NCAA Football Preview (Washington St-Illinois)
Posted: Sat September 20, 1997 at 6:52 a.m EDT
Washington St (2-0) at Illinois (0-2) 12:30 pm EDT
Washington State, which has used its first-ever sweep of the Los
Angeles schools to become the nation's team, goes
outside of the Pac-10 for the first time this season today at
Illinois.
The Cougars (2-0) were 37-34 winners over UCLA in their opener
and pulled out a 28-21 road win at Southern California last
week. By contrast, Illinois (0-2) has dropped a 24-7 home
decision to Southern Mississippi and then suffered a 26-14 loss
at Louisville.
Washington State will go as far as quarterback Ryan Leaf will
take it. Leaf has been spectacular thus far, going 38-of-72 for
736 yards and six touchdowns with two interceptions. Among his
receivers, Kevin Washington has eight catches for 124 yards and
Shawn McWashington has the same amount of catches for 105 yards.
Nian Taylor has six grabs for 214 yards and two scores.
Taking some of the pressure off Leaf is Michael Black, who has
carried 47 times for 164 yards and a pair of scores. Should
Leaf throw for 372 yards, he will pass Mark Rypien for fourth
place on the school's all-time list.
Washington State has a much different team than the last time it
played a road game against Illinois, a 10-9 victory in Chicago's
Soldier Field on September 1st, 1994. Back then, the team
relied on defense and managed the victory despite Simeon Rice,
who had five sacks, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble for
Illinois. But it was another future first-round draft choice,
Mark Fields, who scooped up a fumbled and raced a school-record
71 yards just before the half to give Washington State a 10-3
edge.
For Illinois to pull the upset on its own turf, the Illini will
have to run the ball better than they did against the Cougars
three years ago, when they mustered five yards on 29 carries.
Robert Holcombe has already carried 60 times for 256 yards,
while Mark Hoekstra is 41-of-85 for 374 yards and one touchdown
with three interceptions.
As the offense has faltered, one bright spot for Illinois has
been the punting of Ryan Tabloff, who has averaged 42.3 yards
per kick on 15 attempts. On the other side of the ball,
linebacker Michael Young has registered 17 tackles and one of
Illinois' 6 1/2 sacks.
The Illini have to take advantage of being at home, since
Washington State is 3-10 on the road over the last two-plus
seasons.
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