UI notebook: Empty feeling for seniors

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The Illinois seniors won't play in a bowl game, making it three out of four years (or four of five in some cases) that they've been home for the holidays.

The younger Illini didn't want to see it end this way.

"I feel bad for those guys," Illini tailback Mikel Leshoure said. "We've got a lot of young guys on the team who don't really know what those guys have been through. The times that they had here at Illinois wasn't all about their Rose Bowl season. They were here when it was two wins. There's not too much I can do now for them. I feel bad we didn't come out, execute and give those guys a chance to make it to a bowl."

"I'm hurt for those seniors because I came in with a lot of those guys," junior defensive end Clay Nurse said. "That's my family."

What's the motivation to play in the final two games?

"Just to compete," Leshoure said. "That's something Coach (Ron Zook) has been preaching to us all year. Just because we're not in a bowl race doesn't mean we're going to give up on our season."

"We want to win as many games as possible, and five wins is better than three wins," Illinois freshman quarterback Jacob Charest said. "We've got to come out, work hard and get these last two games."

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Nurse didn't care that the Wildcats carried off the new Land of Lincoln Trophy. What he wanted was a win.

"I didn't care about the trophy, I just wanted to beat Northwestern," Nurse said.

"Northwestern, I don't like them. I've never liked them. And I just want to beat them."

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Charest's first start didn't go the way he had hoped. The redshirt freshman had a pair of interceptions and struggled to complete passes in the first half.

"That's the one thing you worry about," Zook said. "It's a lot different being the starter all week long than coming off the bench. I don't know why that is. That's usually the way it is."

The finish was better than the start for Charest, who led a pair of touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

"I'm proud of the way he gained his composure there in the second half," Zook said.

Charest was intercepted with a minute left in the first half that led to Northwestern's first touchdown.

"I waited just a little bit too long to get the ball in there," Charest said. "I thought I could squeeze it in there. I should have pulled the trigger sooner."

Most of the Illini talked to Charest about the play at halftime.

"Pretty much the whole team," Charest said.

What was the message?

"Shake it off," Charest said. "You've still got another half of ball to play."

Charest took the third quarter off, which helped.

"I could kind of see the coverages from a different point of view," Charest said. "I could see what the DBs were doing without worrying about the rush."

When he got the ball back with a minute left, Charest thought the Illini would win. The drive ended on a disputed interception.

"I don't personally think that should have been an interception," Charest said. "We were all getting ready for the next play."

Charest doesn't know what his status will be for the next game, Nov. 27 at Cincinnati.

"I assume (Juice Williams) is going to be back," Charest said. "This week off is going to help."

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Zook said Williams could have played if Charest and backup Eddie McGee had gotten injured. Williams is recovering from a sprained ankle suffered against Minnesota.

"He was ready," Zook said.

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After gaining 25 yards on 10 carries at Minnesota, Leshoure was Illinois' leading rusher Saturday with 76 yards on 13 tries.

"It felt good to get out there and get a rhythm started," Leshoure said.

Leshoure thought the team could rally from a 21-3 fourth-quarter deficit.

"I'm always thinking that until it's 00:00 on the clock," Leshoure said.

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Illinois receiver Arrelious Benn left the game after he "got dinged in the head again," Zook said.

"We need to get him a better helmet."

Benn finished with a team-high four catches for 31 yards.

Receiver Jack Ramsey injured his ankle but returned to the game. Defensive end Nurse hurt his shoulder but will be fine, Zook said.

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Sophomore Derek Dimke replaced Matt Eller as the kicker after Eller missed a 23-yard field goal early in the game. Dimke hit a 30-yarder for Illinois' first points.

"It was great to get out there and finally get a field goal in," Dimke said.

Dimke's kickoff after the field goal went deep into the end zone.

"I had a little extra leg in there," Dimke said.

Eller now has missed 7 of 11 field goal attempts this season, including two inside of 30.

"There is something going on," Zook said. "He's in a batting slump. Instead of hitting home runs, he's hitting foul balls. He's still hitting it well.

"I sure don't want to ruin Matt and get him to a point where he never comes back. He can still kick. He's a good kicker. He'll be fine. We've just got to work him through this. It's not a big thing. Obviously, if it doesn't go through those two steel poles, it's a big thing. But his thing, what he's doing wrong, is not a major thing. Most kickers I've ever been around go through some sort of slump. This is lasting a little bit longer than most."

Dimke is supporting Eller during the slump.

"Basically, you say, 'Keep your head up. Come back and make the next one,' " Dimke said. "He can make them. You saw it last year."

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The Northwestern defensive staff prepared to face as many as three Illini quarterbacks, although two are similar enough that the task wasn't completely threefold, according to Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald.

With Williams nursing a sprained ankle, the status of Illinois' No. 1 QB was uncertain. As it turned out, Williams did not play. Instead, redshirt freshman Charest started and McGee saw time at the position, too. Fitzgerald said Williams and McGee, who both are threats to run the ball as well as pass, are similar enough in how they play that Northwestern's preparations for each was basically the same.

Fitzgerald said he suspected Williams would not be able to play. He compared Williams' injury to that of Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi, who suffered an ankle injury against Northwestern the previous week.

"We saw the play (on which Williams was injured) and it was similar to Ricky last week," Fitzgerald said. "... Maybe not as serious because Ricky had to have surgery, but at the end of the day we expected to see Eddie and we expected to see Jacob.

"We knew there would be a little bit of contrasting styles, so, yeah, it was a difficult week for our coaching staff on defense, without a doubt."

Bob Asmussen and Jeff Huth

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