By JON SPENCER (The Newark Advocate) —
CHICAGO — Anita Williams doesn’t count sheep to fall asleep.
She counts offensive plays (16), third-down conversions (three) and storybook quarterback sneaks (one), all engineered by her son in last year’s game-clinching drive by Illinois in its upset of No. 1 Ohio State.

With Juice Williams under center, the Illini held the ball for the final 8:09 to hand the Buckeyes their only loss in their past 30 regular-season games and snap their 20-game Big Ten winning streak.

“I’m pretty much forced to watch that game when I go home,” Juice Williams said Friday from Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. “My mom watches the fourth quarter every night before bed. Sometimes she watches the whole game. We’ll sit there and talk, and I’ll hear the game playing in the background.”

The pride of the Chicago Public League threw four touchdown passes against the previously air-tight Buckeyes — each to a different receiver — and also rushed for 70 yards on 16 carries to smite the biggest, baddest program that had wooed him in high school.

But what might be remembered most in Illini lore will be the timeout called with 6:53 left. Juice Williams persuaded coach Ron Zook to go for it on fourth-and-inches, then converted on a sneak, thrusting yet another dagger into the heart of OSU’s supposedly impregnable defense.

“I remember him grabbing me during that timeout,” Zook said. “Somewhere down the line, as a coach, you’re always asking your players to trust you. It goes both ways. You have to have confidence in your players and trust them.”

That stunning outcome, in perhaps the most topsy-turvy college football season in history, stands not only as Juice Williams’ signature game but Zook’s as well. Although he orchestrated road wins against six ranked opponents in his three fitful seasons at Florida, none of those victories measures up to coming home to Ohio and spoiling the Buckeyes’ perfect season.

It was Illinois’ first win against a No. 1 team since 1956.

When Zook returned to his hometown of Loudonville this spring to conduct a coaching clinic, the reception was interesting.

“I’ve got a lot of family and friends … well, not so much family … that aren’t really happy with me,” Zook said, smiling. “It was the first time I had been back home in that capacity, and it was great to see a lot of people. Their reaction was what I get all the time — we wish you luck in every game but one.

“That’s the way I want it to be in the state of Illinois.”

While Ohio State coach Jim Tressel dressed as if standing in front of Congress, a casually-attired Zook met with the media during Friday’s informal roundtable session. He was sockless, which some Big Ten critics would attribute to the way USC undressed the Illini in last season’s 49-17 Rose Bowl loss.

Illinois, which tied for second in the Big Ten with Michigan, received a free pass to Pasadena when the first-place Buckeyes landed in the national championship game. But Zook’s team clearly wasn’t ready for postseason prime time.

“From the time I took this job (in 2005), the toughest thing has been getting guys to believe they have a chance to win if they do what they’re coached to do,” said Zook, a former defensive backs coach for the Buckeyes. “There’s no reason, with the resources we have, that we shouldn’t be as good as anybody else. We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re on the right track.

“Even when you’re on the right track, get prescription drugs without prescription you’re going to get run over.”

The Illini won more games in 2007 during a 9-4 campaign than in its previous four (8-38). Zook was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year — an honor, interestingly, Tressel never has won — and saw his team picked to finish third this season behind OSU and Wisconsin in balloting by league media.

But to continue progressing, the Illini must replace tailback and Big Ten Offensive MVP Rashard Mendenhall, All-America linebacker J Leman and navigate a tricky schedule.

They open against Missouri and Heisman Trophy candidate Chase Daniel in St. Louis on national TV, play their first two Big Ten games on the road at Penn State and Michigan, and travel to Wisconsin before hosting Ohio State on Nov. 15.

“When we take a freshman class and go through all four years and win consistently, then I think you can say you’ve turned the corner,” Zook said. “Winning is a habit, but unfortunately, so is losing. Two years ago (when Illinois was 2-10), we got into situations where other than a loss to Rutgers we had a chance to win all of our games. You have to understand that during the course of a game, bad things are going to happen, but you’ve got to keep going. It’s a mindset, something you’re taught, to pull you through.”

Zook is living up to his reputation as a top-notch recruiter. Juice Williams is one of 52 players he has kept inside state borders. Big Ten Freshman of the Year receiver Arrelious Benn is among 13 Illini he’s gotten from a Maryland/Washington pipeline. Zook also has mined his previous stomping grounds for 12 players from Ohio and 10 from Florida.

No one in the Big Ten has played Ohio State tougher the past two years than Zook’s troops. The Buckeyes won their first nine games by an average of 29 points before squeaking past the Illini 17-10 in Champaign in 2006.

“I don’t know that there’s any magic to it,” Zook said. “Two years ago, we played up and they played down. In the NFL, no one is expected to go undefeated, which is why what New England did last year (until losing the Super Bowl) was so amazing. It’s hard to maintain that intensity week after week. The emotion and energy is hard to maintain.

“We want our team to feel they’ve accomplished something, but it’s imperative to understand that they’ve got to continue to do what they have to this point to have success. It’s a continual battle.”

With a workhorse such as Mendenhall no longer an option, the Illini will be living off Juice Williams more than ever. His legs always will make him a viable threat. The question is whether he can at least come close to duplicating his passing numbers against Ohio State on a consistent basis.

In the other 12 games in 2007, he threw nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

“I cried tears of joy after beating Ohio State because nobody gave us chance; we proved people wrong in their backyard,” Juice Williams said. “That game let me know that anything is possible against any defense. That game took me over the top as far as confidence.”

And became the perfect bedtime snack for his mom.

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