Illini roll to the finish
Last Modified: Dec 29, 2010 11:36PM
HOUSTON — The goal was to put a little positive spin on a season that had been going south.
Mission accomplished. Delivering a rock-solid effort on both sides of the ball, Illinois handled Baylor 38-14 on Wednesday night in the Texas Bowl.
If Illinois had played this way against Minnesota and Fresno State, it really could have ignited its fan base and raised its profile around the college-football world. But that doesn’t diminish all the good feelings it generated.
With this victory, the Illini (7-6) can claim a winning season. Considering they had backed into their first bowl in three years, losing three of their last four games, they avoided the dubious distinction of having a losing season despite making bowl trip.
In addition, having beaten Baylor (7-6), which was a one-point favorite, the Illini can take a lot of pride in their offseason business when they start trying to build on this year’s success. Illinois, after all, is a team that has not had back-to-back winning seasons since 1989-90.
‘‘To get here is a good thing,’’ said game MVP Mikel Leshoure, who ran for 184 yards and three touchdowns. ‘‘To win is even better. It tops our season off with a winning season. And it shows that hard work pays off.’’
Leshoure’s big night made him Illinois’ single-season rushing leader (1,697 yards) and scoring leader (122 points) and gave him the record for touchdowns in a season (20).
It was also the first win in four tries at bowl games for Ron Zook as a head coach.
‘‘It’s hard to win games. They’re all big,’’ Zook said, downplaying that breakthrough. ‘‘I don’t know that there was a lot of people that gave us much of a chance in this game. If you can prove people wrong, you get satisfaction from that. But that’s not why you do it.’’
With the thunderclaps of a nasty storm booming through the retractable roof of Reliant Stadium, Illinois opened a 16-0 lead in the first half.
The offense, which settled three times for field goals from Derek Dimke, wasn’t as electric as the Texas sky, but it was pretty effective. Led by Nathan Scheelhaase, who completed all 13 of his first-half passes, the Illini scored on their first four possessions.
Among the highlights were a 32-yard catch by Darius Milines and a 52-yard catch by Ryan Lankford. Both are freshmen, and both made big-time plays.
When Illinois marched down the field with the second-half kickoff and opened a 24-0 lead, it seemed poised to romp.
The Bears didn’t go along with that script. Scoring the next 14 points, they closed to 24-14 with 13:43 to play. But that was all they got as the defense came up with a big effort.
‘‘We had those weeks to heal up,’’ defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said. ‘‘The depth issue is something we have to address. But the guys played about as good as they could play tonight, and we knew we were gonna need that. That’s the 12th-rated offense in the country [in yardage]. Our guys played so fast and so hard.’’
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