Ron Zook's Last Stand: Illinois Fighting Illini Week 1 Loss to Missouri Tigers

The Illinois Fighting Illini began their 2010 season like they have the past three seasons, with an opening loss to the Missouri Tigers at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

In past years, the Illini have either played poorly in the first half and mustered up enough fight in the second half to lose a close one or just plain didn’t show up at all, like they did in 2009.

This year seemed a little different, though.  It was the Illini that led at halftime 13-3, not the Tigers.  Despite having a redshirt freshmen make his first college start and a depleted secondary, Illinois controlled the first half.

The second half was a different story.  Missouri returned for the second half and shutout the Illini offense, holding them to only 85 yards.  Blaine Gabbert appeared to have shaken off the rust, throwing two touchdown passes.

Despite fumbling and throwing three interceptions, Nathan Scheelhaase showed promise by staying in the pocket under pressure and showcased his speed when he scampered from the pocket.

He ran into trouble when he threw the ball deep, but his short- to mid-range passes were thrown fairly well.  The deep ball will most likely come with experience.

A big positive for the Illini was the play of the secondary.  Depleted by the injuries to Supo Sanni and Terry Hawthorne, running-back-converted-to-safety Justin Green, wide-receiver-converted-to-cornerback Steve Hull, and cornerback-converted-to-safety Tavon Wilson did a solid job limiting Gabbert to 281 passing yards, but yielded two touchdown passes.

Although they showed their inexperience, they showed the ability to give Illinois a decent pass defense.

Another positive on the defensive side was the solid play by Martez Wilson, who the Illini did not have all of last season after he suffered a season-ending injury against Missouri.

The Illini rushing offense picked up right where it left off last season, rushing for 200 yards.  Mikel LeShoure led the way with 112 yards on 20 carries, living up to the hype that has surrounded him this offseason.  He looks poised to be a good back in the Big Ten in 2010.

Not to be overlooked, Illinois kicker Derek Dimke made his only extra-point attempt and both of his field-goal attempts, including one from 52 yards out.

Ron Zook and his new coordinators, Vic Koenning and Paul Petrino, had an impressive debut, giving hope to an Illinois team that was 3-9 a year ago.

The Illini figure to get better as each game goes on.  They definitely need to be able to get victories the next two weeks against in state opponents, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois, before enduring a tough three-game stretch against Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State.

If the Illini play like they did against Missouri and show the same fight, Ron Zook’s job in Champaign may be safe after all.  Check back next week.