SOLDIER FIELD- With A.J. Bush still feeling the effects of the hamstring injury he sustained against Western Illinois last week, true freshman M.J. Rivers made his first career start for the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-1, 0-0 Big Ten) in their 25-19 loss against South Florida (3-0, 0-0 AAC) at Soldier Field on Saturday. Rivers came into last week’s game in the second quarter and finished the game completing 9-of-16 passes for 105 yards with no touchdowns, but no interceptions either.
Rivers’ performance played a significant role in Illinois’ 34-14 win over the Leathernecks. Bush did warm up in full gear with the team before Saturday’s game but was ultimately sidelined in favor of Rivers as there were still concerns about his mobility.
“A.J. wasn’t healthy… When you pull a hamstring, you don’t play the next week. It just doesn’t happen that way,” said Illini head coach Lovie Smith about the decision to start Rivers over Bush.
The paid attendance of 21,725 made their way to Chicago’s lakefront in the hopes of watching the Illini start the year 3-0 for the first time since 2011 (they finished 7-6 that year and played the Fight Hunger Bowl). Rivers was elevated on the depth chart earlier this year after Cam Thomas, last year’s starter, departed the program. Bush won the starting job out of training camp and threw for 223 yards in two games before getting injured.
With Rivers the hope was that he’d get a big boost against USF with sophomore wide receiver Ricky Smalling returning to the lineup after he was banged up against WIU as well. In fact Rivers had a big assist from Smalling, sophomore running back Mike Epstein, special teams and the defense in the first half as the Illini took at 16-7 lead at halftime.
The second half unfortunately was a completely different story. The Bulls outscored the Illini 18-3 in the final 30 minutes as Illinois’ offense stalled with it’s conservative play calling, along with some defensive miscues, blown coverage leading to a 50-yard touchdown catch for USF with 2:24 remaining, and questionable clock management in the fourth quarter. It ruined the day for Rivers who completed 20-of-29 passes for 168 yards and had a rating of 117.6. But the deepest pass that Rivers threw only went for 32 yards (most of which came after the catch), he averaged a little over five yards per completion, he was sacked five times (three times on the final possession), and struggled with decision making.
“When you have a day like today, it’s just tough, (it’s) tough for our team,” said coach Smith in his post-game press conference.
The loss also spoiled the day for the Illini defense which forced three turnovers, had six pass breakups, collected a sack and a quarterback hit, had four total tackles for loss and had seven players finish with five or more tackles. The most productive player was Mike Epstein who led the Illini with both 113 rushing yards (and their only touchdown) and 56 receiving yards. Smalling was right behind Epstein with four catches for 40 yards. Junior running back Reggie Corbin was right behind Epstein in the rushing department with 98 yards on 12 carries.
“I thought we started fast but it always comes down to the finish,” said coach Smith.
Another player who was definitely hit hard by the second half collapse was senior place kicker Chase McLaughlin. He made all four of his field goal attempts from 26, 46, 53, and 41 yards. But three of those came in the first half.
“(I feel) terrible,” said McLaughlin after the game, “One thing that I’ve really been excited about for this team is the confidence and I think we showed that. I think we (need to) just keep sticking with our confidence,” he added.
Lovie Smith alluded to Rivers possibly starting again when the Fighting Illini return to Champaign to begin Big Ten play against Penn State next Friday.
“M.J. did a lot of good things. He’s going to be a good football player as we go forward, and we’ll be in a position again where we’ll have a chance to finish,” said Smith.
The Illini will definitely need to take more chances down the field to lessen the pressure on their defense. Especially against a Nittany Lions team that dropped 63 points on Kent State on Saturday, 35 of which were scored in the second half led by Heisman Trophy candidate Trace McSorley. The Illini now have the hardest part of the schedule ahead of them.
