Posted: 9/8/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Adam Babcock Illinois defensive lineman Corey Liuget moves to tackle Eastern's Travorus Bess during the game Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Illinois beat Eastern, 47-21.

Although Illinois came away with a rather convincing win, head coach Ron Zook had to remind his players they won after a 47-21 taming of the Eastern Illinois Panthers. One of the more disconcerting aspects of the game was Illinois' inability to effectively stop their opponents' running game. After giving up 226 yards on the ground to Missouri, Illinois' defense appeared a little porous, letting the Panther's Travorus Bess rush for 183 yards on only 15 carries.

Illinois players and coaches attributed the gains to poor emotional focus and a lack of intensity at times.

"We're not very good versus the run right now, that's what that tells me," co-defensive coordinator Dan Disch said. "We gotta get better, and yeah, it worries me."

Disch cited this week what linebacker Brit Miller conceded last week ­- the tackling for Illinois was not what it should have been.

"We gotta tackle better, we can't give up big plays," Disch said. "A lot of those plays should be eight yards; our secondary has to come up and tackle and our 'backers gotta come up and hit them in the mouth a little better, our (defensive line) has gotta knock them back. We're not doing any of it really."

Defensive tackle David Lindquist echoed his coach's sentiments about the defense's lack of emotion.

"We need to pick it up, we need to go out there this whole week and make some corrections ... we need to do a lot better against the run," the senior said. "It's tackling; it's all going out there with emotion and really just trying to knock somebody's head off."

Juice rewrites own record

Juice Williams broke his own record during the Illinois win, rushing for 174 yards on 16 attempts. Williams' now-bested record of 145 yards for a quarterback came against Purdue in 2006. Ever the modest player, Williams shrugged off any sort of adulation that might come with the accomplishment, however.

"It means a lot, but I try not to think about statistics like that," the junior said. "It's not an individual sport and if I have success out there, it means the offense is probably doing pretty good."

Continued...

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