Fighting Illini fighting for a lot

Introductions aren't necessary, but let's update the Illinois football story. It has, after all, been six years since the Hawkeyes and Fighting Illini have met.

The last time was a 27-24 Illinois victory at Memorial Stadium in 2008. That was a year after Ron Zook took the Illini to the Rose Bowl. Despite the victory, it was the beginning of the end for Zook in Champaign-Urbana. There would just one more winning season and one bowl before he was fired in 2011.

Tim Beckman came in from Toledo and has gone 2-10, 4-8 and now stands at 4-5 (1-4 Big Ten) going into Saturday's 11 a.m. game against the Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-2) at Memorial Stadium.

There were murmurs that Illinois would fire Beckman after his first season, which included him sending much of his staff to Penn State to try to vulture players out of State College in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sanctions. Also in 2012, Beckman was caught by TV cameras on the sideline taking a dip of chew from a can of Skoal, which happens to be a secondary NCAA violation.

The heat is on Beckman. A week after an uplifting 28-24 home victory over Minnesota, the Illini crashed back to reality with a 55-14 loss to Ohio State.

Yes, Beckman can't go three feet without hot seat talk in his ears, but his team, coming off a bye, has a realistic shot at bowl eligibility with Iowa and Penn State at home the next two weeks before finishing at Northwestern.

These three games mean a lot for Illinois and maybe everything for Beckman.

'We've won four football games, which we haven't done in two years, already, speaks that we are moving forward,' Beckman said last week on the Big Ten coaches teleconference. 'It's not as fast as we'd all like it to be, but our program is moving forward. These next three games ... One of your main goals is to achieve a six-win season. That's something these players would like to do.'

Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt is expected to play this week. He suffered a leg fracture against Purdue on Oct. 4 and then missed the last three games. He returned to practice last Wednesday. Lunt, a transfer from Oklahoma State in his first season at Illinois, has completed 127 of 191 for 1,569 yards with 13 TDs and just three interceptions.

Illinois has developed a couple of go-to wide receivers this season in Mike Dudek and Geronimo Allison, a junior who transferred from Iowa Western Community College (Council Bluffs) in January. The duo has combined for 1,211 yards and eight touchdowns on 78 receptions.

The passing game should help, but the Illini will have to overcome a defense that has been the worst in the league this season, allowing 483.1 yards a game (6.16 yards per play), and that includes a rush defense that's also last in the Big Ten (262.7 yards per game, 5.3 per carry).

Under Beckman, Illinois is 2-19 in the Big Ten. The victory over Minnesota on Oct. 25 was Beckman's first Big Ten victory at Memorial Stadium. A victory over Iowa would start a trend and would probably go a way in saving Beckman's job.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com