QB Reilly O’Toole provides a little relief for Illini

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Updated: December 28, 2011 10:11AM

MINNEAPOLIS — True freshman Reilly O’Toole did some good things against Minnesota in the second half, his most extensive quarterback duty yet at Illinois.

O’Toole completed 11 of 21 passes for 63 yards and ran six times for 26 yards in relief of Nathan Scheelhaase, who completed 4 of 6 for 14 yards and was sacked five times.

‘‘Tried to come in there and make plays, get a spark going,’’ O’Toole said. ‘‘There was a little spark; it just didn’t catch.’’

The offensive woes of Illinois, which was outgained 333-160, were more about the offensive line and the running backs than the quarterbacks.

‘‘If everybody competed as hard as those two, we’d have been in good shape,’’ offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. ‘‘We just gut whupped [up front] at times. We didn’t play very good at all.’’

Uncharted bowl

Even with its sixth consecutive loss, Illinois will go to a bowl because that’s the way the bowl business works for Big Ten teams.

Which bowl that might be is murky, though, because 10 Big Ten teams are bowl-eligible. Even with Michigan looking like an at-large BCS candidate, the Illini could land in a non-Big Ten bowl that has a slot to fill.

The TicketCity and Little Caesars Pizza bowls, which have Big Ten tie-ins, are possible. So are the New Mexico, New Orleans and Kraft Fight Hunger bowls.

Mercilus decision

Junior defensive end Whitney Mercilus, who led the nation in sacks, has 141/2 after adding another one against Minnesota. He also had his ninth forced fumble, a Big Ten record.

Mercilus’ big season could make him an NFL commodity who will forgo his senior season. Coach Ron Zook plans to find out where Mercilus stands with pro teams.