Perhaps no man is helping Tim Beckman out more than Bill Cubit.
The newly hired Illini Offensive Coordinator and former Coach of Western Michigan is the primary reason for the 180 degree turnaround in the Illinois offense. Bill Cubit looks like a genius now for helping breathe actual life into the passing game, and revitalizing quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase. Today’s win over Cincinnati is by far the biggest win of the Tim Beckman era.
The last Illini win over a team from a BCS conference came on New Year’s Eve 2011; over UCLA in that bowl that bowl game that apparently nobody wanted to see. The last Illini win over a Big Ten team was the Indiana Hoosiers in Mid October the same year. Bill Cubit is the biggest reason for why the 2013 Illini look much better than the 2012 version.
Last year, the Illini offense was pathetic. They only topped 30 points once. They’ve topped 40 in both games so far in 2013. Last year, Illinois had two offensive coordinators (or was it three?) They had a different guy calling plays on third down versus the rest of the downs. That never works out. Ever.
They finished 119th out of 122 teams in a couple major categories; they were in the high 90s in all the others. Scheelhaase had a horrific season.
Thus far, he’s thrown for 728 yards in 2 games. He had 1,361 all of last year. he has 7 TD passes in two games; just 4 all of last year. The Illini had 7 plays of 30+ yards in 2012. They eclipsed that total for 2013 by the 1st quarter today. Most importantly, Illinois is 2-0 in 2013, after going 2-10 in 2012.
His offenses have been described as pass happy, or pass first and so far they’ve delivered that to Champaign. Scheelhaase has thrown for 300+ in both games.
“My idea is taking what the defense is giving you, if everybody is up there and you can throw the ball downfield, throw the ball downfield,” Bill Cubit said.
“If everybody’s back there, run the ball that’s what this whole thing is predicated on. Your quarterback does what he learns. He learns defenses.”
Cubit broke a lot of school records at WMU, and led the Broncos to three bowls; compiling a record of 51-47. Bill Cubit also served as Offensive Coordinator at Stanford, Rutgers and Mizzou.
When I asked Bill Cubit who his mentors were, he said:
“Ernie Zampisi when I first started out, Steve Spurrier, I never though of myself as a West Coast guy, but there’s some West Coast parts in there (his offense). The thing for me is to keep it simple with the quarterback reads.”
“I do what I know and I just work the heck out of it,” Bill Cubit said.
Indeed so far he truly has.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An analyst for 95.7 The Fan, he also writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)