Illinois' dreams dry up; Zook left looking all wet
CHAMPAIGN -- Illinois' too-little, too-late attempt to salvage an oil spill of a season is officially over. Not that it ever was based in reality.
If the Chief were still around, a tank car full of solvent might not get the muck off his headdress.
Northwestern's interception of Jacob Charest's pass with one minute left in the first half Saturday gave the Wildcats an opening, and they barreled through it, ending any hopes of the Illini saving their season.
The Cats took that pick and turned it into a 7-3 halftime lead. The setback was enough to discourage the fragile Illini, who had botched chances to take their own lead. Unable to build on their modest two-game winning streak, they fell behind 21-3 before scoring two late touchdowns in a 21-16 loss.
Officially, a controversial interception of Charest with 32 seconds left was the Illini's last gasp. But coach Ron Zook knew his team had set itself up for another disaster long before cornerback Sherrick McManis, the Peoria Richwoods lad who was deemed too small by Illinois, somehow snatched an apparent catch from Jarred Fayson.
''I don't know what it looked like to me,'' Zook said. ''There's no use getting into it. I'm tired of people pointing fingers. There's only one person to point the finger at, and it's me.
''We shouldn't have been in that situation. Everybody has bad games. Players have bad games. Coaches have bad games. And obviously officials have bad games. That's the way it is.''
Zook's problem, though, is that he's having a bad season. And last year -- when Illinois somehow turned a winning season into a 5-7 disappointment -- wasn't good, either.
Illini fans don't have enough hands to do all the finger-pointing. But as Zook noted, this isn't really about underachieving players.
''If you want somebody to blame, blame me,'' he said, knowing that restless fans and alums will do that whether he invites scrutiny or not.
Of course the messiness starts with Zook -- who either didn't give himself the right mix of players or didn't get them ready, or both. It also extends to his overambitious boss, athletic director Ron Guenther, who gave Illinois an endless, perilous schedule.
Illinois' work is done. The trouble is, the 3-7 Illini still must go to No. 5 Cincinnati on Nov. 27 and play Fresno State on Dec. 5 in Champaign. That will be Illinois' first regular-season game in December. Will anyone notice?
On the bright side, Illinois can use these two nonconference games to get a head start on 2010. And it no longer has to worry about the burden of expectations -- for those two games, or for next year. Nobody's going to expect anything from Illinois until it proves itself worthy of expectations.
The two victories after a miserable 1-6 start might have bought Zook another year. But Illinois is going to be a tough sell in 2010 -- and Zook and Guenther know it.