Illinois 35, Minnesota 32

I will admit I was shocked when Illinois led 28-7 at the half against Minnesota.  That put the Illini on a 59-7 tear since falling behind 13-7 against Michigan last week, stunning for a team that two weeks ago was 1-6 and alone in the Big 10 basement.  Although the Gophers made a nice run at it in the second half, Illinois has undoubtedly been playing a lot better the last two weeks.  What has changed?  Let's take a look at the numbers from the game:

Interestingly, after Illinois simply dominated Michigan on the ground, racking up 414 yards on 52 plays, the rush offense had its worst outing of the season against Minnesota.  My guess is that this partially reflects the switch from Juice to Jacob Charest at QB.  Juice is obviously a better runner than Charest, but having Charest at QB also negatively impacted LeShoure and Ford since the Illinois running game is predicated on Juice's ball fakes and option pitches. 

The good news is that Charest more than made up for it through the air, averaging nearly 10 yards per pass attempt, which in combination with Juice's strong start before his injury was Illinois' best passing performance of the season in terms of efficiency.  Charest has an odd throwing motion and can't really zip the ball the way Juice can but he was accurate and would have had better stats if not for several drops by the wide receivers, particularly Jeff Cumberland.

The young Illinois defense is starting to gel (highlighted by true freshman Terry Hawthorne's pick six - the second week in a row he has made a game-changing play on defense) and the dormant pass rush has suddenly awakened (seven sacks, including four by Clay Nurse).  The offense is improving as well, though I think the team will be best served if Juice is able to play this weekend because of his ability to conduct the option offense.  Illinois has struggled against Northwestern the last few years, but I am liking their chances to move to 4-6 before the big game against Cincinnati.