On Monday, Illinois coach Ron Turner was asked if there were any scenario in which junior Jon Beutjer would play against Missouri, other than an injury to starting quarterback Dustin Ward.
The Cliff’s Notes version of Turner’s response: No.
With 14 minutes to go in Saturday’s game and the Illini trailing 26-14, Turner had a sudden change of heart. “I made the change to try to spark something,” Turner said. “We’ve got two quarterbacks I think we can win with. Dustin is still the starting quarterback. There is no controversy. There is no change. There is no nothing.”
That was welcome news to Ward. The junior from Champaign had completed only 9-of-21 passes for 122 yards and one touchdown (29 yards to Brandon Lloyd) when he was pulled. He also had been sacked twice and had fumbled twice after blindside hits.
“The possibility I might not be starting? That was a question that didn’t go through my mind,” Ward said. “Coach telling me I was still the starter means a lot to me, though, because the day didn’t go well.”
On Beutjer’s first series he was sacked for a 9-yard loss on third down, and Illinois had to punt. Beutjer did better the next time, hooking up with Lloyd on an 18-yard TD pass that cut Missouri’s lead to 33-20 with 8:49 to go. But that was all Beutjer could muster. He was 9-for-21 for 124 yards and–like Ward–was sacked twice.
Turner said Ward and Beutjer, the transfer from Iowa, could have done a better job picking up Missouri’s blitz. “Our quarterbacks didn’t execute well against the blitz at all,” he said. “Nobody works against the blitz more than we do, but we missed it. We didn’t do a good job up front either, but sometimes they bring more people than you can block. Our quarterbacks have to get rid of the ball.”
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Beutjer, who is probably closer to starting than he was a week ago, pleaded guilty.
“They were definitely doing some things we haven’t seen on film,” he said. “I missed some reads out there. We were also surprised how quick they got across the line.”
It wasn’t all bad on defensive side of ball
Despite giving up 285 yards on the ground and 152 through the air, the Illini defense had its moments. Safety Marc Jackson recovered a fumble by Missouri’s Zack Abron at the 35 that paved the way for the first touchdown, a 2-yard run by Antoineo Harris. Christian Morton broke through to block a 26-yard field-goal attempt by the Tigers’ Alex Pettersen to keep the score tied 7-7 with 12:19 left in the half. And cornerback Eugene Wilson was convinced he had intercepted a pass by Missouri QB Brad Smith, only to be called for interference. The Tigers scored two plays later to grab a 14-7 lead.
Illinois’ loss was its fourth in a row in a dome and its sixth in its last seven games indoors. The Illini’s only dome victory in that span: 21-17 over Minnesota on Nov. 5, 1994 in the Metrodome.