Last season is one the football program would much rather forget. New HC Ron Zook wasn’t enough to get these guys over the hump. Instead, they digressed and became the Big 10’s whipping boy. The Illini won and covered its first two games of the season, but it was all downhill from there. The Illini gave up a Big 10 record 435 total points, and the offense only averaged 17 PPG. There’s really only one way for this program to go in ’06, and that’s way up since you can’t do much worse than they did a season ago. Ron Zook’s squad returns 19 starters from a year ago, and there’s no doubt they’ll be pumped to atone for last years nightmare of a season. The offense looks to be in better shape with the O-Line returning completely intact, but its been a bit retooled to allow the hogs to play to their best abilities. With a year of the new schemes under their belts, look for QB Tim Brasic’s offense to improve on last year’s numbers dramatically. The defense returns 10 from last year’s unit, but one has to question if that’s a good thing or not. This unit was torched repeatedly, but new DC Vince Okruch was brought in and he’s proven to put out capable defenses wherever he’s coached.
Look for the Illini to be a much more competitive club in ’06. They were humiliated a year ago, and will no doubt take the field with a chip on their shoulder. Especially in Big 10 play where they went 0-8 a year ago, and covered one game ATS. HC Zook is a proven recruiter, so there has to be some talent on hand waiting in the wings to make an impact. A possible 3-0 start could have this squad thinking upset when Iowa pays them a visit in late September. |
