Illini offense nowhere to be found in blowout loss to Hawkeyes

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It was Wes Lunt's final game in Champaign in an Illini uniform, but he and the rest of the Illinois offense did absolutely nothing Saturday afternoon.

Illinois punted on every one of its first 10 possessions and totaled a ghastly 198 yards in a 28-0 blowout loss to Iowa at Memorial Stadium.

Nasty weather conditions matched the quality of play on the field, with neither offense doing much of anything in the first half. The Illini had only 105 total yards at the break and had punted on every one of its eight possessions. The only reason the Hawkeyes didn't do the same was because of two first-half turnovers. But Iowa did have the only scoring play of the first 30 minutes, getting a 55-yard punt-return touchdown from Riley McCarron to break a scoreless tie.

The second half was even worse, offensively, for the Illini. They totaled just 92 yards after halftime, punting twice more before throwing an interception, fumbling and twice turning the ball over on downs to end the day. Meanwhile, Iowa found its groove against the Illinois defense, scoring three touchdowns in the second half. LeShun Daniels accounted for the first two of those, rushing in from one yard out and then from 50 yards out later in the half. Akrum Wadley capped the day's scoring with a short touchdown run to make it 28-0.

Iowa finished with 342 total yards, gaining 262 of those on the ground thanks to big days from Daniels and Wadley, who went for 159 yards and 82 yards, respectively.

Lunt completed 19 of his 41 passing attempts for 137 yards and an interception as the Illini struggled to their 198 total yards. The team had just 61 rushing yards, with Kendrick Foster accounting for 50 of them on 16 carries.

The loss dropped the Illini to 3-8 on the season and 2-6 in conference play. Lovie Smith's first season wasn't expected to be much of a success, but pretty obvious things could've gone better. Illinois has scored a total of three points in its last two games and 10 or fewer points in four of its losses this season. Smith & Co. will have one more shot at victory next weekend in the regular-season finale against Northwestern.

Meanwhile, Iowa jumped up to 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten with the win. The Hawkeyes have back-to-back victories and wrap up regular-season play next Friday against Nebraska.

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