Ohio State @ Illinois11 a.m. | ESPN

Michigan @ Northwestern2:30 p.m. | Big Ten Network

No. 14 Michigan State @ Nebraska2:30 p.m. | ABC

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Unranked Illinois has a chance to take down No. 3 Ohio State! How exciting! Ohio State is undefeated

as of yet, duh, and Illinois is defi nitely going to be an underdog. Illinois has brighter days ahead of it, but its youth currently hinders it from being a top contender this season.

It’s funny how you can make a paragraph written about Illinois football sound like a paragraph about Illinois men’s basketball just by adding some excitement and optimism to it.

And that’s really what this program is missing — not excitement and optimism, so much as reason for excitement and optimism.

Football is a slog when you aren’t a top contender, and Illinois certainly isn’t a top contender at the moment. You can blame whomever you want — Tim Beckman, Tim Banks, the entire secondary, Ryan Lankford’s shoulder — but you have to have patience in football. Mike Thomas knows that, it would seem.

Still, it’s going to be hard waiting out the three-hour obliteration set to take place Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

The Buckeyes bring a top team and a chip on their shoulder to Champaign, as they haven’t lost since 2011, yet aren’t considered a championship-worthy program. Braxton Miller is at the top of his game, Carlos Hyde and Jordan Hall are both threats from the backfi eld, and Illinois’ defense can do nothing but tailspin right now because that’s what happens in a tailspin — tailspinning.

For the seniors, this is the last chance they have to take on the Buckeyes with the prospect of netting the Illibuck trophy. Unfortunately, this team lacks the fi repower to slow Ohio State’s momentum while kicking up some of their own.

Nathan Scheelhaase has had a hell of a year, and he can at least send the Buckeyes home with some bad individual report cards, if not with the loss. After putting up 35 points against Indiana that weren’t close to enough, the Illinois offense isn’t really in

a funk. It’s just the team that is.But the defense made a couple

nice plays last Saturday. Two crucial turnovers and three sacks almost made up for four touchdowns of 40 or more yards. Almost.

It’s tough for the Illini right now, but a good loss against Ohio State can build the necessary momentum to bring them into the low-down showdown with the Boilermakers with some confi dence.

A win against Purdue might create some momentum for the fi nal contest of the season against Northwestern, which may as well be a bowl game. The team could probably put themselves behind beating Northwestern to go out. I’m sure

Jonathan Brown would like a chance to show himself as a premier Big Ten linebacker against a school that knows him simply as “the nut-puncher,” as Brown was suspended for a game for an ill-advised fi st to the groin area of

a Northwestern player during Brown’s sophomore season.

But this isn’t the time to get hyped up for Northwestern. It’s the time to get hyped up for Ohio State, which, eh. Seniors Brown and Steve Hull organized a team meeting to keep everyone focused and not let some of the younger players give up. Which is smart, because if you’re a young player about to get blasted by the best team in the conference to bring your losing streaks up to six and 20, respective of this season and the Big Ten in general, you may consider giving a little bit less of a crap.

The fans have, and that will show itself at the stadium on Saturday. That is, unless Illinois fans have a genuine curiosity in what good football looks like, which Ohio State is likely to showcase.

The game won’t be fun, for Illinois at least, and it won’t be exciting. But it’s important for the Illini to endure, play a redeemable game, and get into the last part of the season. Once the struggle of squandering bowl eligibility is over, Illinois will be able to re-adjust its goals, and only then can we start looking for some positive takeaways from this season.

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

Moving forward from an Ohio State lossELIOT SILL

Sports editor

Once the struggle of squandering bowl eligibility is over,

Illinois will be able to readjust its goals,

and only then can we start looking

for some positive takeaways from this

season.

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Touchdown Times: November 14, 2013