Wisch: Can Beckman Build An Illini Contender In 2012?
By Dave Wischnowsky –
(CBS) Across the country, the dust has settled following college football's national championship game. And down in Champaign, the dust has similarly settled following the University of Illinois' coaching shakeup.
After a topsy-turvy month during which he lost a current defensive coordinator (Vic Koenning) as well as a new one (Jon Tenuta, who reneged on his Illini commitment a day after taking the job), new Fighting Illini football coach Tim Beckman was able to finally announce his full staff on Wednesday.
Tim Banks is the Illini's new defensive coordinator (for real this time) having spent the past two seasons as co-coordinator at Cincinnati, while the offense will be run by co-coordinators Chris Beatty (most recently at Vanderbilt) and Billy Gonzales (LSU). Tim Salem, meanwhile, will grab Ron Zook's ragged special teams reins as he tries to revamp the Illini's punting, kicking and return games.
With all the coaching details mercifully in place, I figured today would be a good time time to turn an eye toward next season and ask whether it's conceivable for Beckman to pull a Brady Hoke in 2012.
Hoke, of course, left a mid-major job at San Diego State last winter and turned a 7-6 Michigan team that returned its quarterback into an 11-2 BCS bowl champion during his first year on the job.
By comparison, Beckman also left a mid-major job at Toledo and also inherits a 7-6 Illini squad which returns its quarterback. Now, to expect Beckman to duplicate Hoke's success in his first season at Illinois would of course be asking a lot.
A whole lot.
But if you take a glance at the Illini's 2012 schedule – which features seven dull, but winnable, home games – a strong season is hardly out of the question. In particular because news broke this week that standout junior defenders, bandit Michael Buchanan, defensive tackle Akeem Spence and cornerback Terry Hawthorne, all decided to pass on the NFL Draft and will return to Champaign, where returning quarterbacks Nathan Scheelhaase and Reilly O'Toole are waiting.
With all that in mind, here's a quick look at the Illini's 2012 opponents, and how each fared this past season (and offseason):
- WESTERN MICHIGAN - Finished 7-6 this season with a loss to Purdue in the Little Caesar's Bowl.
- @ ARIZONA STATE - Finished 6-7 and lost to Boise State in the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl. The Sun Devils will be led by new coach Todd Graham, who bolted from Pitt in controversial fashion, and will also be without standout quarterback Brock Osweiler, who left early for the NFL Draft.
- CHARLESTON SOUTHERN - Finished 0-11.
- LOUISIANA TECH - Finished 8-5 and lost to TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl. The Bulldogs, however, lost just 26-20 in overtime to Mississippi State last season and were edged 35-34 by a one-loss Houston team.
- PENN STATE - Finished 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten, and lost the Ticket City Bowl to Houston. The Nittany Lions are welcoming – or not, if you ask the Penn State Lettermen – new coach Bill O'Brien to clean up the Jerry Sandusky-fueled mess in Happy Valley.
- @ WISCONSIN - Finished 11-3, 6-2, and lost the Rose Bowl to Oregon. The Badgers must replace star quarterback Russell Wilson, but return touchdown machine Montee Ball at running back.
- @ MICHIGAN - Finished 11-2, 6-2, and beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. The Wolverines return prolific quarterback Denard Robinson to the fold for 2012.
- INDIANA - Finished 1-11, 0-8, and is still Indiana.
- @ OHIO STATE - Finished 6-7, 3-5, and lost the Gator Bowl to Florida. The Buckeyes welcome football messiah Urban Meyer for his first season as head coach as he works to right what's still a very talented ship in Columbus.
- MINNESOTA - Finished 3-9, 2-6, but whipped Illinois 27-7 in the regular season finale – and Ron Zook's swan song.
- PURDUE - Finished 7-6, 4-4 and beat Western Michigan in the Little Caesar's Bowl.
- @ NORTHWESTERN - Finished 6-7, 3-5, and lost to Texas A&M in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
The combined 2011 record of Illinois' 12 upcoming opponents was a lackluster 74-78, while the group went just 2-7 in bowl games. With reasonable nonconference opponents, Penn State in complete flux, Ohio State ineligible for the Big Ten Championship game and Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue all traveling to Champaign, it's not a huge leap to think that Illinois could be a contender for a division title in 2012.
After Illinois' victory over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Beckman said, "The cupboard's not bare, as they say. It just needs to be tweaked and we need more of them."
More toys for the cupboard might have to wait for Illinois' energetic new coach, but with a favorable 2012 schedule on tap, more numbers in the win column might not.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com. Follow him on Twitter @wischlist and read more of his CBS Chicago blog entries here.
