Friday night was a perfect night for the beginning of the Illinois redemption tour. Heat was no problem for the diehard day-drinkers and the weather was perfect for sitting outside and tailgaiting. The brand new Grange Grove was lush and green and humming with activity, offering fun for students, families, and a gorgeous entrance to the stadium. It was an idyllic setting for a home opener.
Then the rains came. Despite just a 15% chance in the forecast, they came hard and fast and, to use the obvious cliche, really put a dampener on the proceedings.
Lightning forced fans into the concourse of Memorial stadium shortly after 7 pm, about an hour from the scheduled kick-off. Fans remained sequestered there for about three hours until the schools and the Big Ten decided the lightning just wouldn’t let up enough to let them play football.
The game was rescheduled for Saturday afternoon, but not without obvious consequence for Illinois. Television coverage was gone, the chance to be in the spotlight for an evening gone with it. Many fans with tickets would obviously be missing as well despite the University offering additional tickets for as low as $5.
And so it was on Saturday that the Illini season truly began, but under much different circumstances than imagined or hoped for. But despite having just a few thousand people in attendance cheering on, the Illini went above and beyond expectations and put a pummelling on Kent State.
Illinois quickly ran up the score against the Golden Flashes, dashing out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter. Quarterback Wes Lunt lived up to his own expectations, racking up 3 passing touchdowns among the 4 scores in the first quarter alone, the second of which came on a drive lasting just 6 seconds: a 34-yard pass to Marchie Murdock set up by an Eaton Spence interception.
On the day, Lunt was 11/19 for 162 yards and 4 touchdowns. Senior running back Josh Ferguson ran for 77 yards and a touchdown, and debutante Ke’Shawn Vaughn also ran for 43 yards and a touchdown.
With offensive coordinator Bill Cubit stepping in as the interim coach after the Tim Beckman firing, the offense was impressive pretty much as expected against a weaker opponent. The most impressive group, though, was undeniably the Illinois defense. For more than 50 minutes, the Illini were pitching a shutout against Kent State, the lone blemish a 43-yard field goal.
The defense had 3 interceptions, 14 tackles for a loss, and a sack in an utterly dominating performance. Captain Mason Monheim led by example with 4 tackles and an interception, but it’s hard to find fault in anything the defense did — a far cry from how the Illini defense could have been described in recent years.
It’s hard to draw a lot of conclusions from this first game, though. Yes, Illinois was dominating, but their opponent was not a great team in 2014-15. It’s hard to deny how convincing the Illini looked, however.
A few things are certain after this win: the Illini can play without expectations after Beckman’s firing. What they’re doing, they’re doing for pride, and if they play like this all year, who knows where their ceiling is?
Maybe the rain washed away the perfect redemption narrative on Friday, but there’s no complaining about the result Illinois got on Saturday.
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Photos courtesy of Travis McDade.