Buckeyes column: OSU squeezes Illini's Juice this time

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Ohio State saw what Illinois quarterback Isiah "Juice" Williams could do when he was comfortable.

So one of the priorities for OSU in its 30-20 win over the Illini on Saturday was to make life as difficult as possible for Williams.

A year ago, Williams threw for four touchdowns and got loose for several crucial runs when Illinois upset then No. 1-ranked Ohio State.

Saturday, he did a lot of running. But a significant part of it was to escape Ohio State's defense.

"We wanted him to do things he wasn't comfortable with," sophomore linebacker Ross Homan said.

The Coldwater High School graduate got his first sack of the season when he dropped Williams for an eight-yard loss in the second half.

Ohio State sacked Williams just two times, but it limited him to two touchdown passes, one of which was a meaningless score with 42 seconds left in the game.

His turnovers - an interception and a fumble - had a bigger impact on the game than his touchdown passes. Both of those negative plays led to Ohio State touchdowns.

Did Ohio State make Williams' life miserable for 60 minutes? No.

Did it make him disappear? No. But it made him less dangerous, less effective and less relevant than a year ago. And that made enough difference.

OSU's rejuvenated defensive line continued to play capably. Linebackers James Laurinaitis and Homan got OSU's two sacks. And Tyler Moeller, playing the fifth defensive back spot in passing situations in place of the injured Jermale Hines, forced a fumble and had two tackles for losses.

Ohio State's defense wasn't perfect. It allowed 455 yards, which is eight yards over the Illini's season average.

But getting lots of yards without getting the win is nothing new for Illinois. It has lost two games this season when it gained more than 500 yards.

Losing the turnover battle was nothing new for them, either. After Saturday's pair of mistakes, they are negative-5 on the season in turnover margin.

Williams' problem with turnovers was not unique, either. He has been victimized by nine of them in his last four games.

Ohio State didn't invent the script of pressuring him. But it followed it well.

"Juice is a great quarterback. We knew from the beginning of the game he was going to run around and throw the ball. We knew we had to contain him and get pressure on him," Ohio State defensive end Thaddeus Gibson said. "If we could do that we probably had a good chance of winning the game."

The contributions to that pressure of players like Homan and Moeller didn't go unnoticed by their teammates.

"There were a couple times he wasn't in the game and I was wondering where he was," defensive lineman Nader Abdallah said about Homan.

Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, whose punt block also was costly to the mistake-prone Illini, liked what he saw from Moeller.

"We used Tyler a lot this week, blitzing, sending him in coverage. He had a big game, making plays, he was around the ball. We'll probably try to get him in the game plan next week," he said.

Illinois coach Ron Zook acknowledged that Ohio State's defense affected his quarterback.

He even moved Williams to wide receiver on several plays, though there was nothing in the game plan that called for a pass to be thrown to him.

"We were just trying to do what we did last year - let Juice settle down," Zook said.

He thought it worked. But it didn't work well enough. And things certainly didn't work out as well for Williams as they did a year ago.