Good morning, class. Please take out a pencil, and if you have a slide rule, even better. I have mine right here. It belonged to my father, who taught agricultural economics for 31 years, and it has never once been wrong about the soybean harvest or the need for a two-point stop.
I'm Margery Vandermolen. I grew up between a cornfield and Memorial Stadium, and I color-code my notes in orange and blue, which my neighbors find charming and my accountant finds alarming.
Today's lesson: how to survive overtime, and what to do with a bye week. Orange you glad it's Saturday? Let's begin.
Part 1: Review of the Overtime Problem
Our last game was two Saturdays ago, Oct. 10, at Spartan Stadium. Illinois 38, Michigan State 37, in overtime. We had last Saturday off, and the doctors in my household agree that my blood pressure needed the week.
Let's chart the first half, because it was a beautiful curve on my graph. Ethan Moczulski kicked a 40-yard field goal. Katin Houser threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Aidan Laughery and then ran one in from two. Moczulski added kicks of 35 and 38 yards. We scored on our first five drives, the AP noted, and led 23-7 midway through the third quarter.
Now, class, a graph that goes straight up forever is a graph somebody drew wrong. In the third quarter, Houser hurt his hand making a tackle on an interception return. Michigan State scored twice. Then Michael Clayton II, who'd never thrown a college pass before, stepped in and threw a 14-yard touchdown to Collin Dixon, and Laughery ran in the two-point conversion. 31-17.
Then the part of the lesson I'll call "a teachable moment." With 3:27 left, coach Bret Bielema went for it on fourth-and-1 at our own 33. We were stuffed. Michigan State tied it with 1:17 left. Overtime.
On the first play of overtime, Clayton threw a 25-yard touchdown to Hudson Clement. Michigan State answered with a touchdown and went for two and the win. The pass fell incomplete. Illinois wins, 38-37. I've never been so happy to see a ball hit the grass.
The Grade Book
Houser was 20 of 29 for 194 yards with a touchdown pass and a rushing score before the injury. Clayton completed six of eight for 88 yards and two touchdowns in his first passing action. Clement caught six passes for 105 yards. Moczulski made all three field goals. James Kreutz made 15 tackles and a sack. We committed two penalties all day.
The hard part of the grade: Houser broke a bone in his hand, and Bielema said he'd be out for a considerable amount of time, according to the AP. I wish him a quick recovery, and I'm told he's a fine young man.
Season-to-Date
We're 3-3 and 1-2 in the Big Ten. We beat UAB and Southern Illinois, lost 31-27 to Duke and 24-17 to Purdue at home, lost 42-19 at Ohio State, and won at Michigan State. We score 31.8 points a game. On the Purdue loss, I'll only say I've graded tougher exams.
Part 2: This Saturday, Oregon Comes to Champaign
Saturday, Oct. 24, at 3 p.m. Eastern, Oregon visits Gies Memorial Stadium. BTN has it.
Let me be fair, because a good teacher shows all her work. Oregon is 4-2 and 2-1 in the Big Ten. It won at USC 41-27, and its defense ranks third in FBS on third downs, allowing conversions only 25.9% of the time. Matayo Uiagalelei has six sacks. Under coach Dan Lanning, the Ducks went 13-0 in the 2024 regular season. That's a serious program.
And now, the data the Ducks would like to leave out of the slide deck.
Oregon lost at home to UCLA, 17-15, and lost at Oklahoma State. On Saturday night against Nebraska, the Ducks had 91 yards of offense when they went to the bench for a new quarterback. Third-stringer Brock Thomas had started. Their regular starter, Dante Moore, has been out with a concussion since Sept. 26. Dylan Raiola came off the bench and won the game with 28 seconds left, going 11 of 18 for 59 yards in the fourth quarter. Oregon's rushing offense ranks 97th in FBS, according to the AP.
Class, when both teams have a quarterback question, the tiebreaker is home field. And I've crunched the numbers. The numbers say orange.
Now, in fairness, I must show you our weak spot, too: our red-zone defense ranks 137th in FBS, allowing scores on every single trip, per the AP preview. Every trip. That's a perfect score, and it's the only perfect score I'd like us to stop getting. Our defense allows 27.8 points a game. If we can keep Oregon out of the red zone, our chances improve considerably.
Who to Watch
Collin Dixon, receiver: 47 catches, 608 yards, nine touchdowns. Our most reliable variable.
Aidan Laughery, running back: 391 yards. Oregon allows 111.7 rushing yards a game.
Hudson Clement, receiver: six catches for 105 yards and the overtime winner at Michigan State.
Michael Clayton II: two touchdown passes in his first career passing action. Please consult your slide rule.
Matthew Bailey: 41 tackles, our leader. James Kreutz: 15 tackles at Michigan State.
Matayo Uiagalelei, Oregon defensive end: six sacks. Protect the quarterback, whoever he is.
Evan Stewart, Oregon receiver: 27 catches for 352 yards and four touchdowns.
History Lesson
Oregon leads the series 3-1, according to CollegeFootballDigest, and won the last meeting, 38-9 in Eugene in 2024. Our lone win came in 1970, 20-16, here in Champaign. It's been a while. Not as long as it takes to grow an oak tree, but longer than corn.
Field Trip: A Tale of Two Towns
Champaign. Population 88,302 at the 2020 census, sharing the University of Illinois with its twin city, Urbana. Our campus is home to the Morrow Plots, the oldest continuously used experimental agricultural fields in the country, and the undergraduate library was built underground so it wouldn't cast shadows on the corn. Class, we built a library underground for corn. That's devotion. Memorial Stadium, completed in 1923, has 200 columns on its east and west sides, and 183 of them carry the name of an Illinois alum who died in World War I. A 12-foot statue of Red Grange, who once scored five touchdowns in a single game here, stands outside. The fight song is "Oskee Wow-Wow." Say it out loud. You feel better already.
Eugene, Oregon. Eugene is a lovely town of 176,654, nestled in the Willamette Valley. It's called "Track Town, USA," and Nike got its start there, founded by an Oregon runner, Phil Knight, and his coach, Bill Bowerman. Oregon football wears a different uniform combination nearly every week, thanks to that Nike partnership. Class, a team that can't decide what to wear on a Saturday is a team that needs a checklist, and I'd be happy to provide one.
And here's a footnote I discovered in my research. According to Wikipedia, the Eugene area has the highest grass pollen counts in the United States. Olympic runners have flown in by helicopter to avoid it. So when the Ducks come to Champaign, they'll be breathing clean prairie air for the first time all season. In fact, the only allergy they'll suffer from in Champaign is orange.
Closing Remarks
Here's my summary for the test. We're rested, we're at home, and we have a receiver with nine touchdowns. Oregon is coming off a 17-14 win in which its offense mustered 91 yards before the fourth quarter, and it's still sorting out its quarterbacks. Our red-zone defense needs to show up, and if it does, this will be a close finish worth staying for.
I've crunched the numbers. Oskee-wow-wow!
My call: Oregon Ducks 33, Illinois Fighting Illini 23.