No Juice in Williams as Missouri Dominates Illinois
by Jim March
Missouri embarrassed Illinois in St. Louis Saturday afternoon. An uninformed spectator would likely talk about how much Rejus Benn’s injury hurt the Illini. A fairly astute observer would talk about how the depleted stable of running backs may have hurt Illinois’ ability to run between the tackles. However, in truth Isaiah "Juice" Williams, Illinois’ Senior quarterback, was the problem this weekend. ...
Every time the cameras scanned the Illinois sidelines, they would find and stop for a moment on Williams. His expression did not change. Blank. With few exceptions, “Juice” stood by himself on the sidelines, arms folded, seemingly unaware of what leadership entails. He showed no life coming off the sidelines for the first offensive series. The game was over before it started. Williams displayed absolutely no enthusiasm for a game he’s been waiting eight months to play. On Saturday, Isaiah “Juice” Williams had no heart.
Williams gave fans in Champaign-Urbana cause for hope coming into the season. Since he took over as starter halfway through his freshman year, he served as a sparkplug for an often listless Illini offense. On Saturday, his uninspired play was the corrosive thread that quickly ate away at his team. This may seem harsh and overly critical, but it manifested itself on the field.
The schematic strengths and weaknesses of the “Fighting” Illini offense serve as the poetic truth of the situation. The Illini ran out routes and bubble screens successfully. They worked the outside the hash marks and moved the ball down the field well. In the middle of the field it was another story. Except for WR Jarred Fayson’s highlight reel catch down the middle with a minute left in the first quarter and consecutive first down runs up the gut by RB Mikel LeShoure in the second quarter, Illinois was absolutely worthless within the hash marks. With no ability to run up the gut or throw over the heart of the defense, Illinois was left with 7 yard passes at the numbers. Even on basic throws to the outside, William’s inaccuracy showed that he is not a pocket passer.
After taking a day to contemplate this game, it seems Williams was more concerned with shedding his image as a running quarterback and proving he could pick apart defenses from the pocket. There were moments where we saw glimmers of hope that Juice was coming to life, acting like a Senior quarterback should; they were fleeting. In the end, all we saw was an average pocket passer who doesn’t know how to lead.
On the other side of the coin, Blaine Gabbert was phenomenal in his first collegiate start. After a couple of shaky plays on the first drive, the Sophomore QB got very, very comfortable: completing 25 of 33 passes for 313 yards and 3 touchdowns, and rushing for 39 yards and another TD. Gabbert delivered what many analysts expected to see out of the other starting quarterback. In the same way, Missouri WR Danario Alexander played the part of Rejus Benn. Alexander wore down the opposing defense and had his name called all day, hauling in 10 catches for 132 yards. Illinois’ played bend-don’t-break defense and they actually did a fair job keeping Illinois in the game through the first half. The constant chipping away by the Gabbert-Alexander connection eventually wore down their resolve, and Mizzou left St. Louis feeling pretty good about the direction they’re headed.
The arrow certainly is pointing up for the Missouri Tigers in a season that was supposed to be a rebuilding year. If Gabbert can carry the swagger we saw Saturday into Big 12 play, they can challenge Kansas and Nebraska for the Big 12 North crown. Conversely, if Williams doesn’t find the ‘Juice’ that made Illinois electric offensively in recent years then they will start 1-4 and the season will be over by mid-October.
September 12th, 2009 - 01:09
Oh yeah definitely Juices’ fault. He sure was given great play calls by the offensive coordinator — all slot plays. Perfect. Yeah, if you didn’t notice Juice played well in this game, that one interception went through Fayson’s hands. And inaccuracy, no? I’m the first person to call out Juice on his over thrown passes, and under thrown passes at that, but in this game it was just terrible play calling. There was only one play called that sent a WR deep, and barely any PA plays which Juice dominates. And leadership skills? How is he supposed to energize an entire team who did not come ready to play because Zook can’t prepare a team to save his life. It also didn’t help that Benn, and Ford both left the field early with injuries. That left us with no running game, and our best WR not on the line. Get off of Juices’ back — watch the game instead of taking an easy shot, and an easy article at that.
September 13th, 2009 - 19:21
I did watch the game. I also reviewed it the next day. I’ll grant you that the play-calling was a part of the problem. But what about FIVE uncatchable balls thrown under ten yards constitutes “played well in this game”? The easy article would have been to throw the home-run hitting recruiter, underachieving gameday coach under the bus as you suggest. Fourth year starters at a position that naturally entails leadership needs to not be a ghost on the sideline when young, overwhelmed teammates need encouragement. You can’t coach leadership.