False start: After promising start, Illinois fell flat

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- New coach Ron Zook's Illinois team was 2-0 and was ahead of then-No. 15 California on Sept. 17 when he caught the first glimpse of what was to come.

"I could feel it on the sideline," he said. "It was like instead of trying to win, we were trying not to lose."

The Illini did lose that game, 35-20, starting a nosedive that ended, mercifully, last Saturday with a 38-21 defeat by Northwestern in the season's final game. It was their ninth loss in a row.

It was a streak in which Illinois gave up 386 points while scoring only 104. The Illini held no opponent to fewer than 35 points during the streak and held only one opponent, San Jose State, to fewer than 30 points all season.

Zook tried to stay positive through the losing, even though the 63-14 thrashing by Penn State on homecoming left him "as low as I've ever been." And by season's end the Illini were improving on both sides of the ball in ways that made opponents notice.

"I'm really impressed with the job Ron's doing," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said Saturday. "There's not a more passionate guy on the planet than Ron Zook. You can see that in his kids and they're going to keep coming."

When the season ended, Illinois was starting one of the youngest lineups in the nation. Only two seniors were among the starters against Northwestern and there were more than a dozen 14 freshmen and sophomores.

"We've got a great nucleus coming back," Zook said as he looked ahead to his second season.

But the coach also needs more athletes who can compete with the Big Ten's elite if Illinois expects to climb out of the conference cellar soon. The Illini have only 11 wins in their last 47 games and only one Big Ten victory in three seasons, a record that will surely test Zook's highly touted recruiting skills.

"I made the statement Saturday that I'm not going to go through this again and I'm going to do everything in my God-given power not to," he said. "There's no question in our minds that we are on the right track and doing the right things."

Zook said that he planned no changes on his coaching staff, but wouldn't rule it out. Every aspect of the team will be evaluated, he said.

Several times through the season, Zook said that the athleticism of his team needed to change. Tuesday, he said speed is paramount in his search for talent but said he's not concerned so much with specific abilities as he is with finding players who will be productive.

"What you've got to do is make sure you're bringing in the right mix to go with the guys that you have," he said. "People say, 'What's your biggest need?' Well, we need everybody."

Groups of recruits are expected on campus in Champaign next weekend and the following weekend, Zook said. He can't talk about specific players until national letters of intent are signed in early February.

The rest of the team will get back to work soon on its winter weight program. Spring drills are three months away.

"We know that we're not where we need to be, but we know with a lot of hard work, we're going to get there," sophomore linebacker J Leman said. "We're going to turn this thing around."

---

On the Net: http://www.fightingillini.com