CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Much will be on the line Saturday when No. 19 Kansas faces Illinois at a sold-out Memorial Stadium.
The Jayhawks (1-0) will be looking for a signature road win.
The Illini (1-0) want to erase the bad taste in their mouths left by a 34-23 shellacking by Kansas last year in Lawrence. Kansas scored on four of its first five drives against Illinois, going 75 or more yards each time, and led 34-7 in the third quarter.
“We’re going on the road to face a Power 4 conference team. We need to find a way to win a game like that. That hasn’t happened here in a while,” said Kansas coach Lance Leipold.
Illinois players and coach Bret Bielema are using last year’s loss to Kansas as motivation. Receiver Pat Bryant called the game “rematch No. 1,” and defensive back Miles Scott said the team has not forgotten what happened.
“Once we woke up and decided to play in last year’s game, it was too late,” said linebacker Dylan Rosiek. “We were angry and disappointed with how we played.”
The Kansas loss has kept Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry up at night. He said he’s watched the game film more than 100 times to see where he made mistakes in preparation.
“Anytime you go through a loss like that, one thing you deal with is, ‘why?” Henry said.
The Kansas offense is probably giving Henry nightmares as he prepares for Saturday’s game. The Jayhawks have scored 48 or more points and amassed 500 or more total yards in three straight games.
Among Kansas’ weapons are quarterback Jalon Daniels, who missed much of last season with a back injury after being named the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, and running back Devin Neal, who has 13 career 100-yard rushing games.
“We’re glad Jalon is healthy. We’re a different team with him on the field,” Leipold said.
Bielema agrees. He saw Daniels throw for 277 yards and two TD’s against his team last season.
“Their quarterback is the catapult not only for their offense, but their football team,” Bielema said. “He’s the embodiment of their team. He’s incredibly talented. He throws an accurate ball and he gets rid of the ball quickly, especially on early downs. But he’s a running QB.”
Praise for the Illini
Leipold called Illinois a physical team that has improved through recruiting and the transfer portal since the Illini’s disappointing 5-7 season last year.
“They’ve made some adjustments on their offensive line and they have a returning starter at quarterback (Luke Altmyer),” he said. “He’s in command. He knows what to do.”
Watch out for Mello
Altmyer threw two of his 10 interceptions last season against Kansas. He’ll need to be on the lookout Saturday for Kansas CB Mello Dotson, who has three pick-6’s in his last seven games.
Early rankings
This is Kansas’ earliest ranking in the AP poll in the regular season since being ranked No. 14 on Sept. 2, 2008.
‘Superhero’ backfield
Kansas offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes describes the running back duo of Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr. this way:
“Devin has the best make-you-miss ability of any big back I’ve ever seen and Daniel doesn’t want to make you miss. He wants to make you take him on.
If you could combine those two things or challenge each of them to become more like the other, you might have a superhero.”
Rare full house
The sellout of Saturday’s game (60,760) is the first at Memorial Stadium since 2016, when Illinois lost 48-23 to North Carolina in Lovie Smith’s second game as coach. The only other Memorial Stadium sellout since 2011 was a 2011 game vs. Michigan. The Wolverines won 31-14.
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