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By The Quad City Times | Sunday, October 1, 2006 1:17 AM CDT | () comments

ILLINI SCOREBOARD

Score

Illinois 23, Michigan State 20

Up next

Illinois welcomes Indiana to Champaign, Ill., for homecoming with an 11 a.m. game next Saturday. There is no telecast of the game.

Williams plays like a vet

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Twelve days earlier, Isiah “Juice” Williams found out he probably would be starting his first college football game.

His reaction was predictable for an 18-year-old freshman. He was nervous and scared, and immediately felt the pressure of high expectations.

After starting against Iowa last week and losing 24-7, his nerves had settled and he seemed ready for the task.

Now, after Williams’ performance in Saturday’s 23-20 Illinois victory at Michigan State, his demeanor has changed, his confidence has soared and the smile he brought to the postgame press conference was the brightest light on an otherwise gloomy, rainy day.

Williams ran 17 times for 103 yards, completed 9 of 16 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown and directed the game-winning drive with the poise of a senior.

“Coming onto the field for that series, there were a lot of things going through my head,” said Williams, who began the drive at the Illini 20 with the game tied 20-20 and 2 minutes, 41 seconds to play.

“Somewhat there was pressure. But at the same time I had a relaxed feeling.

“I knew the team was depending on me to drive the ball down there. I was thinking, ‘Try not to fumble the ball. Try not to throw an interception.’ There was so much stuff going through my head. But my team kept me relaxed and motivated the whole way, and we got the job done.

“We are the Fighting Illini, not the Lay Down Illini.“

Williams completed all three of his passes on the drive, each time finding Kyle Hudson.

“He’s like a safety valve for me,” Williams said.

His final 8-yard connection with Hudson pushed the ball to within comfortable range for Rock Island’s Jason Reda to kick the game-winning, 39-yard field goal with 6 seconds to play.

Defense gets it going

Credit the Illini defense with the game’s first big play, a turnover that denied Michigan State a first-quarter touchdown.

On the Spartans’ first drive of the game, Michigan State moved to the Illini 2-yard line. On second-and-goal, Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton ran an option keeper to the right and was hit by safety Justin Harrison.

Harrison knocked the ball loose, and it was recovered by Illini defensive tackle David Lindquist.

Pressure sets the pace

Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton was knocked from the game with 7:07 minutes to play after suffering bruised ribs on a controversial play that was ruled an incomplete pass.

But that wasn’t the only play on which Stanton was knocked around. The Illini defense kept pressure on him all day, and five times he was sacked, the most for the Illini with Ron Zook as coach. Derek Walker and Chris Norwell were credited with one-and-a-half sacks each, while Josh Norris and Lindquist each picked up a sack.

“We have emphasized getting better each week, and obviously we were better today than we have been at any point this season,” said Vince Okruch, Illinois’ defensive coordinator. “I really compliment the players. That got a little hairy at the end, but when there were times when they could have doubted, they fought through the adversity and found a way.

“We found a little wrinkle on the split side of their formation, and we thought we might have a little physical advantage there,” he said, talking about Illinois’ success pressuring the quarterback. “We exploited it a few times, and they had to change their protection. Then we came back the other way.”

Short takes

n Illinois’ Pierre Thomas ran for 110 yards, despite slightly spraining his knee, and moved into eighth place on Illinois’ all-time rushing list. On the day, Thomas leap-frogged past Rich Johnson, Red Grange, Chubby Phillips and John Karras. Thomas has 2,139 yards in his career.

n Linebacker J Leman (11 tackles) recorded his fourth consecutive double-digit tackle performance of the season for Illinois.

— Mark Tupper

The season

Sept. 2 — Illinois 42, Eastern Illinois 17

Sept. 9 — Rutgers 33, Illinois 0

Sept. 16 — Syracuse 31, Illinois 21

Sept. 23 — Iowa 24, Illinois 7

Sept. 30 — Illinois 23, Michigan St. 20

Oct. 7 — Indiana, 11 a.m.

Oct. 14 — Ohio, 6 p.m.

Oct. 21 — at Penn State, 11 a.m.

Oct. 28 — at Wisconsin, TBA

Nov. 4 — Ohio State, TBA

Nov. 11 — Purdue, TBA

Nov. 18 — at Northwestern, TBA

Statistics

Illinois 0 10 10 3 — 23

Michigan State 3 0 7 10 — 20

First quarter

MSU — FG Swenson 31, 2:30.

Second quarter

Ill — Willis 69 pass from J.Williams (Weil kick), 12:09.

Ill — FG Reda 27, 1:12.

Third quarter

MSU — De.Williams 62 interception return (Swenson kick), 11:24.

Ill — Willis 16 pass from Halsey (Reda kick), 7:27.

Ill — FG Reda 34, :38.

Fourth quarter

MSU — Caulcrick 1 run (Swenson kick), 6:42.

MSU — FG Swenson 27, 2:46.

Ill — FG Reda 39, :06.

Ill MSU

First downs 20 14

Rushes-yards 44-252 32-82

Passing 138 177

Comp-att-int 10-17-1 17-27-0

Return yards 2 93

Punts-avg. 5-35.0 6-37.2

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-yards 4-34 3-25

Time of possession 30:25 29:35

Individual statistics

Rushing — Illinois, Thomas Jr. 18-110, J. Williams 17-103, R. Mendenhall 5-17, McPhearson 1-16, Halsey 3-6. Michigan State Caulcrick 13-35, Dr.Stanton 13-32, T. Williams 1-7, Ringer 1-6, J. Scott 1-3, Jimmerson 3-minus-1.

Passing — Illinois, J. Williams 9-16-1-122, Halsey 1-1-0-16. Michigan State, Dr. Stanton 15-24-0-144, Hoyer 2-3-0-33.

Receiving — Illinois, Hudson 4-41, Willis 3-91, Thomas Jr. 2-1, Morgan 1-5. Michigan State, T. Williams 4-53, Reed 4-45, Caulcrick 3-28, K. Davis 2-22, J. Scott 2-21, Love 1-5, Ringer 1-3.