Football Ready To Battle San Diego State
September 7, 1999 | Football
Sept. 7, 1999
ILLINOIS (1-0)
vs.
SAN DIEGO STATE (1-0)
Sept. 11, 1999 - 2:30 p.m. CT
Memorial Stadium (70,900)
Champaign, Illinois
ILLINI AND AZTECS GO HEAD TO HEAD FOR FIRST-TIME MATCH-UP
Turner's Fighting Illini look to make it two in a row when they play host to San Diego State Saturday and the teams' first-ever meeting. The Aztecs return 19 starters from a squad that posted a 7-5 record and a trip to the Las Vegas Bowl in '98. Among those starters are QB Brian Russell, DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and WR Damon Gourdine. Russell connected with Gourdine, the third-team Sporting News All-American with a 20-yard touchdown strike last weekend against South Florida. Gbaja-Biamila, a Football News honorable mention All-American, totalled six tackles and three tackles-for-loss in the season-opening win.
THE SERIES
Overall record: First Meeting
In Champaign: First Meeting
In San Diego: First Meeting
RADIO
Illinois Sports Network
Jim Turpin, play-by-play
Jim Grabowski, color
PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Monday - no practice
Tuesday - 3:35 p.m.
Wednesday - 3:35 p.m.
Thursday - 3:35 p.m.
Friday - walkthrough
INJURY UPDATE
players that appear on the depth chart
Luke Butkus (ankle) questionable ? Nick Piazza (ankle) doubtful ? Thomas Robingson (stress fracture) probable ? Bobie Singleton (knee) probable ? Lenny Willis (knee) out.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
IL SDSU Overall Record 1-0 1-0 Conf. Record 0-0 0-0 Total Offense 427.0 414.0 Points Scored 41.0 41.0 First Downs 23.0 20.0 Rushing Yds. 190.0 229.0 Passing Yds. 237.0 185.0 Time of Possession 31:19 26:51 3rd down conversion 44.0 45.0 Points Allowed 3.0 12.0 Yards Allowed 178.0 219.0 Rushing Yds. Allowed 29.0 36.0 Passing Yds. Allowed 149.0 183.0
STATISTICAL LEADERS
per-game averages
RUSHING LEADERS
IL
Harvey 96.0
Havard 53.0
SDSU
Ned 145.0
Russell 51.0
PASSING LEADERS
IL
Kittner 217.0
SDSU
Russell 118.0
RECEPTION LEADERS
IL
Dean 59.0
Lloyd 58.0
SDSU
Gourdine 52.0
Hammett 33.0
TACKLES LEADERS
IL
Rogers 8.0
Pleas 7.0
Long 6.0
Clark 6.0
SDSU
Chlumak 9.0
Curtis 9.0
Nicholson 7.0
Cleary 7.0
INTERCEPTION LEADERS
IL
None
SDSU
Burton 1.0
POINTS SCORED
IL
Harvey 12.0
Rackers 11.0
SDSU
Ned 12.0
Tandberg 11.0
THE COACHES' CORNER
RON TURNER - Turner enters his third season with the Illini with a record of 4-19 at Illinois, 11-23 overall as a head coach. Turner came to Illinois after a four-year stint as the offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears (1993-96). In 1992, he was the head coach for San Jose State. Turner served as an assistant at Stanford, Texas A&M, Southern California, Pittsburgh, Northwestern and Arizona working mainly with quarterbacks and receivers. SDSU defensive line coach Ken Delgado served as Turner's defensive line coach in 1992 at San Jose State.
TED TOLLNER - Tollner begins his sixth year at the helm of the Aztec football program and enters Saturday's game with a 33-26 record at SDSU, 59-45 overall. He led his squad to Las Vegas Bowl appearance. Tollner served as head coach at USC prior to SDSU. Turner served as an assistant under Tollner during that time. In addition to Turner, Tollner's assistants at USC included Norv Turner (Washington Redskins head coach), Steve Mariucci (San Francisco 49ers head coach), and Dave Wannstedt (Miami Dolphins assistant coach). Illinois' quarterbacks coach Craig Ver Steeg was also on that USC staff in 1985-86, serving as a graduate assistant. Tollner's record against Illinois while at USC was 2-0.
TOLLNER & TURNER - Turner served as quarterbacks coach in 1985 and offensive coordinator in 1986 at USC under Tollner. Their record over those two years was 13-10 with an Aloha Bowl appearance in '85 and Citrus Bowl in '86. During those two seasons, USC defeated Illinois in 1985 in Champaign 20-10, and also won in 1986 in Los Angeles 31-16.
WHERE THERE'S A WILSON THERE'S A WAY
True-freshman punt returner Eugene Wilson took a punt 65-yards for a touchdown in Saturday's contest vs. Arkansas State, giving the Illini their first punt return for a touchdown since 1982, when Kirby Wilson returned one 46 yards against Minnesota. Eugene Wilson's punt return was also the longest since 1967 when Dave Jackson returned one for 78 yards vs. Pittsburgh. Wilson's numbers on the day were seven returns for 80 yards, an average of 11.4 yards per return.
TWO-IN-A-ROW
The last time the Illini got off to a 2-0 start was in 1992 when the Illini defeated Northern Illinois 30-14 (Sept. 5) in the opener then won a 24-14 contest with Missouri (Sept. 12). The last time the Illini had consecutive home wins in the same season was in 1996. The Illini defeated Akron 38-7 (Sept. 21) then came back the following week to slip by Indiana 46-43 (Oct. 5).
SAN DIEGO STATE AND THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE
This season marks the third straight year that San Diego State has played a Big Ten team. SDSU suffered losses to Wisconsin in 1997 (36-10) and 1998 (26-14). The Aztecs are now 2-5 all-time against Big Ten foes: 1-3 vs. Wisconsin (1979, 80, 97, 98), 1-1 vs. Minnesota (1993, 94) and 0-1 vs. Iowa (1986 Holiday Bowl).
ILLINOIS AND THE WEST COAST
Although this is the first meeting between the two schools, Illinois is familiar with Calfornia football. Illinois is 16-21 all-time vs. California Pac-10 teams: California, Stanford, USC and UCLA. The last time Illinois hosted a California team was on Sept. 7, 1996 when the Illini lost 55-3 to USC.
HOW THE OPPONENTS HAVE FARED ?
TEAM/RECORD LAST WEEK THIS WEEK Arkansas State (0-1) L, 41-3 at Illinois at Mississippi San Diego State (1-0) W, 41-12 vs. S. Florida at Illinois Louisville (1-0) W, 56-28 at Kentucky vs. UT-Chattanooga Michigan State (1-0) W, 27-20 vs. Oregon vs. E. Michigan Indiana (1-0) W, 21-9 vs. Ball State vs. North Carolina Minnesota (1-0) W, 33-7 vs. Ohio vs. NE Louisian Michigan (1-0) W, 26-22 vs. Notre Dame vs. Rice Penn State (2-0) W, 70-24 vs. Akron vs. Pittsburgh Iowa (0-1) L, 42-7 vs. Nebraska at Iowa State Ohio State (0-1) bye week vs. UCLA Northwestern (0-1) L, 28-3 vs. Miami (OH) vs. TCU
ILLINOIS' SIGNAL CALLER
Illinois starting quarterback Kurt Kittner proved to be just what the coach ordered Saturday vs. Arkansas State as he threw for 217 yards and completed 61 percent of his passes. He also threw two touchdown passes, surpassing his TD passes for all of last season. Kittner connected with TE Brian Hodges in the first quarter with a 5-yard touchdown pass for the Illini's first score. He then followed up with a 12-yard pass to senior receiver Michael Dean for a second-quarter score.
DEAN OF RECEIVERS
Senior receiver Michael Dean made a committment to the Illini football team and backed it up with his first collegiate touchdown on a 12-yard strike from QB Kurt Kittner, Saturday against Arkansas State. Dean led all receivers with three catches for 59 yards and had a new career-long catch of 40 yards. The catch moved the Illini into the red zone, setting up the first touchdown of the game.
COLLEGIATE DEBUT
By the near-flawless play of the Illini on Saturday, you would have never guessed that 18 Illini were making their collegiate debut, including five true-freshmen. Illinois went without a penalty until late in the fourth quarter and had no turnovers, while at the same time starting two redshirt-freshmen. The players making their debut were: starting flanker Greg Lewis, starting right tackle Tony Pashos, Marc Jackson, Brandon Lloyd, Trayvon Waller, Walter Young, Quincy Washington, Eugene Wilson, Antoineo Harris, Carlos Lattimore, Ivery Lewis, Brett Kautter, David Diehl, Brian Scott, Terrell Washington, Aaron Moorehead and Mike O'Brien.
CALIFORNIA BOYS
The Illini have four Californians on the 1999 roster. Senior linebacker Eric Guenther hails from Thousand Oaks, Calif. Guenther grew up in Bloomington, Ill., but moved out west for high school, attending Westlake HS. Los Angeles-native Trayvon Waller came to Illinois this season after a stint at El Camino Junior College and stellar high school career at Pacific Palisades. The Illini have two true-freshmen from the state as well, Aaron Nobles from Rocklin, Calif. and Shaheed Richardson from Fontana, Calif.
CLARK TABBED FOR NATIONAL AWARD CONSIDERATION
For the second year in a row, linebacker Danny Clark has been named as a Butkus Award candidate in a preliminary list of 65 which was announced by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando. Clark led his Fighting Illini in '98 with 115 total tackles, including 10 for loss. He had 84 solo stops, seven passes broken up and two interceptions, including one against Purdue QB Drew Brees. Clark was named the team's Most Valuable Player and an honorable mention All-Big Ten pick. The award is named for one of the greatest linebackers to play the game former Illini Dick Butkus. Since the inception of the award in 1985, two Illini linebackers have been recipients, Dana Howard in 1994 and Kevin Hardy in 1995.
THE JACKSON THREE
The Jackson Three, two-year starter Bobby, true-freshman Marc and first-year coach Robert haved been reunited. The Harvey, Illinois natives have come home to Illinois after stints in Corvallis, Oregon. Bobby and Marc both enjoyed standout careers at Crescent Valley High School, while Dad was the receivers coach and director of football operations at Oregon State. After the departure of Illini offensive coordinator Buddy Teevens, who also served as receivers coach, it seemed only right to bring back a natural coach at the position who also had ties with recruiting in the state of Illinois (coached at Northern Illinois 1985-89). Marc is listed in the two-deep at safety this season, while Bobby underwent knee surgery and is expected to be out indefinitely.
RON TURNER TELEVISION SHOW
The Ron Turner Show, taped after each week's game, will air on the following dates and times:
Alton AT&T Cable Tuesday 6:30 p.m.
Belleville AT&T Cable Tuesday 7 p.m.
Thursday 10 p.m.
Friday 9 p.m.
Champaign WCIA Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Chicago Fox Sports Tuesday 3 p.m.
Davenport, Iowa KWQC Monday 12:30 a.m.
Flora WNOI Thursday 9 p.m.
Maryville Charter Communication Wednesday 6:30 p.m.
Mt. Carmel WCJT Thursday 9:30 p.m.
Mt. Vernon CableVision Wednesday 7:30 p.m.
Peoria AT&T Cable Tuesday 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday 11 a.m. & 11 p.m.
Sprinfield WCFN Sunday 10:30 a.m.
St. Louis AT&T Cable Tuesday 10:30 p.m.
Thursday 9:30 p.m.
Friday 7 p.m.
Taylorville Falcon Cable Thursday 6 p.m.
RON TURNER RADIO SHOW
The Ron Turner Show will air every Monday during the season at 6:05. Each week the radio show travels to different locations on campus. The following is a list of locations for the show:
Sept. 6 Kappa Delta sorority
Sept. 13 Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority
Sept. 20 Alpha Delta Phi fraternity
Sept. 27 Delta Zeta sorority
Oct. 4 Alpha Gamma Delta sorority
Oct. 11 Phi Kappa Psi fraternity
Oct. 18 Beta Sigma Psi fraternity
Oct. 25 Delta Delta Delta sorority
The Mini Notebook
- Did you know ? that 18 Illini made their collegiate debut vs. Arkansas State, including five true-freshmen.
- Did you know ? that the Illini had no turnovers vs. Arkansas State. The last time the Illini went turnoverless in a game was against Louisville on Sept. 19, 1998.
- Did you know ? that Brian Hodges' 5-yard touchdown reception was the first by a tight end since 1995 when Matt Cushing caught a 40-yard TD pass vs. Minnesota.
- Did you know ? that the Illini's 41-3 win over Arkansas State was the largest margin of victory since they defeated Missouri 42-0 on Sept. 10, 1994.
- Did you know ? that Rocky Harvey was named a "Top 10 Rookie" by Sports Illustrated last season, leading the Illini with 634 yards rushing and six touchdowns. As a true freshman, Harvey rushed for 215 yards and three touchdowns against Middle Tennessee State.
- Did you know ? that sophomore punter Steve Fitts moved into the Illinois record book as a true freshman in '98. Fitts recorded 77 punts for 3,182 yards, 41.3 avg. His attempts and yardage both rank fourth on the all-time single season list.
LINOIS FOOTBALL - RECORDS TO WATCH
TACKLES (CAREER)
Name Tkls 1. Dana Howard 595 2. John Sullivan 501 3. Darrick Brownlow 483 4. John Gillen 441 5. John Holocek 436 6. Dick Butkus 374 7. Steve Glasson 371 8. Scott Studwell 342 9. Tyrone Washington 331 10. Kevin Hardy 326 Danny Clark 268
TACKLES-FOR-LOSS (CAREER)
Name Tkl-Yds
1. Simeon Ricke 69-385
2. Moe Gardner 57-226
3. Don Thorp 40-191
4. Kevin Hardy 38-220
5. Scott Davis 35-206
6. John DiFelciantonio 32-147
Tyrone Washington 32-101
Mel Agee 32-143
9. Mike Poloskey 31-146
10. Dana Howard 30-101
Danny Clark 24-81
KICK-SCORING (CAREER)
Name Pts. 1. Chris White 262 2. Chris Richardson 259 3. Doug Higgins 230 4. Mike Bass 212 5. Dan Beaver 198 6. Bret Macomber 101 7. Neil Rackers 95 8. Mike Wells 79 9. Chris Siambekos 72 10. Don Maechtle 60
QB SACKS (CAREER)
Name Sks.
1. Simeon Rice 44.5
2. Scott Davis 23
3. Mike Poloskey 20
4. Kevin Hardy 18
Moe Gardner 18
6. Mel Agee 15
7. Guy Teafatiller 11
8. Ray Hairston 10
Erik Foggey 10
Dana Howard 10
Jeff Weisse 10
Fred Wakefield 8
INTERCEPTIONS (CAREER)
Name Int.
1. Al Brosky 30
2. Mike Gow 19
3. George Donnelly 13
Mike Heaven 13
Craig Swoope 13
6. Red Grange 11
7. Henry Jones 11
8. Phil Knell 10
Ron Bess 10
Trevor Starghill 10
Asim Pleas 8
PUNTING YARDAGE (CAREER)
Name Yds. 1. Phil Vierneisel 9008 2. Chris Sigourney 8935 3. Chad Little 8488 4. Terry Masar 7587 5. Brett Larsen 7547 6. Forry Wells 6740 7. Dike Eddleman 6232 8. Brian Menkhausen 5176 9. Dave Fomzer 4591 10. Charlie Bareither 4062Steve Fitts 3515
PUNTS (CAREER)
Name Punts 1. Phil Vierniesel 229 2. Chris Sigourney 227 3. Chad Little 218 4. Terry Masar 198 5. Brett Larsen 191 6. Forry Wells 171 7. Dike Eddleman 159 8. Brian Menkhausen 134 9. Dave Finzer 125 10. Charles Bareither 115Steve Fitts 84
