Ron Zook's second game against Penn State as Illinois coach was less painful than his first meeting with the Nittany Lions. He's hoping the third -- this Saturday -- will feel even better.
Zook, in his third year at Illinois, has lost both times he's faced Penn State. The Lions won last season 26-12 in a game that ended relatively close in score compared to the 63-10 pasting Penn State put on the Illini in Champaign, Ill., in 2005.
After that 53-point defeat, the former Florida head coach walked into the locker room and spoke from his heart because he didn't know how else to address his team.
"Tonight is as bad as the program is ever going to be," Zook told the players.
In the nearly two calendar years since then, Zook hasn't been proven wrong.
Illinois ended '05 with a 2-9 record and managed only two wins as well last season, but as Zook said at a press conference in Champaign yesterday, "We told our team the only game that we didn't have a chance to win was the Rutgers game [a 33-0 loss]."
Illinois' margin of defeat in its 10 losses last season was 11.8 and it played six bowl-eligible teams. That number is significantly lower than the 30.2 point average loss in nine defeats in '05, none by less than 15 points.
"We've made progress. The thing we said in beginning of year is we felt like last year, we could play with these people, now we got to go do it," Zook said. "Our guys feel they can play with them but we have to do our thing. We can't get ahead of ourselves. ... We've won one game, period, in the Big Ten [this year]."
The Illini (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) opened their conference schedule last week by defeating Indiana. They began their season with a loss at Missouri before beating Western Illinois at home and Syracuse on the road.
Saturday's game against No. 21 Penn State (3-1, 0-1) will be Illinois' first home game since Sept. 8.
"I'm excited about where we're at right now. We talked a lot [Monday] at practice that we've got to maintain the same direction that we've been going," Zook said. "Until this point we have."
Generation TXT
Zook was asked to compare his recruiting style to that of Joe Paterno, a self-proclaimed technophobe:
"I'm sure it's a lot different when Coach Paterno walks into a house than when Ron Zook walks into a house," Zook said. "He's got about 300 wins under his belt. That takes care of some of that phone calling and text messaging that I have to do."
Hard-y to contain
In two career games against Iowa, Indiana junior wideout James Hardy has 20 catches for 307 yards and four touchdowns. Given those statistics, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was asked how the Hawkeyes plan to limit Hardy.
"You're probably talking to the wrong guy," Ferentz said. "We haven't done a very good job against him."
Media darling
"I would much rather enjoy [one] than fight one. They've got good guys in the room. Those are the parts of my job that I really sit back and enjoy," Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said of press conferences.
