Ohio State 52 Illinois 22: And The Beat Goes On

The Illini played well for about 15 minutes or so today. Sadly, the regulation time for a NCAA football game is four times that. Who knew?

This was an ugly game that should have been much uglier if not for the Buckeyes' defense doing a fantastic impression of the Illini defense against Indiana from last week. Discipline was nowhere to be seen. The Illini defense did a decent enough job in the first quarter until LB Jonathan Brown went down with a right shoulder injury.

Nate Scheelhaase looks as though he may be toast. He's throwing fadeaway passes for no reason and can't seem to progress past his first read on any passing play. It's not fun to say, but it's time to put him on the bench.

But not everything was terrible today. Some positive moments/items so that I don't come off as a total curmudgeon:

• Terry Hawthorne is returning punts and kicks finally and is doing a wonderful job of it.
• Nick Immekus is finally healthy as well and knocked in two field goals.
• OL Corey Lewis finally got some game time for the first time since the 2009 season. His once promising career was pretty much destroyed by multiple unfortunate injuries.
• Ashante Williams had a beautiful 84-yard fumble return TD.
• The second half was much better than the first.
• Beckman called for two 2 point conversions. Somehow both succeeded.
• Jon Davis is actually being used again! Our only real weapon that isn't technically a halfback scored a rushing touchdown, because of course he did.

But yeah. Things are ugly. Expect a much better/more detailed recap from Tom soon.