By: Jim Naveau (LimaOhio.com) —

COLUMBUS - It might be just the sort of things coaches always say, but Illinois football coach Ron Zook insists the Illini are better than they were at the start of the season.
No. 10 Ohio State (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) will find out if that is true when it goes to Illinois (5-5, 3-3 Big Ten) on Saturday. But it seems like a pretty bold statement for a Big Ten coach to be making the week after his team lost to a Mid-American Conference team.
“We’re a better team than we were the Monday before we played Penn State (on Sept. 27), we’re a better team than we were when we played Missouri (in the season opener),” Zook said earlier this week.
Illinois lost 23-17 to Western Michigan last Saturday.
Ohio State’s two losses with 20 returning starters from a national runner-up team have been surprising. But maybe Illinois’ five losses haven’t been quite as big a surprise, considering it lost five starters on offense and five on defense from last year’s 9-4 Rose Bowl team that upset Ohio State.
“We had some guys who were making plays last year who aren’t here and we’re not getting the same kind of plays and, obviously, we’re not getting the same results,” Zook said.
The players who have been the hardest to replace have probably been tailback Rashard Mendenhall, who led the Big Ten with 1,681 yards rushing, and linebacker J Lehman.
It’s tough to say which has been missed the most. But since Illinois has gained more than 500 yards five times this season, but won only three of those games, it might be Lehman.
“You can’t replace a guy like J Lehman,” Zook said. “Even when he was out of position, he’d make the play. He was the inspirational leader. When J talked, everybody listened.”
Ohio State was doing some listening of a different kind on its buses while riding back to campus from the airport after getting home from Northwestern last Saturday.
The bus driver had a small radio, which he handed to coach Jim Tressel so he could listen to the final minutes of the Penn State-Iowa game. The players were also getting updates on their cell phones.
Iowa’s 24-23 win over Penn State means Ohio State can get at least a share of the Big Ten title if it wins at Illinois, then beats Michigan next Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
“Now everything is back in our hands. We can win a share of the Big Ten championship or win outright, depending on what happens,” cornerback Malcolm Jenkins said. “It puts everything back in our hands.”
If Ohio State wins its next two games and Penn State would lose to either Indiana or Michigan State in the next two weeks, OSU would go to the Rose Bowl.
If the Nittany Lions win both games, they would go to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State might still have a chance to be invited to another BCS game, such as the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.
Coach Jim Tressel, not surprisingly, wouldn’t speculate about the Buckeyes’ bowl destination if they finish 10-2.
“The only thought I have on that is you can’t be 10-2 until you’re 9-2 and being 9-2 is going to be a challenge. If we would become 10-2, we will get as our works deserve and it might be that (a BCS invitation),” he said.

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