"Oh, some portions of our favored Midwest see dark clouds blocking the sun, The band is muted elsewhere, and hearts are heavy, And somewhere men are grumbling, and somewhere children cry, But there is unbridled joy in sunny Champaign-Urbana -- the Mighty Illini have struck football gold."
-- Apologies for a reversal of "Casey at the Bat."
Like Mighty Casey, it was just one game. But this one is cause for celebration ... field-charging celebration.
Saturday's date with 19th-ranked Kansas was deemed 2024's pivotal contest, and the 23-17 triumph is projected as setting the tone for a rugged schedule in a new 18-team conference.
So what if it created jammed parking lots and stacked-up waits in 10 p.m. traffic. So what if you were too wired to sleep. That's what it's like when nearly all of 60,670 fans stay through the final excruciating minute.
On a day when national champion Michigan was brought to normalcy by Texas, when a long Iowa State field goal felled Iowa, and when Notre Dame was embarrassed by Northern Illinois, the Illini grabbed center stage.
Yes, the Illini won a big one in front of their fans for a change. There's no point in reiterating the grim home statistics. Let's just say this was a new experience, a stick-it-out, sellout crowd that shook Memorial Stadium unlike anything in the last 20-plus years.
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Going in, my evaluations centered on three essential considerations: (1) QB Luke Altmyer's improvement after a year in the Barry Lunney Jr. scheme, (2) defensive coordinator Aaron Henry's ability to use what he learned in a shaky first year to reshape the secondary and (3) a combustible squad reaction to last year's 34-23 loss in Lawrence.
Of course, every close winner needs a break along the way, and it didn't hurt that Illinois recovered its a bungled punt that had players on both sides diving for it in the UI end zone. The Illini recovered for a touchback, setting off an 80-yard TD march early in the fourth quarter.
Henry's defense was dented for 186 ground yards but held this veteran Kansas team to 17 points, exactly half of last year's scoring average. UI cornerback Xavier Scott darted 30 yards with a pick-six before halftime, and closed a spectacular day with eight solo tackles and two of the UI's three interceptions.
This looked a lot like 2022 defensively.
Lacking a productive ground game -- three UI running backs averaged 2.8 yards per carry -- Altmyer completed five chunk passes netting 142 yards to outplay his touted rival, Jalon Daniels.
For the record, Altmyer hit on 16 of 25 with the help of sure-handed deep receptions by transfer Zakhari Franklin and senior Pat Bryant. Altmyer inserted an 18-yard run between 37- and 28-yard strikes to Bryant as
Illinois went ahead 20-17 early in the fourth quarter, and the Illini ate nearly seven minutes with a pass-run grind to set up David Olano's third field goal with 58 seconds remaining.
Kansas reached the UI 46 at :04, but Daniels was stifled in his effort to launch a Hail Mary.
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Coach Brad Bielema, as is his nature, will continue to emphasize the running game in press conferences but after Saturday's 11 a.m. homecoming date with Central Michigan -- a 52-16 loser to Florida International Saturday -- the Illini will travel late this month to Nebraska and Penn State, both likely to limit the UI's running game the way Kansas did.
Yes, Illinois must run enough to keep defenses honest, but ultimate success in the ever-toughening schedule will require the full use of the three best players on this unit: Altmyer, Franklin and Bryant. In two games, Franklin and Bryant have 19 catches with a number of them NFL-level sideline efforts.
Based on two games, Illinois has its most dangerous deep-passing game in years. To fully employ an aerial strategy may be risky as the winds blow and the weather changes, but Illinois will soon be facing ultra-stiff ground defenses at Nebraska and Penn State and back home against Ryan Walters' Purdue team and then Michigan.
As noted, Kansas was just one game. It doesn't assure future victories.
But, coupled with what we're seeing elsewhere -- Michigan's lopsided loss and Oregon's narrow wins over Idaho 24-14 and Boise State 37-34 -- the Illini have displayed the potential to be fourth-quarter competitors against everyone of their schedule.