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By Loren Tate

Saturday, November 14, 2009 5:23 PM CDT

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CHAMPAIGN - In those opening seconds, when Illinois' 220-pound package of explosiveness careened off a Northwestern tackler and bounded 40 yards to the Illini 41, you could understand Arrelious Benn's status with NFL scouts.

He remains a projected Top 20 draft pick, ranking alongside Oklahoma State's suspended Dez Bryant as the 2009 receivers with the best professional potential.

But for Illinois, Benn has become the modern version of Lamont Cranston, the fictional Shadow who discovered in the Orient how to "cloud men's mind" so they couldn't see him. That is seemingly the way Benn looks to Illini quarterbacks because, as these games progress, he disappears ... then emerges briefly ... and is suddenly invisible again.

In Saturday's 21-16 loss to Northwestern, Benn caught the first pass of the game for minus yardage, and didn't catch another until the Wildcats had built a 21-3 lead in the fourth quarter.

Oh, the Illini tried. Reaching the NU 6-yard line early, Jacob Charest's pass led him out of the end zone. In the second quarter, Charest fired from the NU 30 but overthrew him deep. Before halftime, a pass toward Benn drew a 15-yard interference call against the Wildcats. Another pass was low. Nothing materialized, and Ron Zook turned at halftime to Eddie McGee, who threw one pass (out of 13 plays) in the third quarter. That was a potential 44-yard TD bomb that sailed over Benn's head.

Ugly numbers

While NU's Mike Kafka was cutting up the Illini defense (he hit 23 of 37 for 305 yards), the home forces went through a stretch of 42 minutes with nine incompletions, one game-turning interception and two completions netting 26 yards. Then, in desperation, Charest returned in the fourth quarter and located Benn for 10, 17 and 5 yards, only to see him prone on the field with yet another injury (Zook said he was "dinged" in the head), ending his day.

That's the way his junior season began (against Missouri) and that's the way it was again Saturday. Not the kind of durability and production expected to an NFL-bound super-athete. On the other side, 5-foot-11 Zeke Markshausen added to his 70 catches with six more for 104 yards, and teammate Andrew Brewer boosted his 617 yards with 73 more.

For whatever reason – injuries, more accurate QBs, better strategy – UI rivals have done better in capitalizing on their pass-receiving assets. Missouri's Danario Alexander caught 10 for 132 yards in the opener. Illinois State's Eyad Salem grabbed seven for 103 yards here. Later on, Indiana's Tandon Doss caught seven for 130. Benn, who had four straight 100-yard games as a sophomore, has nine catches in the last four games, hasn't reached 100 yards this season and has one TD reception in the last 15 games.

When we look back six or eight years from now, we'll wonder how this could have happened.

Close doesn't count

OK, you can discount psychology. Coaches tend to do that. But how do you explain that Illinois, once again the so-called favorite in this rivalry, lost for the sixth time in seven outings and for the 14th time in the last 24?

When it's close, Northwestern has the UI's number. The Wildcats always seems to have the edge in emotion and discipline. On a bright, warm Saturday, Northwestern ran the ball 42 times and passed 37 without a turnover while drawing just 29 yards in penalties. No major glitches.

Illinois had two fumbles, both saved by left tackle Jeff Allen, and the interception before halftime allowed Kafka to take advantage with a 28-yard TD pass to Markshausen in the last 17 seconds.

It was all downhill from there until the spread reached 21-3. Yes, in the wild finish, Illinois actually had a chance. After Charest found Chris Duvalt open for a 32-yard strike that made it 21-16, the Illini got the ball back with 1:14 left and Charest overthrew Duvalt as he got behind the NU secondary past midfield. Then came the final interception which will be argued elsewhere (NU's Sherrick McManis swiped the ball off a prone Jarred Fayson's chest).

The upshot is that NU, now 7-4, outplayed Illinois (3-7) and concluded what is becoming an enjoyable habit for the Purple.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.

Comments

Loren:

Ask that offensive genius Schultz about the underuse of Regis. I guess he finally discovered him in the fourth quarter when the Illini were down by 18, when Charest went to him four-or-five straight times. Wow . .ten games into the season and he realizes how to use one of, if not his best, weapon . . . A monkey could have figured that out at least by Game #3. If Schultz is back next year, we can look forward to more touchdown-less first halves and a clueless come from behind offense, which runs the ball up-the-middle while down by two touchdowns with four minutes remaining.

Posted by peterborich on November 14, 2009 at 5:40 PM | Suggest Removal

Well, Loren, at least in a roundabout way, I am glad that you agree that your buddy Ron Guenther is a moron.

Nice of NW to be 7-4 right now. Granted, some of those wins were agains the sisters of the poor.

As for the remaining 2 games, I would rather Illinois forfeit to Fresno State and Cincy, because, the Illini are going to be outclassed, and I would much prefer that these players do not get hurt.

Thanks Ron Guenther!

Posted by IlliniHimey on November 14, 2009 at 6:16 PM | Suggest Removal

Rick Morrissey said it correctly a few weeks ago. The Illinois football program is irrelevant. Nothing worse can be said about a division I program.

Posted by blueandorange on November 14, 2009 at 6:28 PM | Suggest Removal

First of all, a longtime fan of yours, Loren.

You are right on about Benn. It reminds me of having Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy and not being of any consequence nationally.

How do we consistently get out played by supposed one and two star recruits?

Posted by ColoradoMike on November 14, 2009 at 6:58 PM | Suggest Removal

well i see the peter is happy the illini lost so he has something to complain about didnt hear from him the last 2 wins

Posted by hardcorefan on November 14, 2009 at 7:46 PM | Suggest Removal

Which Ron or should I say which "coach' should be replaced first?You have a former D3 coach,from 35 years ago pulling all the strings.To the tune of71-124-2.These numbers should speak for themselves!Is there any BCS AD even close to these numbers?I vote for RG to leave first.

Posted by Martin09 on November 14, 2009 at 8:42 PM | Suggest Removal

This team has played like it had E.D. all season, and what they are doing about it mostly isn't working. A few fans are OK with it - maybe they are OK with E.D. too.

Posted by TotalIlliniFan on November 14, 2009 at 8:56 PM | Suggest Removal

Tate is out of touch with reality. Benn has been playing through a high ankle sprain all year. I didn't see Juice or Hoomanoui out there with their high ankle sprains. #9 is a gamer.

That said, fault lies with the Illinois coaches and training staff here. The fact that Benn was even allowed to dress for the Illinois State game was astonishing. The fact that the staff decided to use him as a "decoy" for that game just further revealed their own ineptitude. A coach with half a brain, and an ounce of confidence in his own judgement would have taken Benn's jersey out of his locker and let him take 2 weeks to get 100%.

This seems basic. But so does feeding the football 30 times a game to a back who's averaging 6 yards a carry. So does trying an new kicker after he's 4 of 8 on the season. Or 4 of 9. Or 4 of 10. But instead we wait til he's 4 of 11. This isn't the kids fault, Lauren. It's inept coaches hired by an inept athletic director.

Posted by plogli on November 14, 2009 at 10:29 PM | Suggest Removal

Hey Hardcore Fan:

Glad you are pleased with a 3-7 team with two wins over the last place Michigan Wolverines and over a team that barely beat South Dakota State today. Quite an accomplishment indeed.

If you examine the two wins more closely, you'll find that they consist of only two good halves of football (2nd Half of Michigan/First Half of Minnesota). But, I guess this is cause for you to extend Zook's contract by another year.

Posted by peterborich on November 14, 2009 at 10:55 PM | Suggest Removal

Peter why do i only see you on here complaining, I bet you are thankful for places like this where you can just be the arm chair quaterback, hey peter i coach high school ball i have an opening for an assistant why not contact me and ill check out you expertise., i know you like to check back to see your name and act like your pointing out how everything is so wrong so i am calling you out, i want to test your expertise and football skills, apparently you have all the answers

Posted by hardcorefan on November 15, 2009 at 12:50 PM | Suggest Removal

you only see folks on here complaining, because there is a lot to complain about, a lot that should be expected of this level of talent.

FIRE RON ZOOK BUMPER STICKERS AVAILABLE ON EBAY!!!

Posted by on November 15, 2009 at 4:32 PM | Suggest Removal

I like this totalillinifan guy; thanks. I also have a question: how many of those who use these comments to try to establish that they still have testosterone are watching in person rather than on TV? That this was a winnable game is in no small measure because the Illini played with some spunk; NU basically hit three really crippling passes that went completely across the field. That is no defense for Tavon Wilson's getting beat twice, but except for the time he was called for interference, NU seemed so to respect Hawthorne that they did not throw his way. Hope he will stay on defense next year. Close is not good enough, but as one who saw every game in '06 home and away, I think I am seeing some of the same improvement that went on that year. At least I hope so!

Posted by jjohnson on November 15, 2009 at 7:34 PM | Suggest Removal

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