Illini ready for a fight: Once-woeful Illinois enjoying resurgence

News sports reporter Antoine Pitts continues The News' glance at the University of Michigan's opposition with the Illinois Fighting Illini:

Where they're from

Champaign, Ill., which shares a border with its twin city Urbana. The University of Illinois straddles both cities, though its athletic facilities are in Champaign.

What they've done

Illinois (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) lost its opener to current-No. 15 Missouri and then didn't lose again until being dropped 10-6 at Iowa last weekend. In between were wins over Western Illinois, Syracuse, Indiana, Penn State and Wisconsin.

Run away

Illinois leads the Big Ten in rushing offense and is fourth in rushing defense. No one has run for more than 100 yards yet this season against Illinois, including Indiana dual-threat quarterback Kellen Lewis, who was held to 35 yards, and Wisconsin tailback P.J. Hill, who was held to 83 yards.

Stadium renaissance

Expect to see a massive construction zone around Memorial Stadium. As part of the $116 million "Illinois Renaissance'' that will be completed before the 2008 season, the west side upper deck is entirely closed off, reducing capacity from 69,259 to 57,078 for this year. After additions of luxury seating and an already completed new north end zone student section, the stadium will seat about 65,000.

Selling out again

Until this season, Illinois hadn't sold out a home game since playing Michigan in 2002. Already, Memorial Stadium has been full for games against Penn State and Wisconsin. With another capacity crowd for Michigan, that's the most sellouts in a season for Illinois since 1986.

Players to watch

Though he was pulled in last week's game at Iowa, Juice Williams is the kind of mobile quarterback that has given the Wolverines fits in recent years. Running back Rashard Mendenhall is third in the Big Ten with 119.9 rushing yards per game. Linebacker J Leman has six double-digit tackle games this season, leading the conference with 11.6 tackles per game. The J stands for Jeremy.

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