With three freshmen and nine sophomores in his starting lineup, Illinois coach Ron Zook is giving his underclassmen intensive on-the-job training. The Illini and Cincinnati are among the youngest teams in college football with only four senior starters each. The only team with fewer is Rice with three.
Linebackers and members of the secondary have a sense of job insecurity during practice this week in the aftermath of last weekend’s 61-14 loss to Michigan State.
“There’s some competition going on,” Zook said when asked about his starting lineup for Saturday’s game at Iowa. “I can’t wait till Saturday. I told the guys, `If you let them keep taking your lunch money, they’ll keep taking your lunch money. Sooner or later we have to stand up. It happened. Let’s go on; let’s see what we’re made of.’ How we bounce back against a good Iowa team will tell us where we’re at.”
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Next: Sat. at Iowa, 11 a.m., WBBM-Ch. 2.